Written By Chris Schad
Ten years ago, the Minnesota Vikings were heading into an important NFL Draft. (Well … every draft is important, but this one was reallyimportant.) They had just traded Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders and now owned the seventh-overall pick. There were plenty of options at the time, but with hindsight being 20/20, the field was full of land mines.
Out of the top-ten players selected in that draft, only three of them (Alex Smith, Antrell Rolle and Carlos Rogers) have gone on to have productive careers. It’s very possible that if the teams in front of them didn’t take Carnell “Cadillac” Williams or Adam “Pac Man” Jones, the Vikings could have used them and gone on to terrorize fans for years to come.
However, they still found a way to make that happen. When the Vikings were on the clock, they had a chance to take Shawne Merriman out of the University of Maryland. This wasn’t a pick that was screamed by legions prior to the draft, but it was one that could give a weak defense some raw pass-rushing ability.
(Yes, there was also some Aaron Rodgers guy, but Daunte Culpepper just got done tossing 39 touchdowns in 2004. With that in mind, we’ll just sweep that under the rug.)
Instead, the Vikings were fixated on the crater-sized hole that Moss’ departure had left behind. There was Mike Williams from USC, who lacked the front line speed that helped fuel their high-flying passing attack. That left one “logical” solution by reaching for Troy Williamson.
The South Carolina product could fly, but he had trouble catching the football (a prerequisite for playing wide receiver). Meanwhile, Merriman fell to the San Diego Chargers and became a dominant force in the NFL, while the Vikings would lack in the pass-rushing realm until they traded for Jared Allen three seasons later.
By reaching for that need for speed, the Vikings also reached on their second first-round pick (No. 18) by selecting Erasmus James from Wisconsin. Known as a speed rusher that could terrorize quarterbacks, he never reached his potential either, and Minnesota had the pleasure of whiffing on two first-round picks in the same draft.
(Oh, and they passed on Rodgers again … but that’s irrelevant.)
So, what’s the point of this history lesson? It’s because in current day Vikings’ lore, general manager Rick Spielman is heading into another big draft with the team going 7-9 without Adrian Peterson and a rookie quarterback starting 13 games. It’s probable that one piece could fill this, but reaching could mean setting the team back for several seasons.
This means the Vikings need to figure out the best player available and let it ride. It was the same strategy that helped land Peterson with the seventh-overall pick in 2007 and could help land a projected top-10 pick that slips through the cracks this year.