Daily Norseman
Sometimes the best trade is the one you do not make!
Now that the draft is over and it has been analyzed ad nauseum, we can see the picture of this “time horizon” that Kwesi speaks of often. Many of the Draft Doofi believed the Vikings were going to trade down. Yet they did not. It is fairly obvious the reason why. Two of the top three interior offensive linemen had been selected already. They did not want to miss out on the other one. It is debatable which guard should have been ranked as the best but system fit is more important than rankings. Maybe you could argue a trade down with the Giants (if it was offered) would have resulted in the Vikings taking Jonah Savaiinaea at 34. They did have him in for a top 30 visit (IIRC). But Jonah only played on the right side and it would have been a transition for him to move over to the left side.
I think that being content with few picks is not a bad thing for the Vikings. The undrafted free agents may make a contribution but most will likely have to make the practice squad and continue their development. My favorite to make the team is Silas Bolden. The punt returner job is wide open and he is very good at it.
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Kevin O’Connell sends firm message about the Vikings’ not trading down in NFL Draft
“I think Kwesi (Adofo-Mensah) was doing a great job. And Rob (Brzezinski) and our folks in there, kind of, we kind of knew we’d be right in the mix there of potentially (a) team either want(ing) to come up and maybe select a quarterback, maybe another position. But we also have identified some players in a cluster there at certain spots, that if one of those guys were there, it was going to take a certain amount of capital via the trade to even be thinking about moving, and we fielded some calls. We had some conversations and some good dialogue. And ultimately decided to pull the card and draft Donovan Jackson. He was one of those players that we kind of went into (the NFL Draft) and hoping he would be there, and really see a role fit for him and our team that we’re really excited about.
O’Connell was honest about the situation, and he also said what we’ve known teams to do often with a group of players they are comfortable taking at a certain spot. The really important aspect for O’Connell was that he emphasized it would take a certain amount of draft capital to move off of 24. It also says that a trade like the ones that the Giants and Falcons made (if they offered it) wasn’t enough for the Vikings to do just that.
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