NFL Draft 2008 has come and gone for the year. While I am not quite as excited afterward as I was a year ago as it relates to the draft, specifically, the players we added have made me more energized for the start of the season than any over the course of the last five or six years.
I already analyzed the Tyrell Johnson selection in a previous article, but just to recap: I like the addition. My only reservation was taking him ahead of a few other players that were still on the board at the time—most notably Early Doucet, Brian Brohm and Chad Henne. It could easily be argued that the need for a safety to be the heir apparent to Darren Sharper was larger than adding depth at wide receiver or tossing another signal-caller into the mix after taking Tarvaris Jackson only two drafts ago—and I have no problem with fans who would go that route. The most glaring place to look, in my mind, was offensive line, but taking a look at who was left suggests the Vikings did the right thing.
Twenty picks were made in the second round after ours and only one of them was an offensive lineman—Mike Pollak, a center out of Arizona State. John Greco, from Toledo, was the first tackle taken following the Johnson pick when he went to St. Louis with the second selection of the third round. Only two others went in the third round after him.
So what does all of this mean? Well, in the mind of teams around the league, by the time the Vikings made their choice at #43, the upper echelon of offensive linemen had already come to pass.
The team did not have a second selection until they took John David Booty in the second slot of round five. I will try to avoid any hyperbole here, but I absolutely love the pick. The guy is a winner from a winning system. He’s not perfect—if he were he would have gone earlier in the draft. There are some reservations about his size and about his arm strength, but there is still plenty to like. Along with a track record for success, Booty is regarded as a smart player with good mechanics that makes sound decisions. I’m no talent guru—talk to a scout about that—but the lay analyst in me compares him to a former Vikings quarterback: Brad Johnson. And he was good enough to win a Super Bowl. I still like Jackson as the Vikings future quarterback. If he was worth an early pick in 2006, he’s worth giving more time to; that said, Booty looks to me like a guy who could come in and play tomorrow if he had two. He’s not likely to win a lot of games for you—he needs players around him—but he is not likely to lose a game for your team, either. I could see him pulling off something similar to what Trent Edwards did in Buffalo last year. J.P. Losman was the starter, but when the need arose, Edwards answered the call effectively for the Bills. Edwards, a now-second year quarterback out of Stanford, is regarded as a smart, quick-learner. Booty is of a similar makeup. Getting Booty where they did was a great decision and makes me feel a-ok with passing up Henne and Brohm in round two.
Inside on the defensive line, the Vikings have the best tackle tandem in the league with Kevin and Pat Williams, but they are quite thin after that. The only returning player from a year ago is Fred Evans, who is entering his third season in the league. Letroy Guion, a defensive tackle out of Florida State, helps shore things up here and allows for a possible long-term replacement for Pat Williams. The biggest knocks on Guion typically center around his lack of polish and his need to grow as a player. He was a player who slipped to the second day when some had projected him as a second- or third- round slot. As much as I hate to use the phrase, the Vikings got good “value” here and added depth at a spot that could be lacking a comfortable amount of it. I mentioned that Johnson will have the ability to grow into a starter while learning from Sharper and the same could be said for Guion as he shadows two of the best at the position in the league.
On that similar “value” note, the team got John Sullivan out of Notre Dame in the sixth round. This is another selection that suggests the team doesn’t have a lot of huge holes—and their larger concern was likely grooming players to back up proven starters for a year or two before moving into starting roles down the road. Matt Birk, a mainstay at center for the Vikings, is in the last year of his contract and has yet to sign any type of extension. Sullivan was slated as the second to fourth best center in the draft depending on who you were listening to. This was a nice pick with which I have no complaints.
Jaymar Johnson, a receiver from Jackson State, comes to the Vikings with 4.34 speed. He has experience returning punts, which is likely the place where he makes any short-term impact. I liked Aundrae Allison back on kickoffs last year and in taking a look at the other receivers—Bernard Berrian, Sidney Rice, Robert Ferguson, and Bobby Wade—it is not unreasonable to think that Jaymar Johnson and Allison will be battling to be active on game day.
All-in-all, I feel great about both the draft and where the Vikings have positioned themselves heading into the 2008 season. The team addressed its largest needs—at defensive end and wide receiver—with proven commodities while using the draft to find guys to fill the still necessary, yet less glaring holes. I feel it’s a great time to be a Vikings fan.
It certainly doesn’t say much for scouting in Miami when they used an early second-round pick on John Beck a season ago and then used a second-round pick yet again in taking Henne this year. What did they think they had in Beck last year that they didn’t find in ’07? I suppose similar things could be said for a team like ours when we drafted Adrian Peterson when we already had Chester Taylor, but a team can use two backs in the same game—the same cannot be said for quarterback…of a similar, confusing note: what’s going on in Green Bay? They let Aaron Rodgers sit and watch Brett Favre for three years. Then his chance comes about and they draft not one, but two quarterbacks?!...despite some character concerns, I like Mario Manningham’s chances to be an effective pro…I know there was a strong contingent of Vikings fans who hoped John Carlson, the tight end out of Notre Dame, would end up in purple…two other day two players who I think will make great NFL players: Tom Zbikowski and Andre` Woodson.