Greater 2012 Need: Offensive Line or Defensive Secondary?

Well you managed to make me think twice about it, which is impressive since I’m a huge believer that great teams have great OLines.

That said, need is only one of the factors that needs to be considered with a high draft pick.

So you cross reference the blue chip players (Luck and Kalil) with the positions of need. If there’s a match you win. If not, see if anyone wants to overpay for the pick to fill one of their needs. If no one wants to give us a bunch of picks (because we have plenty of holes to fill and I’d move down a few spots if it gives us another 2nd round pick and another 1st rounder next year and whatever else we could get). Then you take best player available that falls into any of these positions: OL, CB, S, WR, LB, DT

Which leaves us pretty open to most of the BPAs since the only spots we don’t need help is: QB, RB, C, DE, K

I think the defensive secondary is a greater need but that being said the right decision is still go with offensive line in round 1.

While there are a few decent LT prospects that might be able to be had in the later round, they have more limited skillsets and their level of talent is typically very different from those in the first round especially at the top like Kalil. Those later round prospect usually are projected to have more extended development periods and cannot come in and start right away, and maybe never develop into a starter.

There are plenty of corners that are projected to be available at the top of round 2 that I think fit the defense better than Claiborne. Guys that are almost just as talented. I think the DB class is by far deeper than the lineman.

If we can get Kalil then great, no-one would complain. The argument arises if Kalil isn’t available. If so, my vote is trade down and pick up Martin.

Trades could be popular in this draft, especially if Griffen III gets a lot of buzz. Look for Washington / Cleveland / Miami / Jacksonville to be interested in a QB. If we could move down 3-4 spots andgrab Martin and an extra 2nd rounder then I would be very happy.

We could then address both CB / S and WR at the top of the 2nd.

Bottom line, we have to protect Ponder first and foremost.

However it is much easier to get DB’s than it is to get linemen in the long run. Also I’m a big fan of BPA so I would go Luck, Kalil, Claiborne, Blackmon as my first round choice, and in that order. All of this can change of course depending on combines, pro days blah blah blah.

Pick up Kalil and hope for a couple DB’s in free agency.

I voted O line first. All though like many here I agree the secondary is worse.
The fact we drafted a QB and Webb as a back up sais youth. In my opinion if you are going to go with little experiance at QB you have to give them a O line that functions like a mean machine. I really think that at this juncture tossing coaches and saying this and that guys play calling is the problem is knee jerky. The reason I say this is because we are still seeing the effects of the old era of ignoring the future and a win now approach. The residue of that is not gone yet. Many here either have over looked it or just ignored it but LF and company nver said in the begining of the year that it was rebuild time. I would like to believe that somewhere Ziggy and the FO and upper coaches sit down and say or said.."the truth is we wont do much this year..so this year we’re going to introduce the things we would like to do and see exactly where we are at with the skill positions we have. A rather evaluation season. I could be nuts on that but to me it would be honest and a decent approach. PR wise with the stadium issue do you say it openly to fans..probubly not because again your still finding out what you have not only in players but also coaching staff. I would liken it to sort of wringing out a wet towel, squeezing the last reminants of the Chilly regime and saying at seasons end, "ok this is what we did this is what we have that will fit and here is what is worth re tooling and what is not. Then you take the time from seasons end to draft day and design your first year rebuild draft.
Alot of coaches and managers look at those on the team and sit back and see who is going to adjust and accept the new school and who is not. IE; Chilly to Cullpepper, Chilly said its my way you do physical thearapy here or…and Pepper said I’ll do it here. thus Chilly saw he had a QB that didnt want to play the new regime. Many here, not saying its a bad thing are saying the obvious but not sure some really get what the obvious means.
The Vikes need a rebuild with that comes more than just drafting correctly so forth. Its an overall team identity. There are sections or units of offense and defense that have for sure at least 2 players in it that have to go some area’s 3. Bring Kalil in and his presence
changes things but no way does that solidify the O line and its now good. Bring in Blackmon and no way now is the WR threat let alone recieving corps re done. In my opin the entire secondary needs to be replaced. I think if your defense is going to be an aggresive scheme you keep Winfield next year to set a mood. Im way off track of the post but I guess Im trying to cover alot of things about coachs play calling so forth. Its not im super smart (like I have to clear that up) but I said they would go 5-11 I find it hard to believe the coaches saw more than that. I think this year has been the new coaching staff squeezing and wringing out the towel to see how deep the build has to be. With that LOL yah I think you build the O line first then the secondary. That is why I see 3-4 years of some rough realities. Sorry to get off track :)

definitely both OT positions, we need either Kalil or Reiff (or Martin, but i like the other two more). Loadholt is playing just as poorly as (if not worse than) Charlie Johnson, who can kick inside to OG — which Loadholt cannot do. it would be nice to know what we have in DeMarcus Love at RT — here’s hoping we can get a glimpse at that these final two games. other than that, i think Fusco will have starter potential at OG and Berger’s flexibility will make him a great backup at C/OG.

as for DB, if Cook is back, plus Winfield, plus (FA?? rookie?? BBurton??), plus Sherels at dime, the CB position isn’t as bad as some may suspect (but yes, it’s still concerning). i’m of the opinion that Safety needs to be addressed before CB in the draft. personally, i like TJ McDonald, i’m hoping he’ll declare.

For example, Ponder was 5 of 14 for 40 yards and 1 TD up until the 7:25 mark in the 4th quarter. He then went 9 of 17 for 80 yards and 1 TD and 1 INT.

You would have to look at every game to see when we managed to throw for those yards.

As for the defense, most teams know they can pass at will on us thereby making the run defense look better. I mean why bother running when you can throw it easily?

The fact is that there are NOT many offensive linemen available in free agency this upcoming off season (or any off season usually). Teams do not let offensive linemen hit free agency that often if at all.

But there are plenty of serviceable corners and safeties this year. I think it is pretty simple what the team should attempt. They should throw big bucks at a corner and safety. I would probably go for two safeties but maybe they think one of the young guys can manage next year if they have one top safety. Then they can attack the offensive line via the draft.

When you look at past drafts and see where the corners were taken you will see that there were many taken in the later part of round 1 and in round 2. I think they can get one in round 2 or later if they do not get one in free agency.

The free agency period will be critical to the success of the team going forward and to the direction of the draft.

I still could see them going with Cook, Winfield, Griffen, Allen, Sherels, & Burton next year. If they are all healthy then it may not be so bad. Maybe Sapp replaces Griffen? I think if the guys are healthy and Cook is back then it may not be so bad.

They could decide to upgrade the safety position and linebacker position in free agency.

But the offensive line needs attention first and foremost. I think that is the way to go this year. It will help Ponder and AP.

I should have expected all the comments to discuss who we should draft, where and when. That wasn’t necessarily what the post was about, but it is the next step in the discussion. I was merely interested in hearing about what people perceived as the biggest need of the team. It was not a question of “who do we draft first”. Some of you got the question, and agreed with me that secondary is our biggest need.

Our secondary is our weakest unit. It is our biggest need. How we address that need is a totally different question. I agree with pretty much everyone here that says draft a LT in the 1st round. A franchise LT is hard to come by, and they rarely become available in free agency, so the best place to get one is early in the draft. It’s also a need of our team. It may not be the biggest need of our team, but it’s close.

Since defensive backs are easier to come by, especially in free agency, we’d be better served to fill that gaping need by spending big in the off-season on our secondary, and drafting some mid-round talent to develop. That’s how I’d approach it anyway

We’ve got to go offensive line. It’s in bad shape. Major pieces of it are old and therefore getting worse. And if the O-line gets better, it’ll take pressure off of our defense.

Like we need another DE… The idiot didn’t even have safety as one of our needs…

What is the status on Cook s legal issues?

you can’t rank an offensive line based on yards and so on, it has to be done on pressures, sacks, hits etc.. I mean, you had me think about it, but it is more important and a bigger need to protect of QBOTF as best as possible and if we end up going CB first, expect Ponder to be on the ground even more next year. But, very nice write up, its definitely an interesting perspective!

Todays mock has us taking LT, CB, and S. I could live with that.