Minnesota Vikings Have Drafted Very Well Over The Past Five Years

We are now only about two and a half weeks away from the NFL Draft, and if the past five years are any indication, we should be very excited about what the Minnesota Vikings do at this year's annual selection meeting.

According to a study done by CSN Bay Area, the Minnesota Vikings have done the seventh-best job of drafting in the NFL over the past five seasons. Many people have said that Brad Childress, while turning out to be not-so-great as a coach, was still a pretty decent talent evaluator, and this sort of thing pretty much bears that out.

Here's what the study had to say about the Minnesota Vikings' past five years worth of drafting.

Number of picks: 32
Still on team: 22
Starters: 11
Best pick: RB Adrian Peterson, 2007
Worst pick: CB Marcus McCauley, 2007
Overall: Peterson, Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin have been to Pro Bowls. In fact, Peterson has been to Pro Bowls in his first four seasons after being chosen No. 7 overall in 2007. The Vikings have not missed with their first-round picks. Defensive end Ray Edwards, a fourth-round pick in 2006, has 26.5 sacks over the past four seasons. During this time, McCauley, a third-round pick in 2007, is the only player selected before the fourth round who is no longer on the roster. The only problem with their drafts over the past five years is that they have not set themselves up at quarterback. The Vikings selected Tarvaris Jackson with the 64th pick in 2006, but then opted on luring Brett Favre out of "retirement" the past two years.

Well, when the man is right, the man is right. In the past five drafts, the Vikings have only chosen in the first round three times. . .they took Chad Greenway in 2006, Adrian Peterson in 2007, and Percy Harvin in 2009. It's really pretty hard to argue with the those three picks. The 2008 first-rounder was sent to Kansas City as part of the deal to acquire Jared Allen. . .yeah, I'd have to say that was a pretty good move, too.

Things like this are why you sort of have to laugh at the "experts" declaring that the Vikings are old and that they don't have any good, young talent. The "old" guys in Minnesota. . .guys like Antoine Winfield (who may have been the best corner in football in 2010) and Kevin Williams are still pretty damn good, and there's plenty of young talent on this team, if anybody takes a minute or two to actually look at it.

With Rick Spielman and, now, Leslie Frazier in charge of things, this team is going to get more good, young talent, and any "rebuilding" process, such that it is, is going to be completed sooner rather than later. When the point comes in the next few years that this team is celebrating a Super Bowl victory, we can look back at stuff like this and say, "Yeah, we knew it all along."