Will Coaching The Senior Bowl Help The Minnesota Vikings?

by Christopher Gates on Jan 9, 2012 12:02 PM CST in Minnesota Vikings 2012 Off-Season

As Ted mentioned in the Open Thread yesterday, the Minnesota Vikings will be one of the two NFL coaching staffs that will be coaching at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama on January 28. From my understanding, the way the coaching for the Senior Bowl works is that the teams that possess the #1 and #2 overall picks are asked first and, if they refuse for whatever reason, they progress down the list from there.

Well, since nobody really knows what the heck is going on in Indianapolis right now with the Colts, and since the St. Louis Rams are without a coaching staff at the moment, that left an opening for Leslie Frazier and company to accept the invite to coach the North team. Mike Shanahan and his Washington Redskins staff will coach the South team.

So, that means that the Vikings' coaches will get an up close and personal look at all of the top senior prospects in this year's NFL Draft. You would have to think that this would be an advantage for the team and what they can tell new General Manager Rick Spielman about which way they would like the team to go this April. Now, it most likely won't help them with the #3 overall pick. . .after all, from looking at most projections (including this one from the Great Blue North Report and this one from the SB Nation mothership), of the first thirteen picks this April, as many as twelve of them could be underclassmen, depending on how things fall.

However, in the rounds after that, one would think that the ability to get some actual, hands-on time with a bunch of prospects like this could only be a positive for the team. Sure, everyone will get to see these players at the Scouting Combine in February and their individual Pro Days and stuff, but having the ability to actually work with them can only be a good thing, in my opinion.

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It certainly cannot hurt.

I am excited about this development, it is much better to watch a guy in an actual game scenario, than in their underwear.

by Bjorno on Jan 9, 2012 12:11 PM CST reply actions

Not only watching them in the game

But running them through dills in practice for a week leading up to it too. It’s a huge advantage for our staff.

by Cobra312004 on Jan 9, 2012 2:04 PM CST up reply actions

And

Seeing how well they pick up on new routes, coverages, and just getting to know the person underneath the helmet.

If we can't laugh at ourselves, Packer fans will call us crybabies and we will be forced to kick their tooth in. I really don't want to go to jail (again).

by Alittlemore_cowbell on Jan 9, 2012 2:22 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

This is good news for sure!

I like it that many of the top projected draft picks are underclassmen and that this will give the coaching staff a good look at steals they can get in the later rounds.

\m/

by Edgecrusher71 on Jan 9, 2012 12:23 PM CST reply actions

I hope the North team didn't plan on winning. HeyOh!

Seriously though, I was wondering how the coaching staffs get selected. Thanks for the info.

"I wanted to do it because it's fun, it's fun to do bad things and drive into a car."

by PurplePeopleEaters on Jan 9, 2012 12:46 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

I was going to go there...

…but glad you beat me to it. :-)

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain." - Lily Tomlin

by kcskol on Jan 9, 2012 3:27 PM CST up reply actions

Yes

It SHOULD help. All we have to do is look at last year’s chain of events: January—Marvin Lewis and Co. coach the South team, and thus have total access to QB prospect Andy Dalton. April—The Bengals draft Andy Dalton.

"At this point, what we got to lose, right? So we might as well throw caution to the wind and hit people in the face."
--Vikings DE Jared Allen

by NMVike on Jan 9, 2012 12:47 PM CST reply actions