FanPost

Ranking the Draft Options

Although the Vikings have many team needs this off season, the glaring holes are Quarterback and Linebacker. Hendersen is gone, Greenway had a terrible year, Bishop being injured again, etc. The QB situation is..uh...you all know that. Rick Spielmen has declared that he wants to acquire more picks, but is this the best strategy? Assuming that the Vikings pick up a Linebacker and QB early, the team essentially has four options.

1. Move up and draft a QB.

2. Move down and select a QB.

3. Stay put and draft a QB in Round 1.

4. Stay put and draft a QB in Round 2 or 3.

Ranking the options:

1. (Option 2) Moving down seems like the most realistic and strategically sound option here. Most mock drafts have Derek Carr as anywhere between 15 and 30 in value. The Vikings could simply move down a spot or two as they did when drafting Matt Kalil, or even all the way to the bottom of the first round while still nabbing Carr. Carr has not fared well against elite college opponents, and the teams that badly need quarterbacks are loaded at the top of the draft.

2. (Option 1) Moving up to select a quarterback with the 1st or 2nd pick is going to cost at least the first round pick of this year and next. Sounds pretty heavy, could be worth it if the team thinks Manziel or Bridgewater is the savior. Unlikely for Spielmen to do something like this but he does need to produce results now. I must say his is my favorite scenario, as I would love to see Manziel or Bridgewater in purple, but it may not be the best long term option.

3. (Option 4) Many might think that picking a linebacker such as Khalil Mack or C.J. Mosely off the bat and then picking a QB such as Jimmy Garoppollo or Brett Smith is the best option. While a elite linebacker prospect would be great for the worst defense in the league, do you really want the 9th or 10th best QB prospect in the draft? I sure wouldn't. We all know QBs in the draft are a risk no matter what but lets at least take the least amount of risk. There won't be 10 stud rookie QBs in the draft next year, and don't count on finding a Tom Brady late. GMs are finally learning that size is not a big deal and the best prospects will be gone early.

4. (Option 3) Staying put and drafting a QB seems like the worst option here assuming the top 3 QB prospects are gone. Who are you going to draft? Carr? It seems extremely easy to trade down and still get him, and then get one of the top Linebacker prospects. I don't expect Spielmen to do this, especially since he had already mentioned he wanted to accumulate more draft picks.

What are your thoughts?

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.