Well, the feeding frenzy for players that weren't selected with any of the draft's 253 picks has started, and somebody had better call Mr. French and/or Mary J. Blige, because the Vikings have made this a family affair.
According to Judd Zulgad of the Star-Tribune, here are the Undrafted Free Agents that the Vikings have agreed with:
Husain Abdullah S Washington State
Martail Burnett DE Utah
Leger Douzable DT Central Florida
Marcus Griffin S Texas
Steven Hauschka K NC State
Erin Henderson LB Maryland
Nate Jones WR Texas
Travis Key CB Michigan State
Jeremy “J” Leman LB Illinois
Tim Mattran C Stanford
Drew Radovich T USC
Darius Reynaud WR West Virginia
Brandon Sumrall CB S Mississippi
Marcus Walker CB Oklahoma
Kyle Wright QB Miami (Fla.)
Albert Young RB Iowa
Erin Henderson is the younger brother of Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson, while Marcus Griffin is the younger brother of Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin. Both players attended the same college as their older brothers did. Gee. . .you suppose the Vikings had the inside track on those two signings?
Looking at where The Sporting News had each of them ranked, Reynaud was listed as their 15th best WR and the highest WR not drafted. Henderson was their 8th ranked outside linebacker. Leman was the #13 inside linebacker, and Griffin was the #14 safety in their listings.
Not sure how many of these guys are actually going to have a shot at making the roster, but it's good to see that the Beloved Purple didn't just sit on their hands after the final name was called out.
Thanks for the great weekend, everybody. Despite not seeing a lot of action, the Vikings made the draft weekend a pretty successful one in my book, as well as a pretty successful one for the Daily Norseman. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday night, and we'll see you all back here tomorrow!
UPDATE: I have just been informed that, due to my not being very smart, I was incorrect in saying that Marcus Griffin is Cedric Griffin's brother. Marcus Griffin is actually the brother if Michael Griffin, who plays for the Tennessee Titans.
But he DID go to the same school as Cedric Griffin. . .can't that make them half-brothers or something? No? Damn.
Anyway, I apologize for the error, not only because the information was bad, but it causes the opening paragraph of this post to make much less sense than it originally did.