As you would expect from a team that finished the 2010 season with a 6-10 mark, the Minnesota Vikings have a few different places they need to fill holes on their roster if they hope to be competitive in 2011 and beyond. Since the draft is about 24 hours away at this point, allow me to finalize that list of needs as I see them.
1) Quarterback - Yes, this is the obvious one, I know. The question in this draft isn't if the Minnesota Vikings will select a quarterback, but who and when. Is there going to be a run of quarterbacks that will drain the talent pool before Minnesota's second-round pick? Will they try to avoid that scenario by taking one at number 12, even if it might be considered a reach? Will they simply try to take a developmental guy in the middle rounds and hope that they can sign a veteran to compete with Joe Webb?
The quarterback position basically holds the key to Minnesota's entire draft, in my opinion. We'll see which direction that goes.
2) Secondary - I don't want to narrow this one down to either "cornerback" or "safety," because the Vikings need help at both spots. However, they might have the flexibility in the secondary to move a corner to safety if they take someone like Prince Amukamara early on. Somebody like Cedric Griffin, Chris Cook, or even Antoine Winfield (which would be a long shot at best) could potentially move to safety in that instance, but the more likely scenario (in my opinion) would be the Vikings grabbing a safety in the second or third round (if they can recoup that third-round selection) and try to fill the spot that way.
3) Offensive Line - While it's obvious that the Vikings do need some help on the offensive line, I think that they could potentially wait until the later rounds for some help. The exception, of course, would be if the Vikings wanted to grab somebody like Mike Pouncey in the first round. I think our tackle play will be better next season. . .after all, it can't get much worse. . .but the interior of the line needs help more than anything.
4) Wide Receiver - It would be nice to know whether the Vikings had any chance of keeping Sidney Rice prior to the draft, but that's not going to be the case. In any event, with Rice possibly leaving and Bernard Berrian all but gone, the Vikings are going to have some openings at the wide receiver position.
5) Defensive End - A lot of people would put this higher, but I firmly believe that as long as our defensive line is coached by Karl Dunbar, whoever the Vikings take along the defensive line in the draft will reach their maximum potential under his tutelage, and therefore think this pick could wait for a little bit.
How would you prioritize the Vikings' needs in this 2011 NFL Draft?
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