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.