The Newest Vikings: Greg Childs

With the wide receiver position being such a sore spot for the Minnesota Vikings in 2011, they decided it was necessary to address it twice. Early in the fourth round, the Vikings grabbed Jarius Wright out of the University of Arkansas, and late in the fourth round they tabbed his Razorbacks teammate, Greg Childs.

Of course, as we've read numerous times since the draft concluded, this won't be the first time that Childs and Wright will be teammates. They've been teammates going all the way back to the third grade, having played together at Warren High School as well as with the Razorbacks.

Childs began contributing to the team immediately with the Razorbacks, catching 18 passes for 273 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman at Arkansas. His 15.2 yard/reception average was third on the team that year for players that had multiple receptions.

As a sophomore, Childs started making even more of an impact, starting in eight of Arkansas' 13 games that season. He led the squad with 48 catches for 894 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging over 18 yards per reception in the process. He generated a lot of buzz that season, so much so that he was added to the Biletnikoff Award watch list prior to his junior season. The Biletnikoff Award is given every year to college football's most outstanding wide receiver.

However, things did not go quite as planned for Childs during that junior season. He got off to a huge start, catching 46 passes for 659 yards and six scores in the Razorbacks' first eight contests. However, during the Razorbacks' 49-14 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores, Childs tore a patella tendon making a reception in the fourth quarter of play, causing him to miss the rest of the season. Prior to his senior year, he was on the watch list for the Maxwell Award and was a pre-season All-Southeastern Conference selection, but he clearly was not completely recovered from his knee injury. He caught just 21 passes as a senior for 240 yards and no scores.

Childs admitted during a conference call just after he was drafted by the Vikings that he came back from his injury too quickly. At his Pro Day in Fayetteville, however, he showed that he just might be getting back to speed 18 months after he got injured. The 6'3", 220-pound Childs ran an outstanding 4.41-second 40-yard dash, and displayed a vertical leap of more than 40" during his pro day workout, a significant improvement over what he had shown at the NFL Combine just two weeks prior.

This could end up being one of the biggest steals the Vikings got out of the 2012 NFL Draft. . .and, just between you and me, it wouldn't surprise me if Childs was starting at wide receiver for this team in Week 1. Ignore the fact that he wound up getting taken in the fourth round. . .a healthy Greg Childs is not a fourth-round talent. If he's regaining his athletic ability after the knee injury he suffered as a junior, he has all the physical gifts necessary to have a big-time impact for this football team.

(Warning: Video does have a few naughty words in it. Apologies in advance.)