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2015 Minnesota Vikings Mock Draft Database: Pre-Combine Edition

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Before the excitement of guys running around in shorts and t-shirts and jumping really high that is the NFL Scouting Combine descends upon us next week, it's time to fire up the 2015 version of the Minnesota Vikings' Mock Draft Database.

We've started relatively small, as we always do, with 30 mock drafts from around the internet to kick things off. These come from a wide range of sources and levels of expertise. . .well, as much expertise as one can have in the art of the mock draft, in any case. Let's take a look at what these 30 mock drafters have for the Pre-Combine edition of our database.

For now, we have these sorted by the date they were last updated, with the newest ones at the top.

Site Name Date Round 1 (11) Round 2 (45) Round 3 (76)
Arizona Republic Bob McManaman 13-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
EDS Football Kevin Hanson 13-Feb Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
Sporting News Eric Galko 13-Feb La'el Collins, OL, Louisiana State
CBS Sports Pat Kirwan 11-Feb Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
Draft Season Ultimate 11-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville Paul Lawson, LB, Texas Christian
DraftTek Consensus 11-Feb Landon Collins, S, Alabama Cedric Ogbuehi, OL, Texas A&M Laken Tomlinson, G, Duke
ESPN In$ider Mel Kiper 11-Feb Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
NFL Spin Zone Ryan Disdier 11-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
Pro Football Spot Matt LaPan 11-Feb Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
Walter Football Walt 11-Feb Brandon Scherff, OL, Iowa Jaelen Strong, WR, Arizona State Steve Nelson, CB, Oregon State
Great Blue North Site 10-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville Cedric Ogbuehi, OL, Texas A&M Jay Ajayi, RB, Boise State
NFL.com Charles Davis 10-Feb Brandon Scherff, OL, Iowa
CBS Sports Dane Brugler 9-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
CBS Sports Rob Rang 9-Feb Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
SB Nation Dan Kadar 9-Feb Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama
Vikings Territory Adam Warwas 9-Feb Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State
Walter Football Charlie Campbell 9-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville Tevin Coleman, RB, Indiana Jake Fisher, OT, Oregon
The Viking Age Adam Carlson 8-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
Geeking Football Site 7-Feb Andrus Peat, OT, Stanford
New York Post Steve Serby 7-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
Draft Season Lupagus 5-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
ESPN In$ider Todd McShay 5-Feb DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
NFL.com Lance Zierlein 5-Feb T.J. Clemmings, OT, Pittsburgh
Draft King Lou Pickney 3-Feb Danny Shelton, DT, Washington
Draft Season Onebar 30-Jan DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
Vikings Territory Carl Knowles 30-Jan DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
Vikings Territory Brent LaBathe 28-Jan Brandon Scherff, OL, Iowa
Vikings Territory Brett Anderson 26-Jan Shaq Thompson, LB, Washington
NFL.com Bucky Brooks 19-Jan T.J. Clemmings, OT, Pittsburgh
NFL.com Daniel Jeremiah 14-Jan DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville

As you can see, there is one choice that absolutely dominates the first-round projections for our favorite football team. Overall, however, there are eleven different names at six different positions projected in the first round for the Minnesota Vikings. In last year's Pre-Combine database, there were only seven at two different positions (quarterback and linebacker), so there is significantly more diversity this year despite the Vikings only being three spots farther down in the selection order.

Of the 30 mock drafts that we've selected for our Pre-Combine database, a whopping 19 of them have the Vikings taking a wide receiver with their first pick. That's about a 63% selection rate for the wide receiver position, far more than all the other positions in this database combined. The overwhelming favorite at this point is Louisville wide receiver DeVante Parker, who appears 13 times. That's 43% of our mock drafts that have the Vikings reuniting Parker with his former Louisville teammate, Teddy Bridgewater. Kevin White of West Virginia comes in second among wide receivers, and second in our database overall, with five selections, or right around 17% of selections. There was also one selection for Amari Cooper out of Alabama (3%).

The only other position with multiple players and multiple selections is the offensive line, which garnered eight of the 30 selections in this Pre-Combine database. So, approximately 27% of our mock drafters think the Vikings need to shore up the offensive line. The most popular pick among the offensive linemen so far is Iowa guard/tackle Brandon Scherff, who appears three times (10%). Pittsburgh offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings comes away with two selections this time around (7%), while La'el Collins of LSU and Andrus Peat of Stanford each come away with one selection (3% each).

There are four positions that had one player receiving one selection this time around, or approximately 3% of the proverbial pie. The defensive tackles are represented by Danny Shelton of Washington, the safeties by Landon Collins of Alabama, the cornerbacks by Trae Waynes of Michigan State, and the linebackers by Shelton's Washington teammate, Shaq Thompson. I'm classing Thompson as a linebacker for the purposes of the database because that's where he's said he'd prefer to play.

So, those of you that have followed the database over the past couple of years know that they're usually accompanied by two different graphs that focus on the Vikings' first-round pick. One of these two graphs, lovingly referred to as the "Jell-o Salad graph," shows the trends of players rising and falling in our database throughout the pre-draft process, is not going to be appearing in this version because. . .well, because one database isn't really enough to do a "trend." We'll start that with either v1.0 of the database next week or v2.0 two weeks from now.

We do, however, have our "donut graph," which shows which percentage of the current database each player listed holds. Here's a look at that now.

Minnesota Vikings Mock Draft Database, Pre-Combine

As we have in past years, we've grouped the different position groups by color. In this year's database, we'll be going with the following color scheme:

Wide receivers - Purples
Offensive linemen - Greens
Defensive linemen - Reds
Defensive backs - Blues
Linebackers - Oranges/yellows
Running backs - Blacks/grays (not represented in the Pre-Combine database)
Quarterbacks - AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA like this team is taking a quarterback in the first round TEDDY RULZ!

As I mentioned in the introduction a couple of days ago, as we get closer to the 2015 NFL Draft, we will be adding more mocks to our database. Last year, by the end of the process, we wound up at 102 overall mocks, representing a wide range of experience across the spectrum. We will get up to either v10.0 or v11.0 this year, depending on whether or not we can manage to squeeze one in on the day of the draft itself. Either way, by the end of the process, we'll have the most comprehensive database of mock draft picks for the Minnesota Vikings that you'll find anywhere.

We hope that you'll be making us your go-to place for Minnesota Vikings draft information leading up to the 2015 NFL Draft in Chicago (not New York, but Chicago) on 30 April. For now, enjoy the first version of this year's Mock Draft Database!