Vikings Mock Draft - Free Agency Day 29 Plan

The Vikings could be all done with free agency but I suspect and hope they have a few more moves left. They may not happen until after the draft but I hope they do before. I believe they are likely waiting to get really good bargains as players are getting desperate to get paid.

Right now, spotrac has the Vikings with 14.64 mil cap space after accommodating for the top 51 plus rookie pool.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings/cap/

But this does not include Keenum's deal yet which is for 1 mil guaranteed. So let's say they have about 13.64 mil left to use on free agents.

In my last plan I advocated extending Bradford and Rhodes. I still think they should extend Rhodes. But now I am unsure what they are planning to do with Bradford. But if they do not keep him after the 2017 season then it was a massive failure to give up a 1st round pick for a 2 year rental. They need to win playoff games this year to even try to justify the deal. If Bradford leaves after taking the team to the playoffs then it would probably be even worse. At least to me.

I think the defensive tackle position is in serious jeopardy looking past 2017. The only one that is a starter under contract is Joseph. They could find themselves entering free agency next year just as desperate for defensive tackles as they were for offensive tackles this year. And that wont be cheap!

I am still banging the table for this team to go out and sign Johnathan Hankins to whatever it takes. If they can give up a 1st round pick and pay Bradford 25 mil for two years then they can sign Hankins and pay him whatever he is asking for a couple of years (most contracts are really only two years based off the guaranteed money).

I also think they should sign Austin Pasztor OG/OT from the Browns. They originally signed him as an UDFA in 2012 so they are very familiar with him as they did pre-draft work. He has started 43 games out of 58 games in his career with the Jaguars and Browns. He is at least a solid veteran with experience and is only 26 years old. I am flabbergasted they have not made this move. He would be worth it to me but they really must believe Sirles is going to do well.

Another player who they did visit with is Nickell Robey-Coleman. I hope they can bring him on board too.

Other than these three then signing a LB would make some sense and Gerald Hodges is still out there.

I doubt they sign any of these players besides maybe Robey-Coleman. Other than that I think they stand pat or sign street free agents like a Sen'Derrick Marks, Rey Maualuga, Dion Jordan?, Jarius Byrd, and anyone else who was cut. That way they still might get a compensatory pick or two. Not going to try and figure that out right now.

Another option that I am going to repeat and I am hoping they try to make happen is to try to trade for Jordan Matthews WR from the Eagles. They signed Alshon Jeffrey and Torrey Smith plus they have Nelson Agholor and Dorial Green-beckham on the roster too. Matthews is entering his last season and they may not be able to keep him if they want to keep Jeffrey.

The only worry is that Spielman is going to get taken advantage of by Roseman AGAIN!

I am not a fan of doing mocks that the natives (you know who you are) believe will happen. I like to do things that I think would be good as far as value in the draft and long term success for the Vikings.

Here you go.

I used the fanspeak on the clock premium tool. I used the matt miller big board as well.

http://fanspeak.com/ontheclock/sharedraft.php?d=okxgif

TRADES

ATLANTA FALCONS

SENT: ROUND: 3 PICK: 22

RECEIVED: ROUND: 3 PICK: 31 & ROUND: 4 PICK: 29

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

SENT: ROUND: 2 PICK: 16

RECEIVED: ROUND: 2 PICK: 26 & ROUND: 3 PICK: 38

58: R2P26 Obi Melifonwu SS Connecticut rSr 6-4 224

Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

79: R3P15 Antonio Garcia OT Troy rSr 6-6 302

Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports

95: R3P31 JuJu Smith-Schuster WR Southern California Jr 6-1 215

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

He looks good no? :)

102: R3P38 Jaleel Johnson DT Iowa rSr 6-3 316

Caylor Arnold-USA TODAY Sports

120: R4P13 Ethan Pocic C LSU Sr 6-6 310

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

128: R4P21 Teez Tabor CB Florida Jr 6-0 199

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

136: R4P29 Daeshon Hall DE Texas A&M Sr 6-5 266

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

160: R5P16 Jeremy McNichols RB Boise State Jr 5-9 214

Brian Losness-USA TODAY Sports

199: R6P15 Dede Westbrook WR Oklahoma Sr 6-0 178

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

232: R7P14 Jayon Brown ILB UCLA Sr 6-0 231

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Alternate draft using the fanspeak big board.

http://fanspeak.com/ontheclock/sharedraft.php?d=zjvews

TRADES

BUFFALO BILLS

SENT: ROUND: 2 PICK: 16 & ROUND: 5 PICK: 16

RECEIVED: ROUND: 2 PICK: 12

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

SENT: ROUND: 3 PICK: 22

RECEIVED: ROUND: 3 PICK: 32 & ROUND: 5 PICK: 19

OAKLAND RAIDERS

SENT: ROUND: 6 PICK: 15

RECEIVED: ROUND: 6 PICK: 24 & ROUND: 7 PICK: 26

44: R2P12 S OBI MELIFONWU CONNECTICUT

79: R3P15 OT ANTONIO GARCIA TROY

96: R3P32 RB JOE MIXON OKLAHOMA

120: R4P13 TE GERALD EVERETT SOUTH ALABAMA

128: R4P21 C ETHAN POCIC LSU

163: R5P19 DL JARRON JONES NOTRE DAME

208: R6P24 EDGE DEATRICH WISE JR. ARKANSAS

232: R7P14 WR MACK HOLLINS NORTH CAROLINA

244: R7P26 K ZANE GONZALEZ ARIZONA STATE

A third mock using the drafttek mock as a guide.

http://www.drafttek.com/2017-NFL-Mock-Draft-Round1.asp

2.48 Christian McCaffrey RB Stanford

3.79 Curtis Samuel WR Ohio State

3.86 Brad Kaaya QB Miami

4.120 Josh Jones S North Carolina State

4.129 Alex Anzalone LB Florida

5.160 Jarron Jones DT Notre Dame

6.199 Jermaine Eluemunor OG/OT Texas A&M

7.232 Keionta Davis DE Tennessee-Chattanooga

After having done these mocks for many many year I realize the draft experts will let me know that many of the players will not be available in the rounds that I have them selected. This quite often ends up being true. But sometimes not.

I do like the first mock a lot but I think Obi is going in the first round.

I believe that if the Vikings sign Pasztor then they may not be as desperate to grab an offensive lineman. If Lamp falls anywhere close to the 2nd round pick then I would pay to move up to get him. Ramczyk too.

Otherwise we are talking developmental players anyway.

I think the next iterations are going to be a bit more crazy!