2019 NFL Draft: Solo, A Mock Story

Happy Monday kids, I hope your weekend was a good one. Not a whole lot of news on the Vikings front since our last mock. They’ve signed Adam Thielen to a nice extension, a couple of AAF players, and a backup QB, but overall, it’s nothing that should affect their draft strategy in any meaningful way.

So, let’s get on with with another mock, our eighth. If you care about any of the other ones I’ve done, you can check them out here:

7.0

6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

But if you are a person imbued with common sense, self-worth, and dignity and want to skip those, please do. No one will blame you; conversely, people might actually think better of you, if we’re being brutally honest here.

You’re still here? Okay. I’m as surprised as you are, but let’s get going. Consider these the ground rules for how I do these mocks:

I’m not a professional scout, coach, or GM. I am, however, a Professional Idiot.

If you EVER get to the point where you think ‘man this guy is pretty sharp about drafting and stuff’ go back and read the previous sentence. Then talk to any member of my family, immediate or extended, and they’ll set you straight.

My methodology is fairly straightforward. I’m using Fanspeak’s On The Clock deluxe, high falutin’ draft simulator, that allows me to make and receive trade offers.

In formulating and/or accepting trades, I’m using the 2019 Drafttek Trade Value Chart. I know most teams don’t follow it to the number, and other trades include players, like the Percy Harvin trade a few years back. Trading players in this simulation isn’t an option, and you have to have some kind of baseline, so this is mine:

Minnesota’s biggest need is still the offensive line, even with free agency essentially done...but I don’t think it’s a mandatory, gotta pick in the first round kind of need anymore. I still believe it’s the primary area of concern, so with that in mind this is what I feel are the Vikings needs:

Offensive line

Defensive line

Tight End/Wide Receiver

In the past, I said I would try to mimic GM Rick Spielman, but I think I’m just gonna be me for this one, as in ‘what would I like to see happen?’ I would like to see the Vikings trade down, if possible, and get a couple extra picks. If the Vikings could get an extra day one or two pick by making a trade, I think it would help shore up both lines, and give them more top talent on the roster.

In setting up the draft variables, I chose to use the On The Clock Composite Big Board, just to change things up a bit. The computer is using multiple, as will be the case in real life, the setting is classic, and team needs are user voted.

These are the picks the Vikings have heading into the 2019 Draft:

1st Round

When the round opens, I get two trade offers:

I’m going to be honest here: I’m half tempted to trade up with Denver to get in a position to draft Dwayne Haskins, and I’m not even kidding. But I don’t think he’d be there, so I’m going to turn that offer down. But that Patriots offer? Kind of farther down than I’d like to go, but it’s still in the first round, and I get an extra second and third round pick. I accept the offer.

These are my new picks:

I let the draft run through 26 picks, and most of the top offensive linemen are gone. I want to get a top guy and not risk losing out on marquee talent at my biggest position of need, so I’m going to try and swing a trade with Oakland. I make this offer:

They accept, and although I lose my forth round pick, I get a high pick in the fifth round, while still keeping both second round picks and a third round pick. I am now on the clock, and this is my big board:

Selection: Cody Ford, T, Oklahoma

Rationale: He’s the best offensive lineman for a team that desperately needs one. I’m not overthinking this one.

2nd Round

I get no trade offers when the round starts, but I get two when I come on the clock I get offers for both my second round picks:

Eh, it’s a nice haul of picks, but I’d rather get top shelf talent in the first couple rounds, which is why I made the initial trade with the Patriots anyway, so I turn these offers down. Here’s my big board for the first selection:

Selection, pick 50 (2/18): Irv Smith, TE, ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIDE

Rationale: So here’s the deal. If you think Kyle Rudolph will be around 3-4 more years, and/or the TE’s currently on the roster can step up and start, then this is a dumb pick. However, if you think Rudy is gone in a season or two (he will be), and/or the guys behind him can’t step up (I don’t think they can), then Smith makes a ton of sense here. I like having a pass catching threat to go with Stefon Diggs and Thielen, without wasting a pick on a wide receiver.

Here’s the big board for my next second round pick:

Selection, pick 56 (2/24): Chase Winovich, EDGE, That Team Up North

Rationale: For me, this pick was between either Winovich or Elgton Jenkins. WIth the moves the Vikings made in free agency, I think they have done more to address the offensive line than the defensive line, so I went with the defensive guy here.

3rd Round

No trade offers, so here’s my big board:

Selection: Michael Jordan, G, THE Ohio State University

Rationale: Although I think the Vikings have addressed the o-line, and I got Cody Ford, are the guys they signed in free agency long term answers? Jordan is a player that can push for a starting job, or at least be a realistic option for immediate depth on the interior.

4th Round

No Selection.

5th Round

Big board for round five:

Selection: T.J. Edwards, LB, Wisconsin

Rationale: The Vikings need linebacker depth, and as we head into the fifth round and later, grit becomes a big factor in these selections as well as talent and need. All Wisconsin recruits are football Nick Puntos, and Edwards is as Nick Punto-y as Nick Punto.

6th Round

We’re pretty much through the ‘let’s make trades’ portion of mock drafts, because the actual late round trades on draft day are boring, much less fake ones. Big board:

Selection, pick 190 (6/17): Lil’Jordan Humphrey, WR, Texas

Rationale: The Vikings need a WR, but between Troy Williamson and Laquon Treadwell, I don’t want them to pick a WR earlier than here ever again in the draft. Wait, I’ll be okay with a fifth, as long as it is the clone of Stefon Diggs. As we get to the sixth round and later, we add to ‘grit’ with ‘dudes with cool or weird names’. Boom, done.

Selection, pick 209 (6/36): Gary Johnson, LB, Texas

Rationale: After several unsuccessful Presidential runs on the Libertarian ticket, the former governor of New Mexico will try to fulfill his childhood dream of playing in the NFL.

7th Round

Big board:

Selection, pick 247 (7/33): Johnnie Dixon, WR, THE Ohio State

Rationale: I literally picked the highest ranked OSU player left. And I like DIxon.

Selection, pick 250 (7/36): Easton Stick, QB, North Dakota State

Rationale: When Stick to Dixon becomes more mythical than Montana to Rice, remember you heard it here first.

Recap

Here’s the draft class for A Mock Story:

I like it. I got two offensive linemen and an EDGE rusher to shore up both lines, the best tight end in the draft that didn’t go to Iowa, and addressed pretty much all the remaining team needs. To get here I made these trades: