Ed Marinaro to announce Vikings’ second-round pick

Over the course of the past decade or so, one of the things that we’ve seen at the NFL Draft is players and other people with connections to each franchise announcing some of the picks that each team is making. We’re going to see that again this year, and the Minnesota Vikings’ second-round pick is going to be announced by someone that found himself in that same position half a century ago.

According to Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Vikings’ second-round pick. . .or picks, if there’s a trade or two. . .will be announced by former Vikings running back Ed Marinaro. Marinaro was the team’s second-round pick out of Cornell in the 1972 NFL Draft.

Marinaro finished as the runner-up for the 1971 Heisman Trophy before being drafted by Minnesota and wound up playing for the Vikings for four seasons from 1972 to 1975. He then spent some time with the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks before hanging up his cleats following the 1977 season. In his career with Minnesota, he had 306 carries for 1,007 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 125 receptions for 1,008 yards and seven more scores.

Unfortunately for the Vikings. . .and, honestly, fortunately for Marinaro. . .his greatest success came away from the football field. After his football career concluded, he got into acting. Marinaro eventually became best known for playing the role of Officer Joe Coffey in the hit 80s police drama Hill Street Blues, a role he played from 1981 to 1986. He also played the role of the head coach on Spike TV’s football comedy Blue Mountain State for three seasons and a movie that was released in 2016.

We’re a couple of days away from seeing who the Vikings will take in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and when the name is revealed, it will come from the mouth of another Vikings’ second-round selection.