Vikings Draft Thoughts

Just some quick Vikings thoughts going into tonights draft.

The Vikings need to grab a QB somewhere along the way, I suspect that they will, probably somewhere in rounds 1-3.   As much as I'd like to watch Johnny Manziel in purple, I don't see him being a good fit in Norv Turner's offense.  The chance to take a big, strong armed QB like Blake Bortles has to be appealing to the Vikings and the given the lack of recent noise coming out about the Vikings and a QB at number 8, it actually makes me think there is a chance of it happening.  I think they like Teddy Bridgewater too but not at number 8,  I don't think he lasts until their 2nd round choice either so if they want him they'll have to trade into the middle/late first round to get him (the same could also be said of Derek Carr).  Luckily, this is a great year for QB's, if they pass on a QB in round 1 they can still grab a guy like AJ McCarron, Aaron Murray, Tom Savage, Zack Mettenberger or Logan Thomas in rounds 2-4. 

Speaking of QB's, there's also been some buzz that the Vikings could deal for a QB (Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon's names have been thrown around, and you have to believe that the Patriots will be shopping Ryan Mallet), so keep an eye on that too, especially if the price for any is just a middle round pick or two.  Maybe they can deal Christian Ponder too.

The case against going for a QB in round 1?  Did you watch the Vikings last year?  Their defense was absolutely horrid.  Granted, IMO much of their problems last year came from running Leslie Frazier's outdated cover-2 schemes most of the time, but they also desperately need to upgrade the talent level on the defensive side of the ball.  Mike Zimmer is a defensive guy too, so you have to think he'll want to shore up that side of the ball.

My guess on the Vikings Top 8 (which is a balance between talent and need, minus the QB's):   1) Jadeveon Clowney, 2) Khalil Mack, 3) Sammy Watkins, 4) Mike Evans, 5) Justin Gilbert, 6) Anthony Barr, 7) C.J. Mosley, and 8) Aaron Donald. 

Outside of QB, I look for the Vikings to address LB, CB, DB, OG and RB at some point in the draft.  Throwing some names out to fill those needs?  Ka'Deem Carey-RB-Arizona, Kyle Van Noy-LB-BYU, David Yankey-OL-Stanford, Chris Watt-OG-Notre Dame, Shayne Skov-LB-Stanford.