NFL Draft Time!

Regarding the recently concluded NFL Draft, it is so amusing to go and read all the expert's "Draft Grades".  To this point, the Vikings draft has been graded anywhere from B+ to a D, mostly due to whether or not they happened to like the Vikes 1st round pick, QB Christian Ponder.   Most of the "Experts" who don't like the Ponder pick, were the same "Experts" who loved the Ryan Leaf, Tim Couch, and JaMarcus Russell picks.   Geniuses.  In fact the idiot who gave the D droned on exclusively on what a bad pick Ponder was, while not mentioning they got a stud TE in Notre Dame's Kyle Rudolph, or tremendous value in 4th rounder DE Christian Ballard from Iowa or 5th rounder CB Brandon Burton from Utah.  Another idiot gave a bad grade because "the Vikings failed to address a weak offensive line until the later rounds".  Well guess what buddy, no team has EVER addressed EVERY need, in EVERY round, with EVERY draft pick, and it's stupid to think it's possible, especially when there has been no free agency period to address other areas of need to this point.  Same thing with the analysts who said "..oh the Vikings panicked".  Eh?......no.  They made no secret that they wanted a young quarterback to build around, and if they found someone at 12 that they liked, they were taking him.  Ponder was a guy they liked, and they took him....Case closed.   I'm not sure that I want to see Ponder being handed the keys to the whole she-bang right away, but I'm also not a big fan of paying a Donovan McNabb-type a bunch of money to come in a hold the seat warm either.  With this labor nonsense continuing to go on, it's still way up in the air as to whether or not we'll get to keep DE Ray Edwards and WR Sidney Rice for another year or not, so I'm hoping they'll work something out where unrestricted free agency can't happen unless they've got 6 years of service time in, meaning we would get to keep them.  If not, that's two very big holes to have to fill.

The Vikes are definitely in a bit of a quandary, with an aging team, and with two division foes (Chicago and Green Bay) making the NFC Championship game, and the Pack winning the Super Bowl, and with a Detroit Lions team, that continues to stockpile young talent.  The Vikes need to have some of these late round picks be more than just filled roster spots.  That, and the Vikings can still continue to get better from within.  A healthy offensive line would do wonders for both the running and passing games.  G Steve Hutchinson and C John Sullivan were hurt, virtually all of last year, and RT Phil Loadholt can improve on the poor 2nd season he had a year ago.  That, and last seasons offensive line coaches were fired, and in new Offensive Coordinator Bill Musgrave's offense, we may do away with that lousy "zone-blocking" garbage and get back to a power-blocking/road-grading type of team like we should be to begin with.  We also need to really find out what we have in several 2nd and 3rd year guys like LB Erin Henderson, DT Letroy Guion, S Tyrell Johnson, LB Jasper Brinkley, CB Asher Allen, G Chris DeGeare, DE Everson Griffen, C Jon Cooper, and FB Ryan D'Imperio.  It will be critical for the future of the Vikings that these guys decide to distinguish themselves as solid NFL contributors, or if they'll be remembered for being on the Vikings roster for a couple/few years and then fading into obscurity.