The 2018 NFL
draft was finally here and all my waiting to go to US Bank Stadium for the
Vikings draft party was finally over we just had to wait to 6:00 when the gates
opened and when they did the sight to see hundreds of people wearing their
Viking jerseys was a sight I just will never stop smiling. The only negative of
the crowd was a fan that had his Eagles Carson Wentz jersey on but I thought
Minnesota fans did a nice job of being Minnesota nice.
The draft as
you know did not actually start to 7:00 so it was a great time to go down to
the ground of US Bank Stadium and walk around and see all they had to offer.
The turf was not down so instead was a plastic like flooring and my night
turned out electric not literally but everything I touched I got a shock. It
was good for a laugh and finally the shock went away.
As we walked
around and looked we found your overpriced food vendors but it is part of what
we are used to. I did have a brat for 8.00 and my wife had a hot dog for 6 so
this was the cheapest we could find as we found a cheeseburger for 11.00.
The
experience I have had in the past draft parties is you will see an occasional player
walking around and Thursday night we ran into Dalvin Cook who was very nice in taking
pictures with fans including my wife and myself. We also ran into former Vike,
Ben Leber and Vikes play by play guy, Paul Allen who were also very gracious in
stopping.
We continued
exploring and found an autograph zone so I asked how much and they said free as
200 wrist bands were to be had free and if you got a wrist band you were
guaranteed to get in a line. There were 3 sessions so you pick which session
which had 2 players each. You could only pick 1 session so we took the
7:00-8:00 session which had Latavius Murray and Randall McDaniel so we got in
line at 7 and met the guys.
We then went
over and got a seat to watch the NFL draft. This is one of the best features of
going to the party because we have KFAN show with Paul Allen, Pete Bercich and
Paul Charchian live and an occasional guest like Dalvin Cook, Latavius Murray
and Andrew Sendejo. The guys are live and talking to the crowd but behind them
is a huge screen TV that is showing the draft so when the Pick is In shows up
on TV the talk show stops and the TV is turned up so we can all hear
Commissioner Roger Goodell and all his fans booing him announce the teams pick.
We were at
the draft party and when your team is pick 30 you know its going to be a long
wait unless they trade up so when pick 29 by Jacksonville was called we all saw
whether you were at home or at the party you saw on TV the words Vikes on the
clock you hope or at least I had hoped they do not trade. We have waited 4
hours with eager anticipation when the Skol chant breaks out and then silence
and then the words I love to see appear on the screen, THE PICK IS IN!!!! I
have been predicting offensive line and I saw a summary of 8 NFL experts who
all had the Vikes take O Line so when the Goodell announced the Vikes take
Central Florida’s Mike Hughes, defensive back I think the crowd was a little
shocked including myself.
I honestly
didn’t know much about Hughes but as the night went on I listened and read I
really like this pick and with an already top ranked defense another guy in the
fold makes them just that much better.
The draft
itself as I look at it saw a lot of things I like and a few surprises. I would
like to start with the way the draft started as Commissioner Goodell comes out
and with that a huge chorus of booing as he was joined by Troy Aikman, Jason
Witten and Roger Staubauch. I personally feel Roger enjoys the booing but this
night I credit him with him starting out by saying I can’t believe you are
booing these Cowboy players.
One of the
greatest stories of the draft came with pick 28 by the Steelers and the man who
announced it was Ryan Shazier. The scene of him walking slowly out with a cane
and then seeing the people at the draft in tears was amazing and a true tribute
to Ryan for staying strong.
I am a big
fan of the first 2 picks seeing Baker Mayfield go to the Browns and Sequon
Barkley going to the Giants.
It was an
historic night with all 5 quarterbacks in Dallas going in the first round. I
will say the players outfits were different as pick 32 Lamar Jackson and his
green suit.
It was a
great night to see 2 brothers go in the first round for a first ever with brothers
ass Tremaine Edmunds went 16 to Buffalo and 28th pick Terrell
Edmunds going to the Steelers.
I really
think some of these teams hit home runs as I love Brandon Chubbs going to
Denver Broncos, the Bears taking Raquon
Smith and look how the Bears have had successful linebackers.
The pick by
Atlanta Calvin Ridley out of Alabama now joins for Crimson Tide player Julio
Jones as Atlanta made their wide outs scarier.
How about
the Patriots taking Sony Michel running back out of Georgia as I feel this kid
has a dream team to play on.
The surprises
to me to name a few was: Cleveland Browns having a chance to take Chubbs take
Denzel Ward out of Ohio State. The Saints trading up 12 picks to the Green Bay
Packers and see the Saints take Marcus Davenport out of UTSA. The speculation I
heard was the reason they went up this far was to take QB, Lamar Jackson. The
Buffalo Bills make a trade which is fine but they gave up way too much and then
they take Josh Allen when most felt Josh Rosen would be the Bills quarterback.
The
storyline of 2 former Vikes quarterbacks, Sam Bradford goes to Arizona for massive
money and the Cardinals pick QB, Josh Rosen. How about the New York Jets sign
Teddy Bridgewater and the Jets take with the 3rd pick QB, Sam
Darnold. The Jets would not take a QB at 3 if they wanted Teddy to be the man.
I guess I feel bad for both Bradford and Bridgewater but I guess time will
tell.
It’s only the
first day with so many storylines with Friday and Saturday to come. As a huge
Vikings/NFL fan I can’t wait.
Thanks for
reading
Purplestick
No comments:
Post a Comment