Saturday Apr 25th was exciting yet sad as I knew at 6:00 my football fun was over other than now watching breakdown after breakdown of each team.
This virtual draft went incredibly smooth was so many fun storylines and records made. The first round saw 15 SEC players drafted was a record. LSU had 10 players picked in the first 3 rounds which tied a record and Alabama had 9. There was 13 receivers taken in the first 2 rounds which beat 12 set in 2014 that included Odell Beckham Jr, Devante Adams and Mike Evans. The seven round total saw 38 receivers go so yes the draft was extremely deep with receivers.
I wanted to share a couple quotes starting with Nate Burleson when he referred to the Detroit Lions as the Lions King and they drafted Jeff Okudah so Burleson cleverly said “Lions King Okudah Matata.” It was Saturday morning and NFL Network was talking about Quarterback Jake Fromm as “Jake from State Fromm.”
There were so many story lines all draft but I look at Saturday and start with Washington Redskins Offensive Tackle, Trent Williams who was traded to the San Francisco 49ers. The St. Johns Minnesota Offensive tackle, Ben Bartch drafted by Jacksonville at pick 116 one pick before the Vikings who I hoped would draft him. I am happy for Ben as he is the first player drafted from this school since 1974.
Quarterbacks Jacob Eason and Jake Fromm kept waiting for a call and finally at pick 122 Eason goes to the Colts, I thought Fromm would be the next quarterback to go but no James Morgan from Florida International goes at 125.
K’Von Mitchell drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles was the first person from his family to graduate from High School. It was neat to see a couple players drafted and their dads were former NFL players such as Brycen Hopkins drafted and his dad was Brad. What’s neat about this is Brycen was drafted by the Rams and so was Van Jefferson earlier and his dad was Shawn so 2 father son combos on the Rams.
Carolina Panthers are the first team in modern draft era with a minimum of seven picks to pick all defensive players and no offensive. The New England Patriots enter the draft with my thought of drafting a quarterback and they did not.
The New England Patriots had drafted Kyle Dugger earlier at pick 37 in the 2nd round and according to ESPN Info and stats Kyle is the earliest draft choice of a Division II player since 1999.
The Miami Hurricanes for years were a powerhouse and now this draft did not see a Hurricane drafted until Shaquille Quarterman was taken with the 140th pick in the 4th round which was the longest since 2014.
Nebraska Cornhuskers had twin brothers both get drafted as Khalil went to Tampa Bay and Carlos went to Pittsburgh in two different rounds.
The University of Minnesota had a great weekend seeing five players drafted which marks the most since 1990. Antoine Winfield Jr and Tyler Johnson both went to Tampa Bay. Carter Coughlin and Chris Williamson both went to the New York Giants. Kamal Martin went to the Green Bay Packers which is hard to watch but I am happy for him to get a chance to make an NFL squad. I wish all five players nothing but success unless they play the Vikings.
Let’s get to the Vikings day three as the Vikings were to have 13 picks for a potential 17 for the weekend so would the team keep all? The answer was no but in the end had 15 which I can’t remember the last time we had that many picks.
The Vikings in 2019 led the way with 56 percent of the roster being draft picks and after this weekend’s picks I don’t see the percent going down.
It was stated that 2019 NFL rosters had 14 percent of their roster first rounders’, 21 percent and 4th-7th rounds and undrafted free agents make up 65 percent so day three is huge for every team.
The first four picks earlier I loved so I was curious how Saturday would go and the way Saturday started out both twitter and Facebook friends were questioning why no offensive line help to start.
The final score shows 6 offensive players and nine defensive players and the rounds were 2 in the first round, 1 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th, 2 in the 6th and 4 in the 7th.
I look at the first three picks of Saturday starting with DJ Wonnum, Defensive End who was a 3 year captain at South Carolina which has only happened three times in school history so I see leadership qualities.
James Lynch, Defensive Tackle from Baylor was 2019 Big 12 Defensive player of the year and had school record 13.5 sacks. He now owns the school record with 22 for his career and the 13.5 last year. The bottom line is he knows to get to the quarterback.
Troy Dye, Linebacker from Oregon lead the Ducks all four years in tackles so makes a great addition to the Vikings linebacker corp. A little fact is both Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks both played at UCLA and now add a Oregon player making three Pac10 studs.
The next two I know have very little info on Harrison Hand, cornerback form Temple and KJ Osborn, Wide Receiver from Miami, Florida. I only imagine more depth competition.
The same with the next two, Blake Brandel, Offensive Tackle from Oregon State and Josh Metellus, Safety from the University of Michigan. I like the adding of more depth for both the secondary and offensive line.
The next pick might be the steal of the draft as Kenny Willkes a defensive end from Michigan State. He was voted the national top walk on and he ended his career with 23. 5 sacks. He was said to be a 5th round value so we will see.
The last three picks Nate Stanley quarterback from the University of Iowa who left with the 2nd most touchdowns and passing yards in school history makes for a great story to watch.
Brian Cole II, a safety from Mississippi State and ending the draft at pick 253 was Kyle Hinton, Guard from Washburn so both these gentlemen add more depth competition.
I just came across twitter and saw the Vikings PR announced the 15 picks was a Minnesota Viking team record in a 7 round draft.
I love the Vikings and would love to give an A but I will settle for a A- as I am not sure about the offensive line yet.
This is my prediction as they put Ezra Cleveland at LT, then slide Riley Reiff to LG, Garrett Bradbury stays at center and Pat Elflein at RG and leave Brian O’Neil at RT.
Thank you for reading
Purplestick
SKOL!!!!!
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