All done

Here are the bios and scouting reports on Viking draftees Chris Cook, Toby Gerhart, Everson Griffen, Chris DeGeare, Nate Triplett, Joe Webb, Mickey Shuler and Ryan D'Imperio.

There is some interesting reading in there.

Here is the dilemma I have every year with this draft thing. The draft is very important to NFL franchises and as a guy who blogs about an NFL team I have to write about it.

But I don’t watch much college football anymore and I don’t know much about the players, so what can I offer readers on this subject?

Well, below is what I am offering – some brief thoughts on the draftees. Ignore it. Read it. Praise it. Trash it. Anything goes.

Chris Cook: Err, Benny, about that nickel role you’ve had the past two seasons….

Toby Gerhart: Sorry Albert (Young), we’ve decided to go in a different direction.

Everson Griffen: Read between the lines – Ray Edwards will not be a Viking in 2011.

Chris DeGeare: Anthony Herrera, you’ve been put on notice.

Nate Triplett: Ben Leber’s replacement in 2011?

Joe Webb: Raw, but selection doesn’t bode well for the futures of Darius Reynaud and Jaymar Johnson.

Mickey Shuler/Ryan D’Imperio: Be ready to make an impression on special teams boys – or else.

Other draft thoughts

• Obviously, you can get some very good players in the second round (here’s looking at you, Sidney Rice), but second rounders just aren’t as sexy as a first round pick. The Vikings draft seems a bit dull without one.

• Overall, the Vikings draft made sense to me. They had needs at defensive back, running back, offensive line, linebacker, defensive tackle and quarterback and addressed four of the six. Assuming Brett Favre returns, the Vikings probably have the deepest quarterback situation in the NFL short-term, so drafting one this week wasn’t a must. It would have been nice if the team had picked up a space-eating defensive tackle as the heir to Pat Williams (Fred Evans and Letroy Guion aren’t it.) But those guys are hard to find and you can only fill so many holes in a seven round draft.

• Watch out for Everson Griffen. I’ve read that he had first round potential, but that he was inconsistent and a tad lazy during his college career. But the same things were said about Ray Edwards in 2006. Point is, Griffen is a talent and he had a very good year in ‘09 at USC. And with Edwards pissed about his contract situation, Griffen could be a starter by 2011. I should note the Vikings have made some very good picks in the fourth round in recent years – Edwards included.

• On the other hand, the Vikings continue to treat the third round with indifference. They traded away their third round pick again – the third time they’ve done so in the past five drafts. But it probably doesn’t matter. History shows if they don’t trade it, they just pick a stiff anyway (hello, Willie Offord!). I’m hoping Asher Allen is an exception.

• The Vikings also continued the trend since Brad Childress became head coach of selecting a defensive player with their first pick in even numbered years and selecting an offensive player in odd numbered years. Along with Cook, Chad Greenway (’06), Tyrell Johnson (’08) were the Vikings first picks in those years. Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin were the first picks in 2007 and 2009, respectively.