The Harvin thing
ESPN's Kevin Seifert spoke for all Vikings fans this week when he questioned why Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier allowed offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave to turn Percy Harvin into a part-time player. Seifert's right here. For a team that only had one other player – Adrian Peterson – that opposing defences had to account for, it was madness to have Harvin on the sideline for 431 offensive plays during the 2011 season.
Granted, Harvin's a guy who plays all out and gets banged up a lot. But he's not a piece of fine china, he's a pro football player, and a very good one. If Jared Allen needs to be on the field for 94 per cent of the team's defensive snaps, Harvin needs to be out there just as much on offence.
Draft trade scenarios
The Star-Tribune's Mark Craig had an interesting blog on Tuesday pointing out that the Vikings make a better trade partner for teams looking to move up in April's draft than the St. Louis Rams. My hope is that the Vikings do trade down and acquire more draft picks come April (although I am a bit disappointed in the projected haul Craig has the Vikings getting from the likes of Cleveland, Washington and Miami). The Vikings need to stockpile draft picks over the next two offseasons because it will give them insurance and flexibility.
The insurance comes from the fact we know not every draft pick pans out. Often many of them don't pan out. So the more picks you have, the more protected you are when some of them don't work out - the extra picks you stockpiled serve as a buffer and you increase your margin for error.
The flexibility extra draft picks will give general manager Rick Spielman is that if, say, he gets an extra pick in the second and third round, he can take some chances. He can gamble on a high risk/high reward player in the early part of the draft he normally wouldn't have chosen - hoping to hit a home run - because he's got an extra pick in the same round he can use on a safer pick. (I think what I've just written makes sense.)
Defensive Backs
I'm keenly interested in what the Vikings do over the next three months to upgrade a defensive backfield that has been, well, quite awful for a long time. And the 2011 season may have been the nadir of that awfulness. The National Football Post's Wes Bunting looks at some small-school defensive backs who will attract attention at the April NFL draft.
Just scrolling through the names, a lot of these guys seem to fit the high risk/kinda high reward category I mentioned above. So pay attention to who Bunting mentions in his piece. You could be reading about some future Vikings.
Mario Manningham?
On the subject of future Vikings, during an ESPN 1500 online chat earlier this week with Vikings beat writers Judd Zulgad and Tom Pelissero, the duo was asked what free agent receivers Minnesota would most likely go after. Zulgad's answer? The Chief's Dwayne Bowe and the Giants' Mario Manningham.
Bowe, I like. Manningham, not as much. Manningham's big catch in the Super Bowl aside (he also caught a 17-yard TD pass in the NFC championship game to give the G-Man a brief 17-14 lead), he took a step back in 2011 and lost his job to Victor Cruz. He's also had trouble staying healthy.
Obviously, he'd be a substantial upgrade over what the Vikings currently have. But Bowe's already an established number #1 wide receiver whereas Manngingham has the potential to be a number #1. If you're going to spend big bucks on a receiver, spend it on a more known commodity. I'm not sure why the Chiefs would let Bowe go, however. Mannginham, on the other hand, is almost certain to hit the free agent market. So there's that, I guess.
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