'07 Draft Thoughts

Dustin Fry (Center) is more important in this draft than one may think at first glance.

I think Brian Leonard is valuable in that he has designs in an Offensive Mastermind's plans. Linehan knows Offense - he's very innovative and he will field an offense that scores points (maybe lead the league if they can get blocking).
Leonard will be used non-conventionally and he'll give defenses another dimension which they must contend.
I remember distinctly a game where Linehan was coaching the Vikings and their offense scored a touchdown on the first play of approximately four drives in the first half versus Green Bay. Green Bay's defense was confused as hell. Where I have concerns in regard to our O-line (hopefully Fry will be able to contribute this year), I have no concerns whatsoever about Linehan's offensive talents.

I think Carricker (DT mostly) will turn out to be a good selection. We've made mistakes in past and recent drafts and that's frustrating. Even moderate success in drafting Def linemen and we would've had the opportunity to use the number 1 pick on an impact player instead of addressing a major need.
Hargrove/Kennedy/ Damione Lewis, etc... what a waste.
We erred last year in not taking NT Ngata. How many years were wasted with Damione Lewis? How many dollars?

I think we have some people on the roster in the O-line that need to be cleared out. We need a more physical O-line and at some point we should've used some of the higher picks to address the interior line. I really got tired of watching Jackson and Faulk run into brick walls at full speed and think McCollum will be liability even time he takes the field. He has no pop - no power - and is just far beyond his effective playing days. I think Fry is a step in the right direction.

Where Linehan made his reputation in the NFL (with Minnesota), he had a Pro-Bowl Center (Matt Birk) and a Pro-Bowl OG (Steve Hutchinson). That interior line talent can't be underestimated. Linehan's offenses depend on being able to run and pass effectively and unpredictably.

With our past draft failures, I think this was a pretty good step in the right direction. Instead of going for potential (think Hargove) we've taken football players.

im sure that Steve Hutchinson was never at Minnesota while Linehan was there...

You are right. Too early in the morning for me!

Minnesota did have a powerful O-line though.

Viking's 2003 Preview:

"The Vikings have revamped their offensive line to make it bigger and more athletic."

....

"The latter problems might be reduced simply by moving into the second year under offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, whose design is more West Coast-based than the one in which Culpepper played previously."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/overview/vikings2003.html

Our 2007 version of an O-line needs to concentrate on 2 areas of weakness from last season.

False Starts

QB Sacks

Cut those 2 in half and watch out NFL.

EXCACTANUMO!!! ...Great take and I believe we shall overcome those mostly mental screw ups.