Hot! 2011 Nfl Draft

Many have asked for my thoughts on the NFL Draft, and now that I’ve had some time to actually focus on it a bit, I’m ready to throw a few things out there with regard to the Vikings and Packers.

Of course, nothing’s easy in the NFL anymore, and there’s a chance we won’t get through Thursday without a huge bombshell regarding the lockout that is no more but still kind of is.

What if players are allowed to be traded or allowed to enter free agency Thursday? How does that change the draft? Will there still be five quarterbacks taken among the first 12, as some pundits are predicting?

With so much uncertainty, it’s hard to get into a ton of detail, but I’ll throw a few thoughts out there.

The Vikings should be focused on taking the best available player.They went 6-10 last year, and should be seriously concerned about their secondary, offensive line, defensive interior, wide receiver, and q! uarterback positions.

Guys like Tyron Smith, Prince Amukamara, Robert Quinn, Da’Quan Bowers, Corey Liuget, and J.J. Watt are better “fits” for the Vikings, because they fill significant needs. They could all be off the board by pick No. 12. They’re all good players who could start right away.

But the NFL is a quarterback league, no matter who is on the cover of “Madden ’12″ (Peyton Hillis). That drives teams to think they need to overvalue quarterbacks, which of course leads us to guys like Alex Smith, Akili Smith, Tim Couch, David Carr, Cade McNown, and a slew of other former first-round quarterbacks who never panned in the NFL, for a variety of reasons.

Teams often reach for a perceived need, rather than selecting the player they ve rated the highest. First-round picks, in particular, can be impacted by an owner and/or general manager s desire to fall into line with media projections (and to therefore receive hig! h marks from reporters who offer instant draft grades). Razzan! o talked about a falling-out he had with the Rams in 2005, the year Alex Smith was drafted No. 1 overall by San Francisco. The issue stemmed from Razzano’s unwillingness to give Smith a high grade, because he simply didn’t think Smith could cut it as an NFL starter. He’s not perfect, because he also downgraded Rodgers in that draft, but he’s pretty sharp and consistent in his philosophy of trusting what you see from a player on tape. Hot! 2011 Nfl Draft