As I walked into KFAN the Restaurant Saturday around 11:40 a.m., the gents who were hosting the draft viewing party were already about how the Vikings were going to be taking Troy Williamson from South Carolina, whether Mike Williams was available or not. This rumor was met with myriad booing and jeers. Nobody seemed to understand why the Vikings would make this pick, and nobody seemed convinced that they would actually pass up on Williams.
I must say I agreed.
As pick after pick fell off the board and Mike Williams was still available, the crowd kept cheering. The big, physical receiver from USC would be falling into the Vikings lap.
You know what happened next.
I'm trying to be optimistic about the pick But I'm struggling with this one more than a little bit.
To me, on paper, Troy Williamson (6'1", 203lbs) looks like a faster Nate Burleson (6'0", 192lbs). Mike Williams is not fast, but he's a big, physical, possession receiver who caught 20 touchdowns in the redzone while he was at USC. But I guess we don't need a guy like that. Apparently we need a guy to stretch out the field. Another short guy to run the deep route. My only assumption, then, has to be that the Vikes plan to make Marcus Robinson a bigger part of the offense this year.
Let's face it, besides losing Moss' speed, the biggest thing we lost when he went to Oakland was the most dangerous redzone weapon in the entire NFL. Leaping ability, great hands, great footwork. So Troy Williamson makes up for the speed portion of the equation that was lost when Moss was subtracted, are we to believe that Robinson can pick up the rest of the slack? Pardon me if I have my doubts.
I'm not saying Williamson isn't talented, I'm not saying that it's not a good idea to have a guy to stretch the field, and I'm not even saying that he won't be a great fit and he won't work out for us. All I'm saying is, when you know you need a number one receiver, and you are drafting at number 7 with the pick that you got in exchange for the best receiver in the game, I'm just not sure how you pass up a guy as big and as talented as Mike Williams.
As for the rest of the draft, I gotta say, things look alright.
Obviously we would have rather had David Pollack out of Georgia at the 18th pick, but the perennial losers in Cincy had to take him one pick ahead of us. Except for some injury concerns, however, we don't lose much with a quick Big 10 lineman in Erasmus James out of Wisconsin. Or, as I like to call it, Thank Goodness It's Not Iowa.
There was one more thing that could have gone wrong in this draft, and of course, it did. The Jets killed our hopes of solving our kicking problems in the long-term by taking kicker Mike Nugent from Ohio State two picks ahead of us. I never liked the Jets anyway.
In the later rounds the Vikes addressed mostly defense, but also picked up a running back out of Florida who looks like he could add to the log jam that's piling up to take hand offs from Daunte. Ciatrick Fason ran for over 1,200 yards on the ground last year and he can apparently catch the ball as well. He looks like a guy who, if he is given the bulk of the workload, could emerge from the pack. Then again, those same words have probably been said about ALL of our running backs.
In my mind the perfect draft for the Vikings would have gone: Williams at 7, Pollack at 18, and Mike Nugent at 49. If the draft had gone that way, I would have given it an A+. Considering that they didn't even have a shot at Pollack and Nugent because they were taken before we picked, and if you believe Mike Tice that Williamson is the best fit for the team, then all things considered, you've got to give the Vikings an A-. But, as is always true with any draft, only time will tell who has the best results.
Overall, the Vikes did a nice job of adding young talent at key positions, which can only prove to make the team stronger at those key spots. Training camp should be interesting. There's going to be a lot of competition for defensive line and running back spots. I'm excited to see how the wide receiving core takes shape, and how the defensive backfield steps into the spotlight. For the first time in over 10 years the defense could be the talk of the town, but the offense shouldn't be too far behind: Daunte is still captain of the ship.
Do I sound a tad bit excited?
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That's pretty cool that you went to the restaurant that was hosting KFAN. I miss them. I must say that I too was hoping for Williams, and when he fell to us at 7 I was stoked. Then the bomb - Williamson? After listening to him talk in an interview with the media I'm still not so convinced. He seems real cocky. He compares himself to Chad Johnson. If he would be anything like Chad Johnson it has to be his mouth. But I am truly hopeful he cold play like him, since Chad is a stud receiver. I would have to agree with you that Robinson must be figured into the plans a bit more this season as well. Remember when he had that great season with the Bears and he would outjump receivers and just bully them into the endzone? Gosh, that was nice. Of course those days are long gone with a bunch of injuries in there as well. ON thre rest of your analysis, I agree. Pollack and Nugent would have been great picks, but I am not upset with James, nor the big offensive lineman who seems really cool. He was blocking for Eli at Mississippi.
I wonder what Chris thought of the draft.
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