Percy and Gold, the colors of a Superbowl?
Just a few days ago Commissioner Rodger Goodell introduced the first of five new Vikings that were acquired via the 2009 NFL Draft. The name that came out of his mouth prompted a huge shock by plenty of people. Chris Berman, an NFL analyst for ESPN, seemed shocked. Plenty of knowledgeable Vikings fans also thought this was an interesting pick to say the least, even all three of the writers for Viking Vigil initially thought the Vikings had just picked the wrong guy, but maybe they knew exactly what they were doing. As it turns out, the guy almost everyone wanted, Offensive Tackle Michael Oher, was picked with the very next pick. Baltimore even traded up to get him, however, the Vikings were able to land a more than capable tackle with their next pick with Phil “The Load” Loadholt, who measures an astonishing 6’8”, and at least 330 pounds! The guy would be a dominant Power Forward in the NBA even.
With Loadholt joining the Vikings, the first pick, Percy Harvin no longer seemed so outrageous, in fact it seemed kind of great to me. ESPN draft expert Todd McShay has repeatedly called Percy Harvin, “the most explosive player in this year’s draft”, and he is not the only one either. Percy is no doubt rich in talent and ability, but the reason he fell to pick 22, was the fact that he had just tested positive for marijuana at the scouting combine, when he knew he was going to be tested. Harvin has also been deemed, ‘tough to coach’ and there have been reports that Florida is ‘glad he [Harvin] is done’ with his stay at Florida, although they also said he was a very talented player. With all these negatives, Percy Harvin may just be the biggest boom, or bust in the 2009 NFL Draft. The possibility of having Harvin and Peterson on the same field is incredible. It is almost like having AD, and a slightly less powerful version of AD in the slot. To say the least, the Vikings have taken a look at improving an average offense. Harvin can do it all, he figures to be an explosive special teams man, he could force Childress to implement the wildcat with his skills at running back, and he is great in the open field. If Harvin pans out, and if he can get rid of his off the field issues, the Vikings will have gotten a very big steal. Harvin could even contribute to many fantasy football teams this year as a rookie. But what happens if Harvin does get in trouble?
Brad made a good call by bringing in Jared Allen last year, even though he had some issue, and he once again took the risk this year by drafting Harvin. Harvin could very well turn into one of the league’s biggest threats, but he could go down a bad path, and end up off this team in only a few years. Would it really be that bad if it was the later though? Of course it would make the Vikings fans angry, and it would probably guarantee that the Vikings would not pick a wide receiver in round one for a long time, but it would not kill us. With the team Minnesota has on the field this year, they are very likely to contend for the playoffs, especially since the team will likely play better with another year of chemistry between last year’s free agent and draft pickups, and the 2007 team. Jackson also looked pretty good last year prior to the game against Philly, as he won his first ever NFC player of the week honors for his outstanding effort against Arizona in week 15. If Harvin were a bust, he would likely hurt our record this year, or at least not contribute, and maybe be out of Minnesota within a few years. I think that would not be horrible though. This year’s draft was one of the very few drafts in recent years that the Vikings really did not need to fill any holes desperately. Some people would say the right tackle was a huge need, but it really was not that bad. The thing I hated about Cook the most was his addiction to penalties. Peterson still got some good runs behind the right side, and if Cook was terrible, Artis Hicks is a pretty solid backup on the verge of starting anyway. Plus the Vikings got Phil Loadholt in round two, so the position was definitely addressed anyway. Since we had no glaring needs, there was a little room for Childress to take a risk on someone who could put this team atop the NFC, and that is exactly what he did. I am not the biggest fan of Childress and his seemingly frequent ‘play it safe’ attitude, and I was a little frustrated with this pick initially, but I applaud the man for going out and shocking Viking nation by grabbing a questionable, yet super talented guy with our first round pick. In the worst case scenario Harvin is out of here by the end of this year, but losing Harvin would definitely not sink the ship. Rice is a good player when healthy, and Bobby Wade is consistently getting open, and we made the playoffs last year without Loadholt or Rice, and an injured EJ Henderson. The bottom line is the Vikings are a solid team without Harvin, but they put themselves into a great position to possibly get to the Superbowl with a Harvin that kicks his bad habits.
There is no question Harvin would have been gone in round two, as three receivers were already taken in the next fifteen picks, and the Jets said that they were trying to trade back into round one to get Harvin as well. The best receiver left when the Vikings got back on the clock was Derrick Williams, and he only went 4 picks before the Vikings third round pick. Therefore, I think with the way the draft played out at right tackle, and wide receiver, I think Brad Childress made the perfect pick by taking a risky Harvin in round one. I applaud Childress, especially with all the questions surrounding his job if the Vikings don’t play so good this year, he went on a limb and maybe even put his job in the hands of Percy Harvin.
On another note, if you had yet to find out the remaining picks for the Vikings, here is the Vikings’ draft along with their jersey numbers for next season:
1st Round: Percy Harvin, WR, Florida – #12
2nd Round: Phil Loadholt, OT, Oklahoma – #71
3rd Round: Asher Allen, CB, Georgis – #30
5th Round: Jasper Brinkley, ILB, South Carolina – #54
7th Round: Jamarca Sanford, S, Ole Miss – #33
I guess the Vikings liked the SEC this year, with four of their five picks coming from that confrence
April 27th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Who wrote this ridiculous article? Someone must have been smoking the purple haze that Percy is looking to get his hands on when he gets to Minnesota. Keep looking through those purple tinted glasses and ignore any objectivity!
April 27th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Hey Denny Green, do you remember ‘98 when the vikings with the 21st pick drafted a troubled WR who had character flaws? Guess we shouldn’t have drafted Moss in your opinion.
Oh, I bet you were a big fan of the ‘95 draft though, vikings drafted Derrick Alexander DT, with the 11th overall pick. He was a high character guy, perfect fit for you.
It’s a good thing we turned down the DT that was picked 12th overall, who also tested positive for weed prior to the combine. Good riddance, who needs a player like warren sapp on their team anyways?
April 27th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Denny,
Im open to objectivity, but if you are a Vikings fan, tell me this, who would you have drafted?
April 27th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I agree D Money, those are two classic examples, where the guy with character issues was the much better pick. I may be wrong, but I thought I heard someone say Calvin Johnson may have been smoking too, oh well look how he turned out
April 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am
It’s awfully convenient to use Randy Moss as an example, but to me that just shows your ignorance. He had the ability to be a difference maker to put the Vikings over the top, but in the end, he took plays off, gave up on the field, wilted like a flower (Giants 41-0 playoff game) and was a PR headache and divisive figure in the locker room.
Why isn’t Randy Moss the supposed future Hall of Famer who was under a long term contract still on the Vikings??? Oh yeah, character issues…. Use your head for a change!
April 28th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Oh and to answer your question Michael, how about drafting Oher to either start for the turnstile at right tackle or take over at left tackle when the overpaid/crappy McKinney ends up in jail. Heck, they could have taken a lot of guys like CB Vontae Davis, a DT which they will need when the Williams wall is suspended the first 4 games of the season. There were plenty of other options that were far less of a risk than a guy you know is going to be a train wreck and that you’re guaranteed to have issues with.
The front office basically took Wilf’s 87 page code of conduct doctrine, ripped it up and pissed on it for a guy who was too stupid to not pass a drug test even though he knew he was going to be taking one for the biggest job interview of his life. Yeah, this is going to end up good.
I don’t even have to mention the long line of Gator receivers who have been busts after going to the NFL. The problem with their receivers are that they roam free in the spread offense without being pressed or challenged at the line by defenses in the SEC. They get to the NFL and are never able to adjust.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Glad to see you’re optomistic. Also glad to see you voiced your opinions in such a civil way.
I <3 the interwebs.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Denny,
I understand your point, even I wanted Oher at first, but Im now glad we went with Harvin, and here is why:
Situation 1: We take Oher with the 22nd pick
In the second round we then take either:
Derrick Williams (Best WR left) who ended up being picked 28 picks after our round 2 pick, so that is a big reach, and he is injury prone, and a project, who probably could not beat Bobby Wade for a starting spot next year.
OR
Fili Moala (Best DT left) who only went 2 picks after our second pick, but we are set this year at DT, with the Williams wall, assuming they don’t get suspended. Of course Pat is old, but next year we can adress that.
OR
Sean Smith (Best CB left) who was picked 7 picks after our second rounder, but he played Saftey at Utah, and would only be a nickel corner this year, if he wins the job over Sapp, Paymah, McCauley, and Gordon, and then he is only on the field in obvious passing situations, so that is not a huge upgrade.
-In this situation we get good talent, but we don’t have a solid #2 WR and opted to go after backups instead.
Situation #2: We draft Vontae Davis
In the second round we go with either:
Derrick Williams (See above)
OR
Phil Loadholt (Actuall round 2 pick) Good pick to fill the RT hole that is Ryan Cook.
OR
Fili Moala (See above)
-In this situation we get good value with Vontae Davis, who is a solid corner, he may challenge Cedric Griffin, but the Vikes just gave him a huge contract, so whoever loses is making WAY to much to play mostly on third downs only, and we still lack a number 2 WR heading into 2009.
Situation 3: We draft Peria Jerry with our top pick
In the second round we choose either:
Derrick Williams (see above)
OR
Phil Loadholt (See above)
OR
Sean Smith (See above)
-Another good situation, but we still lack a good #2 wide reciever, and Jerry is going to be payed alot to play backup all year.
With the Harvin pick, we get a solid WR, and a solid OT, but we don’t get a great backup. But I would rather have 2 starters instead of 1 starter, and 1 great backup.
While I agree, Randy Moss eventually became a headache, he did bring us to 2 NFC title games, and 4 playoff apperance, in which we won at least game every time. He also had at least 1000 yards in 6 of his 7 years here, and played in all but 3 games in his 7 years here. To put that in perspective, the Vikings have yet to have a 1000 yard reciever since he left. We also just made our first playoff game in the post-Moss era last year.
So if Harvin were a headache for every year he was here, but he got us to the playoffs and possibly the NFC title game, or the Superbowl, I would be happy. When Moss left we sucked for a long time, and if Harvin can fix that, Im as happy as anyone, especially if we finally win our first ever Superbowl, or even make the game for the first time in roughly 40 years.
I agree there have been a fair share or bust WRs from Florida, but how many of those guys took that school to two championships? None of them
Harvin was also rated the top High School recruit not 3 years ago, ahead of Stafford, Crabtree, Sanchez, and any other Juniors/Sophmore redshirts in this draft.
I also think Harvin could be a bust, but we did not NEED anyone really badly. Hicks will already challenge Cook for the RT spot, plus we got Loadholt anyway. Berrian was signed last year and nearly got 1000 yards this year, proving to be an effective weapon, lessening the need on WR. Griffin stepped up at the end of the year, and Winfield made the Pro Bowl, so we are set at CB. And the Williams wall is the best DT combo in the NFL, they are old, and may e suspended still, but even if we took Jerry, he starts 4 games at most, and then waits until Pat retires, when we could easily take a DT next year who can wait.
Even if Harvin is a BUST, it is not terrible, we made the playoffs without him, and did not lose any young star talent, so we should be fighting for a playoff spot again this year with or without Harvin. We finally had a pick that was not vital to the team, so we used it on a risk, but he could take us to the Superbowl if he pans out.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Michael, all valid counter arguments and points. I still don’t think Berrian was even close to what we gave up for him. Think of it this way– we made a guy the 4th highest paid WR in the game who was a one trick pony. That “one trick” was the big play on blown coverages, and on more than a few occasions DB’s covering him falling down (not because of being juked). He’s still never had 1000 yds receiving or over 50 catches in his career. If he was worth the $$$ to make him the 4th highest paid at his position, at the very least we shouldn’t be so desperate to have to draft a risk/reward/potential headache in Harvin.
I’m not sure if you listened to KFAN when they mentioned that it’s most likely the Williams Wall will be suspended and lose their court case. Let’s be honest, we won 4 games on gift calls from the referees in the last minute or in the case of New Orleans a bunch of bad calls that went our way. You could make it 5 games if you count the lucky break we got at home against the Packers, when the normally very accurate field goal kicker missed a kick at the end of the game in a dome with no weather conditions factoring into play. In short, we could have just as easily been 6-10 or 7-11 and probably deserved to be. The playoffs pretty much exposed us for what we were.
Childress probably saved his job by making the playoffs, but one could argue that last season was a disappointment because of that alone. Col Klink would rather spar and have war of words and make insults in the media about SUPER BOWL WINNING coaches and former ex-players like Williamson, Culpepper and even Jeff George, all while trying to convince everyone that he’s smarter than them. He just doesn’t get it and never will.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Agreed, I don’t think Berrian was worth as much as we payed for him. But I think we were desperate last year, and rightfully so, no one had come close to 1000 yards in years. I do think he helped, because unlike Williamson when he was open, he actually caught the ball at least.
I had not heard about the Williams wall, but I still like the pick of Harvin. I was talking to a hard core Gator fan earlier, and he was saying that most of the rumors that Harvin was hard to caoch, were just rumors. I did not believe him at first, but I googled Harvin and character issues, and really nothing came up when he was at Florida. So Im guessing if he has not had issues in the last 3 years, we really did get a steal at 22.
I would also agree that while we made the playoffs last year, we really did not play to well. Only a few games we won convincingly, and we nearly lost a few more like you pointed out. I also think we may have been able to win a few more with better clock management too, so it kind of evens out I guess. I am not Brad’s biggest fan either, but we have to put up with the close game approach while he is here, and maybe it will work out, but probably not.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I would have rather given up the 1st round pick for Boldin. That’s all the Cardinals were asking for him. He’s a proven stud, not a pipe dream (no pun intended). At the end of the day, we only have probably a few good years left of AP with the way he runs and his history of being injury prone. We rely on him so much, that without him, our offense comes to a grinding halt, given that we have NOBODY to throw the ball and keep the defenses honest.
Sagvaris Jackenfelds isn’t going to cut it. Neither is our secondary or porous pass blocking O-line.
April 29th, 2009 at 7:30 am
It’s would be hard to argue with picking up Boldin except that he costs way more than a rookie WR. Not just now, but for as long as we keep him. In an era where it’s neigh impossible to not blackout Vikings games, Harvin just makes more sense.
April 29th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Harvin only makes sense if he does something on the field. You are already crowning him the next big offensive weapon in the NFL. Name one hyped receiver out of Florida who ever did ANYTHING in the NFL??? There’s no guarantee that Harvin isn’t the next Jacquez Green. You already know what Boldin is.
April 29th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I think both options are vaild.
If we went with Boldin, we would be getting a proven Pro Bowl WR. You really can not put a price on that, especially in Minnesota where WR has been a rough area for a few years now. I think Berrian would have more one on one coverage, and that offense would be explosive. However there are a few negatives with Bolidn too. If we had traded our draft pick, in about 7 or 8 years, we could be stuck witout much talent. I was not too concerned about that, especially with Free Agency, and the possibility of a later round pick becoming a star. Boldin has been a little injury prone too. Granted last years injury was a little freakish, but he has now missed 16 games in the last five years. I am a little worried about Boldin too, he seemed very upset with the Cardinals. I also think he deserved more money, but he was very open about it. He said before the season he wanted out, then in frustration, even went to the locker room early, instead of celebrating his Superbowl berth with the team.
Harvin on the other hand is a bigger gamble I think. Harvin has the physical skills to become possibly a better slot reciever than maybe even Wes Welker in a few years. The guy was a top 10 talent in the draft, but teams obviously thought his issues were a bigger risk than they wanted. Harvin was projected to go at the middle of the first round still, even before he tested positive for Mary Jane, but Harvin was also labeled as a ‘character issue’ guy. While I have heard that from many places, it seemed as if he had cleaned up his act while he was at Florida. Dont get me wrong testing positive for drugs was a bone head play by Harin, but other players have turned out good after making the same mistake. I tried to find any issues Harvin may have had with Urban Meyer, or the Gators, but I could not find any, I think his character concerns may be blown a little out of porportion, if so the Vikings got a steal. The positives for Harvin are huge though. He is a playmaker comparable to Reggie Bush, he is only 20 years old, and he can not only help us out on the Offense, but also Special Teams. I can’t forget last years game against the Saints, when Bush ran over us on kickoffs, just think, that could be Harvin all day this year. If Harvin does play out, I think Minnesota may have made the right call. While Boldin is good, Harvin could end up as a Home run hitter for the Vikings, with so many defenses having to load the box for AD. Plus Harvin has a good 6-7 more years left than Boldin does.
May 1st, 2009 at 8:49 am
BRETT FARVE!!!!!!!!!!!
lET’S SIGN BRETT.
He is better than Sage and TJac.
Let the rumors begin.
I want him if just for the fact packer fans will be sick but he really would make sense.