Tom’s Triumphs - The Vikings are Guaranteed to Win the Super Bowl

(From the mind of TomAwesome)

The NFL is built to help woeful teams turn around quickly, and on one night in each spring, each team is just a player or two away from reaching the sport’s highest pinnacle. The first round of the NFL draft is my favorite event in sports. By infusing their offensive line with more talent, the purple and gold have all but punched their ticket to Super Bowl LVI in Inglewood, California.

The draft is the culmination of an insane amount of work by each organization. Each team is assigned a draft pick in reverse order of how they finished the previous year. The team with the worst record in the NFL gets to pick first, the team that won the Super Bowl picks last. Teams are allowed to trade picks for years into the future, so it’s possible for teams to have multiple draft picks in any round.

In addition to the potential to put your team over the top, the draft provides a bevy of storylines each year. This year the San Francisco 49ers gave up four total draft picks over four years, including three first round selections to move up to the third spot in the draft. They selected North Dakota State University quarterback Trey Lance, who had only played one full season of college football.

Quarterback drama often dominates the headlines. Three years ago, the New York Jets traded up to select Sam Darnold third overall. Since then, they have fired their coach and general manager, and just before the draft they traded the young signal caller to the Panthers and selected 20-year-old Zach Wilson with the second overall pick. Every team has drama and it’s a blast to watch it play out.

I’ve watched the first round of the draft religiously since high school. After I turned 21, I tried to turn it into a drinking game. The rules were simple, everyone would predict the first round, and anytime someone got one of the picks right everyone who got it wrong would have to take a drink. It was challenging to get my friends to buy into the drinking game, so eventually we made it a betting game. Drinks were replaced with crisp dollar bills. In the long run, it was probably for the best.

Each pick is a valuable commodity. It’s fascinating to watch how teams spend that capital. Every year teams try to offload veterans in trades to acquire more picks. Teams wheel and deal draft picks throughout the event to move up and down the board. The Vikings desperately needed a starting left tackle and a perfectly viable option was available when they picked at number 14. In an attempt to maximize value, the team traded down to number 23 while picking up two additional third round picks. The player they likely would have taken at 14 was still available.

The Vikings ended up with 11 new players after the draft:

Round 1, Pick #23 – Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech
Round 3, Pick #66 – Kellen Mond, QB, Texas A&M
Round 3, Pick #78 – Chazz Surratt, LB, North Carolina
Round 3, Pick #86 – Wyatt Davis, G, Ohio State
Round 3, Pick #90 – Patrick Jones II, DE, Pittsburgh
Round 4, Pick #119 – Kene Nwangwu, RB, Iowa State
Round 4, Pick #125 – Camryn Bynum, S, California-Berkeley
Round 4, Pick #134 – Janarius Robinson, DE, Florida State
Round 5, Pick #157 – Ihmir Smith-Marsette, WR, Iowa
Round 5, Pick #168 – Zach Davidson, TE, Central Missouri
Round 6, Pick #199 – Jalen Twyman, DT, Pittsburgh

Vikings 1st Round Pick, Christian Darrisaw

Two of the top four picks, Christian Darrisaw and Wyatt Davis, should go a long way towards fixing a long-standing problem for the Vikings – the offensive line. The unit has been dreadful for years and their best lineman was a salary cap casualty earlier in the offseason. Since 2018, the Vikes have used five draft picks in the first three rounds on offensive lineman. According to ESPN beat reporter Courtney Cronin, the unit has a potential to be a bright spot this season. Local fans love to bag on QB Kirk Cousins, but with decent line play our offense could be nearly unstoppable.

Last year the entire defense was largely terrible. There is cause for optimism this year after free agency and the draft added some raw talent. Chazz Surratt has only played one season of linebacker, but he’s a freakish athlete and has a chance to replace Eric Wilson. Patrick Jones II has an opportunity to fill a desperate need at pass rusher as well. Essentially, the Vikings drafted several surefire stars who will all become at least above-average starters. None of the picks will be a bust and no one will get hurt. Hope springs eternal with the draft.

Much like purchasing a PowerBall ticket, the Vikes hope they strike it rich with their biggest lottery ticket. Their second pick was QB Kellen Mond out of Texas A&M. A four-year starter in college, Mond is expected to need time to develop in the NFL. Being committed to Cousins for two years essentially means they have two years to groom the young passer. If Mond can develop into a legitimate starter, he could either be the QB of the future or a valuable trade asset. Unlike the quarterbacks taken with the first two picks of the draft, he won’t be tasked with starting immediately with a moribund franchise.

ESPN analysis for every pick.

Draft Day Movie

In addition to being a huge production each spring, the draft has been the focus for other popular media. Kevin Costner has done a pair of my favorite baseball movies: Bull Durham and For Love of the Game. In 2014 he starred in Draft Day, playing an embattled general manager for the woeful Cleveland Browns. He has the seventh overall pick and is dealing with a meddling owner and an agitated fan base.

The movie doesn’t feel particularly realistic but it does capture some of the fun and the drama of draft day.

I thought it was a fun film, but I would be more interested in a behind-the-scenes look at how the whole process comes together for a team.

The Draft By Pete Williams

In 2007, The Draft by Pete Williams gave an in-depth look at the process from the perspectives of NFL draft prospects, executives, coaching staffs and agents. It gives you a look at how hard prospects have to work leading up to the NFL scouting combine, where freakish performances could send you shooting up draft boards.

It’s been a couple years since I read it, and flipping through it now I see most of the players being evaluated are no longer in the league, but I think it’s one of the most interesting and thorough looks at how the process plays out.