The Vikings have skill position problems, sure. But last year was also enough of a mess that General Manager Rick Spielman is thinking about changing the way he evaluates other positions.
According to Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Vikings G.M. acknowledged their offensive line issues last season, and studied other rosters to see if they were drafting them incorrectly.
Spielman looked at the correlation between draft placement and NFL success — and surprisingly found that guys drafted higher were usually better. He admitted that a “much lower percentage” of linemen taken after the third round were productive blockers. In the last 10 drafts, he’s only taken two linemen before the fourth round.
“There’s different ways that I had to look back and see, ‘What are we doing right or wrong with this offensive line and how do we get it addressed?’” Spielman said. “That was a whole focal point on a lot of the studies and a lot of the analytics that I have been doing since the end of the season.”
Of course, one of those high picks he’s used on a lineman may be about to walk out the door. Left tackle Matt Kalil will be an unrestricted free agent. Last year, both he and right tackle Andre Smith (also a free agent) ended up on injured reserve (along with some of their replacements), creating a revolving door that prevented anything resembling stability on offense.
Of course, they have plenty of other issues there, beginning with the admitted short-term nature of quarterback Sam Bradford and the uncertainty over what to do with running back Adrian Peterson.
But if they can’t create time and space for them, it might not matter who is occupying the skill positions.