The Minnesota Vikings think a run on quarterbacks is coming tonight and tomorrow night.
According to ESPN, the Vikings’ brain trust has conducted 15 different two-round mock drafts, trying to consider every possibility for how the draft could go. And to the extent that they can accurately determine how other teams will act, the Vikings think they’ve figured out that seven quarterbacks will go off the board before their own second-round pick, which is No. 43 overall.
Presumably, the seven the Vikings are expecting to go in the Top 42 are Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton, Ryan Mallett and Colin Kaepernick.
Thinking all the top quarterbacks will be gone before their second-round pick might lead the Vikings to draft a quarterback in the first round, and some of the latest mock drafts have the Vikings using their first-round pick, No. 12 overall, on Andy Dalton.
However, the Vikings insist that they won’t reach for a quarterback just because they’re expecting other teams to draft quarterbacks. So if they take Dalton at 12, that means they think Dalton is a good value at 12.