Archive for April, 2011

Today’s Minnesota Supreme Court ruling seems to have finally brought an end to the two and a half year legal battle concerning the 4 game suspensions of Kevin and Pat Williams, after the court refused to hear Pat Williams appeal of his suspension. This Gives the NFL the green light to suspend both players for the first 4 games of the 2011 season whether there are lockout delays or not. While Kevin Williams pulled out of the legal battle some time ago Pat decided to keep going perhaps to try to prolong his NFL career. It is unlikely Pat’s suspension [...]

When I read the Titans were on Andy Dalton, my ever-grinding brain coughed up the possibility that this could set in motion a chain reaction of weirdness ending in the Vikings drafting Blaine Gabbert at 12. I confess this was pure traffic-grabbing speculation on my part. However, sometimes our connect-the-dot games turn out to have more validity than we ever believed. Since posting the Gabbert thing, the Gabbert thing has become a genuine rumor. Just moments ago Chris Mortensen added extra steam to the rumor by posting the following: QB Buzz less than 4 hours away: If Gabbert slips past [...]

Before there was Kate Gosselin, there was Rick Gosselin. Years after establishing his reputation as a Mock Drafter Extraordinaire, Rick is still thought of as perhaps the most authoritative of all writers who engage in the supremely wonky art of guessing who each team will select. In other words, when Rick mocks, people listen. This year, Mocker Rick has bought into the belief that there will be a run on quarterbacks in the high first round. After Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert are gone, Rick predicts the Titans will take Jake Locker, which will prompt the Redskins to snatch up [...]

In addition to the updates here on the site, look for plenty of draft-related commentary all weekend long from the The Viking Age’s ever-growing stable of tweeters. Here are the accounts to follow if you want to stay caught up on the latest purple draft scuttlebutt: @TheVikingAge (Dan Zinski) @thevikingpig (Jon Merckle) @jacalope37 (Judson Coleman) @TomSimano (Tom Simanovich) @ScottWollan (Scott Wollan) I can’t speak for these other guys but my tweeting will be entirely sober until Saturday afternoon. After that anything can happen. Follow FanSided on Facebook. Follow The Viking Age on Twitter.

The long, wearying draft hype season is over. At last, draft day itself has arrived. Now we get to see which mockers, which speculators, which alleged experts were right, and which were full of crap. Actually they’re all full of crap, but every year a few of them get to gloat because their darts happened to hit the right names. Get your gloating hat ready Shawn Zobel! The big names on the Vikings dart board have been rehashed so many times that I’m hesitant to bother doing it again. We all know them by heart. Jake Locker. Prince Amukamara. Da’Quan [...]

As we stare down the barrel of the 2011 NFL Draft, the time has come for The Viking Age to release its 2011 Mock Draft. Note that this is simply a fun exercise and at no point do we claim to have any inside information. It is also crafted without any trades and anyone who’s ever watched the draft knows that only one trade can immediately send a team’s plans haywire. But without any further delay, away we go… 1. Carolina Panthers — Cam Newton, QB, Auburn John Fox is now in Denver with Ron Rivera running the Panthers. New [...]

It’s been a crazy news day for Vikings fans and I’m not sure where to start.  Fortunately we have better things to talk about than the player/owner posturing that went on today.  We’re supposed to be interested in who does or doesn’t report to work today?  Really?  Thankfully, Coach Leslie Frasier and Director of Player Personnel, Rick Spielman came to the rescue delivering some interesting tidbits in interviews.  I have to give each of them credit, they’ve really held things under wraps leading up to the draft, but finally gave us something to talk about today. Coach Frasier attempted to [...]

The trade-down scenario has been a popular one among Vikings draft speculators, the argument being that no quarterback is worth taking at 12, so the Vikes might as well move down to get some picks, and maybe even try to recover that third-rounder Bill Belichick conned Brad Childress out of last season. If it is indeed the Vikings’ intention to trade down from 12, they shouldn’t have any trouble making that happen. According to Rick Spielman, the Vikings have gotten calls from 3 or 4 teams about moving up to the 12 hole. Of course, with today’s news that the [...]

For months now we’ve all operated on the assumption that the Vikings have no shot at drafting Cam Newton or Blaine Gabbert. But with Draft Day drawing near, there is evidence to suggest that assumption was/is at least half-wrong. Jason La Canfora of NFL.com is the man responsible for rocking our draft speculation world today. According to La Canfora, the Tennessee Titans are high on TCU quarterback Andy Dalton, and might even be ready to take him with the 8th pick. Up till now, Dalton has been thought of as late-first-round material at best. And at least one coach famously [...]

Pioneer Press had an interesting article [link] on why Ponder would be a good fit for the Vikings. I have heard nothing but good things about Ponder, it seems like the 2 questions are injury prone and arm strength. If the Vikings either trade back in the last 1st/early 2nd round, I could see them taking Ponder.