Vikings No Longer Need Worry About Nightmare Draft Scenario

There are two ways of looking at this whole situation with Robert Griffin III’s draft stock and the Rams holding all the cards and locking the Vikings out of the trade talk. There’s the glass half empty side of things which says the Vikings got very unlucky not being in a position to trade down with one of these teams now jockeying to lavish draft picks on the Rams. And there’s the glass half full position which I shall now outline in brief:

Well the Vikings may not be able to make that crazy trade for multiple picks but look on the bright side. At least now they won’t have to worry about Matt Kalil not being there. No matter what happens, Kalil is going to fall to 3.

That should come as something of a relief. Because think about the alternative. What if the Rams decided not to make the trade and took Kalil themselves? That would leave the Vikings trying to trade out of #3. And what if they themselves were unable to make that trade? We know they were never going to take RG3, in spite of Rick Spielman’s talk. It was always trade down or take Kalil for the Vikings. And barring either of those? They would’ve been stuck taking someone like Justin Blackmon or Morris Claiborne. Once upon a time Riley Reiff looked like a possibility there too but after the combine he might not even be a top 10 pick let alone a #3. On some draft boards, Reiff isn’t even considered a tackle anymore.

The Vikings might be disappointed that they’re not getting in on the trade talk, but at the same time, they have to be somewhat relieved that they’ll no longer have to worry about the nightmare Blackmon-or-Claiborne scenario coming to pass. They’ll get to take Matt Kalil no matter what.

Yes it would’ve been nice to score that bounty of draft picks, but the chance to draft a potential multiple-time Pro Bowl left tackle is a pretty nice consolation prize. I wouldn’t knock it.

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