Adam Schefter Believes the Vikings Will Pass On Matt Kalil

Everyone including yours truly remains convinced the Vikings will take Matt Kalil #3 overall and everything else is just speculation and smoke screening. Did I say everyone? Well, there’s one person out there who actually isn’t convinced that Kalil will be the pick. It would be easy to dismiss this lone voice of dissent, if the voice in question didn’t belong to Adam Schefter, arguably the most inside of all the NFL insiders.

Schefter has suggested over the past few weeks that the Vikings might look at people other than Kalil with their pick. But in a Wednesday Q&A available only to ESPN Insider subscribers, Schefter put his money on the table and said he believes the Vikings will pass on Kalil. If the Vikings don’t take Kalil, Justin Blackmon would likely be the pick, even though Blackmon has been sliding on a lot of draft boards for a variety of reasons including a questionable Vegas trip.

And why should we believe Schefter any more than we should anyone else? Because Schefter has the best sources of almost anyone working the NFL beat today. If Schefter has doubts about the Vikings’ desire to take Kalil, it’s not based on speculation or guesswork, it means he’s spoken to somebody inside the organization. Of course it’s possible this source could be using Schefter to spread disinformation, hoping to drum up interest in a draft day trade, but does anyone think Schefter would be naive enough to get used that way? I’m guessing Schefter knows the difference between smoke screen bullcrap and real dope. And if he’s putting himself out there as strongly as this? He must be pretty sure about the legitimacy of the info.

As we say with all of these reports…we’ll know once and for all on draft day. And that day is now just 2 weeks away. Feel free to discuss the merits of passing on Kalil in the comment section, or on the site’s Twitter or Facebook.

Update: In response to a message from Adam Schefter I changed the wording of the above post. Initially I conveyed that Schefter was “convinced” the Vikings would not take Kalil. But Schefter is in fact not convinced, he simply believes the Vikings are not a lock to take Kalil. This is the exact wording from the Schefter Q&A in question:

"The key to that would be Minnesota passing on Kalil, which I happen to believe the Vikings will. I’m in the minoritythere and the Vikings are still deciding what to do, but I don’t think Kalil is the lock that others do — even if Minnesota stays at 3."

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