Aug 24, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive back Harrison Smith (22) against the San Diego Chargers at the Metrodome. The Chargers defeated the Vikings 12-10. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Note:  I’m grading players by their positions (what they are expected to do) and their overall contribution to the team in 2012.  I will not be grading them according to how they stack up against other players in the league, rookie or otherwise, nor for the spot they were taken in the draft.  An “A” means that they did everything you would expect or need a player at that particular position to do on this team, that they made significant contributions, and that they even excelled a little bit.  A “C” is the baseline.  They did their job, they were fine at it, but nothing to write home about.  And an “F”… well you can figure out the rest.

1. Matt Kalil: A

Taking an offensive lineman as the number four overall pick in the draft probably wasn’t a very sexy move, nor was it surprising.  It was however a perfect decision.  The level of solidity that Kalil brought immediately to the offensive line was quite literally a game-changer, as the Vikings offensive line went from being one of the worst in the NFL to somewhere near the top (Charlie Johnson sliding over to guard and the dismissal of Anthony Herrara in favor of the younger Brandon Fusco also contributed).  Kalil played very well for the most part, struggling at times as all rookies do, but overall proving that the decision to take him at number four overall was not only necessary, but was the smart thing to do.  He showed all the signs of being a true franchise left tackle, the kind of guy you can expect to see playing at a very high level for a lot of years to come.

2. Harrison Smith: A

I remember the reaction I had when I found out that the Vikings had traded their way back into the first round to take Harrison Smith.  It wasn’t disdain or disapproval, but it certainly wasn’t joy.  It was probably mostly a feeling of trepidation; did we REALLY need to do that?  We needed a safety to be sure, but there were a few other more pressing needs that I felt could have been addressed sooner.  Boy was I wrong.  Of all the 2012 rookies, Smith was easily the most exciting to watch.  For a rookie, he was consistently solid with a few absolutely huge plays mixed in.  He brought a level of physicality, intimidation, and playmaking ability that Vikings fans haven’t seen in our secondary in many many years.  The absolute best part about Smith, like Kalil, is that he doesn’t seem to be a one hit wonder.  All signs point to him being able to continue to improve each season and hopefully, he’ll be a mainstay here in the backfield for Minnesota for many years to come.

3. Josh Robinson: C

I actually really like Josh Robinson.  His rookie season was a little bit up and down, but potential can be an important factor.  Everyone knew he had potential when he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.33 seconds, the fastest time in the NFL Scouting Combine last year.  I recall hearing his name, entirely because of his stellar 40, but not taking much note of it or the things said about him leading up to the draft.  When he was drafted by the Vikings I thought it seemed like a reasonable choice for a third round pick, and I was excited to have a player of “note” join the team.  When he first hit the field during the regular season he actually made some plays, including an interception and near touchdown return. He seemed fairly solid for the most part, making a few rookie mistakes here and there, but at some point, he just seemed to disappear a little.  I’d like to see a little bit more out of a third round pick, and hopefully that exact thing will happen this season.

4. Jarius Wright: B

Ah, what to say about Jarius Wright.  He’s a difficult one to grade, as he saw such limited playing time during the season.  He had a moment of brilliance in the Lions game where he came up with a huge 54-yard catch, a few moments of solid/slightly exciting play, and a whole lot of run-of-the-mill stuff with a few drops mixed in.  He seems like a guy who can be a receiver in the NFL, but so far there doesn’t seem to be anything splashy or exciting about him.  We’ll have to see what he can do with some more playing time in 2013.  Like many of the Vikings 2012 draft picks, there’s nothing troubling about this guy.  There’s no reason he won’t improve next year, and who knows, he might end up as a pretty good offensive weapon after getting some more experience under his belt.

5. Rhett Ellison: B

When Jim Kleinsasser left the Vikings in 2011, he left some pretty big shoes to fill.  Whether it was fair or not, Rhett Ellison was billed as the man who would fill those shoes, even taking Kleinsasser’s number: 40.  By virtue of the position he plays and the things he is asked to do on gameday, it’s fairly difficult to give Ellison an accurate grade.  He was asked to be a pass protector, a run blocker, and occasionally a pass catcher, and performed all of these duties to a reasonably high level.  Because his job description isn’t one that provides easily measurable statistics, I’m going to ignore the stats and go with my gut.  He’s a pretty darn good football player who definitely contributed to this team in 2012.  As always there’s room for improvement,  but Ellison should be yet another guy that can have a long career and continue to improve.

6. Greg Childs: F

It’s probably not entirely fair to give Childs an “F”, but since he ultimately didn’t contribute to the team in 2012, it’s the only grade he can possibly get.  In many ways the fourth round pick Childs was more exciting than his lifelong buddy Jarius Wright, in that his body type and style of play were something more desperately needed by the Vikes, who already had their very own smallish slot receiver in Percy Harvin.  Unfortunately for those of us who were hoping for the second coming of Sidney Rice, things happen.  In what can reasonably be described as a freak accident during training camp, Childs tore his patellar tendons (the patellar tendon connects the kneecap to the tibia or shinbone, and is responsible for straightening the leg) in both knees, ending his rookie season and putting his future as an NFL player in doubt.   While he showed promise in training camp, he never stepped foot on the field during the actual season, so he unfortunately doesn’t get a good grade.

7.  Robert Blanton: D

Blanton is another guy that is too difficult to really give an accurate grade.  He had such limited playing time that it would be almost meaningless to discuss how good he is and how much he contributed to the team in 2012.  He gets a “D” because of just how little he made it onto the field, not because of any lack of talent.  That being said, he seemed fine when he was on the field, and we’ll see what he has to offer in the future.

8. Blair Walsh: A

I’m not going to give out an “A+” because that throws a wrench into things as far as what the actual meaning of each letter grade is.  However if I were to give out a gold star for someone being extra special, Blair Walsh would take it, hands down.  Most of us shook our heads when the news came in that fan-favorite Ryan Longwell was let go before the end of his contract, and most of us were downright shocked when the Vikings took a kicker in the sixth round.  This was a gamble that paid off for Rick Speilman, and of course the entire Vikings franchise.  Not only did Blair Walsh step in and perform his job to near-perfection – breaking NFL records and earning a trip to the Pro Bowl – but based purely on 2012 performances, he can legitimately be considered one of the best kickers in the league.  I don’t mean top ten, and I don’t even mean top five – he’s earned the right to vie for the number one spot with maybe a couple other people.  Of course consistency is everything, and he has many more years to create whatever legacy he’ll leave behind, but he’s certainly off to an amazing start.

9. Audie Cole: C

We all remember the second preseason game of 2012 where in the fourth quarter, seventh round draft pick Audie Cole snatched two interceptions and brought them in for touchdowns on back to back plays.  It was incredible to see, and it cleared the Vikings bench as players rushed to congratulate him.  Say what you will about it only being a preseason game, it’s still not something you see too often.  But ultimately… it WAS just a preseason game.  Cole saw minimal time on the field in 2012 outside of special teams, where he played pretty well, showing up on some semi-big plays at times.  Cole’s grade is a function of his limited role, and the fact that we just haven’t seen enough of him.  I’d love to see him impress the coaches enough to come in a little more often, or at least make some real big-time plays on special teams.  Who knows, second year is often better for the guys who are solid but not splashy, and Cole certainly fits that description.

10. Trevor Guyton: F

Who?

Ultimately, the Vikings 2012 draft class is one of the better ones in recent memory.  No, we didn’t get a superstar like Percy Harvin or Adrian Peterson (but hey, technically Blair Walsh performed his duty just as impressively as either of those guys did their rookie seasons) but what we did get was a half dozen players that range from solid to potentially great.  These guys should all have a place on the Vikings roster for years to come.  The only real disappointments were Trevor Guyton and Greg Childs, one of which was entirely due to injury.  Maybe I’m being a little too easy on some of these guys because I’m a big homer, but I truly believe that this is exactly the way to build a team, lots of young talented guys who have nothing but upside and potential.

Apr 27, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman introduces first round draft picks Matt Kalil from Southern California (left) and Harrison Smith (right) from Notre Dame to news media at Vikings headquarters. Mandatory Credit: Greg Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 NFL draft is quickly approaching, which for many of us represents the only real instance of football related excitement in the long and barren time period between the Super Bowl and the start of the preseason.  All of the big splashy free agency moves are over, and all that’s left to do is to sign second and third-tier players to short contracts and hope to temporarily fill some holes where needed.  The draft is (at least for Vikings fans) much more exciting than free agency, as this is where our roster for the coming season and beyond will be truly shaped, and for those of us who have been clamoring for some substantial Vikings news for the past few months, we need only wait a few more days.

There is, and has been for quite a while, a wealth of draft related information out there in the form of scouting reports, mock drafts, and pure speculation on the part of the sports media.  A great deal of time is spent in the discussion on where a given player will go, how far he will fall, is he really a first round talent or a second, and so on.  We’ve all probably read a little about Manti Teo, Keenan Allen, and other likely draft targets for the Vikings, but if you’re like me and you don’t really follow college football, they’re just names.  I’ve watched the highlight videos on Youtube of guys like Tavon Austin, and I have a general idea of where he’s supposed to go in the draft, but again, this information doesn’t do much for me as a Vikings fan.

So I’ve decided to keep it nice and simple.  There’s no point in listing a half dozen first round wide receivers and saying “one of these guys will probably be a Viking”, instead I’m going to highlight five major position groups that the Vikings need to fill, and then those of you who care for the draft-time minutia can piece through stats, combine performances, and projected draft positions to debate who exactly the Vikes are going to get to fill these areas of need.  Ultimately nobody knows if the Vikings will take Keenan Allen (for example) at no. 23 overall, not even the Vikings.  There are too many what-ifs.  Will he still be there, will a better player have fallen to that spot, do you even need a wide receiver in the first round?  So instead of pure speculation, let’s discuss what we can know for sure.  These are the five key positions that the Vikings WILL address in the 2013 draft.

Wide Reciever

Last years draft was all about making life easy for Christian Ponder.  Taking Matt Kalil with the fourth overall pick was a great move, and one that helped solidify the Vikings less than consistent offensive line.  That trend will continue this year as the Vikings continue to build around potential franchise quarterback Christian Ponder by adding more talent at the receiver position.  For the past few years the Vikings receiving core has been abysmal.  Outside of Percy Harvin, there hasn’t been a single consistent or above-average playmaker on the roster since Sidney Rice left, and to be clear his above-average status comes from one season with an above-average quarterback.  General manager Rick Spielman tried and failed to address this issue last offseason, and he’ll hopefully finish the job during the 2013 draft.  I would expect that one of the two first round picks are going to be used on a wide receiver, and possibly another in the third or fourth.

Linebacker

The argument can be made that the middle linebacker position is the most pressing need the Vikings have at the moment, mostly because they don’t have a middle linebacker.  Last year’s starter Jasper Brinkley went off to Arizona, and the Vikes made no attempt to persuade him to stay.  But why would they.  There are two guys on the roster who could potentially fill that spot, but neither of them were good enough to beat Brinkley out for the starting spot last year, and Brinkley wasn’t having a great year.  There’s absolutely no question that the Vikes are going to take a middle linebacker in the draft with the intention of making him the starter day one, the question is, where they take him. Do you use a first rounder to secure someone you really like, or do you wait until the second and hope to get a little more bang for your buck?  I honestly don’t know.  My guess would be second round, as waiting any longer is probably too much of a risk, but if the draft is as deep at linebacker is everyone seems to think, there’s no need to waste a first round pick.  This one could truly go either way.

Cornerback

The Vikings secondary seemed to take a huge leap forward in 2012, mostly because of the addition of Harrison Smith, the excellent play of Antoine Winfield, and the fact that Chris Cook wasn’t in jail.  Rookie Josh Robinson stepped in at times and showed some promise, and Jamarca Sanford seemed to finally show up at safety.  All of this is great, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done, especially after the loss of Antoine Winfield.  I would expect the Vikings to take a cornerback somewhere in the middle, probably not in the first couple rounds, and if they take one in the sixth or seventh, don’t expect that person to play a real big part in 2013.  I’m looking for a guy to come in and give A.J. Jefferson and Josh Robinson some competition for a starting spot opposite Chris Cook, which is something that should be reasonable for a 3^rd, 4^th, or 5^th round pick.  I would be shocked if the Vikes do absolutely nothing to address the cornerback situation, but they could certainly grab a free agent too, doesn’t have to be in the draft.

Defensive Tackle

Kevin Williams is getting old.  He might still have some gas in the tank, but he’s getting old.  It’s a situation that will have to be addressed sooner rather than later, so it wouldn’t be crazy to guess that the Vikes will use either a first or second round pick on a DT. Of course taking a defensive tackle in the first round is never sexy, but then again neither is taking an offensive tackle, and that worked out really well last year.  Sylvester Williams is a name that gets thrown around a lot as a potential draft target, so I wouldn’t be totally surprised if he became a Viking.  If it’s not him, it’ll be someone else, but it’s going to have to happen within the next year or so, so why not now when we have plenty of picks to play with?

Every Other Position

Is this entry a copout, or an acknowledgement that general speculation is meaningless?  While the answer is probably “yes” to both, there is a third option and it’s one that I think is ultimately true:  If there’s a great player available, you take him.  It doesn’t matter if Chester Taylor just had a 1,000+ yard season, if Adrian Peterson falls to you in the draft you’d better take him.  After the linebacker, receiver, and defensive tackle are addressed, all speculation goes out the window.  What the Vikings pick up in the later rounds will ultimately be a function of who’s left on the board, and who they think is the best overall player still around.

Feb 21, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman speaks at a press conference during the 2013 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

The first day of free agency has come to an end, and in typical fashion, things have been less than exciting for Vikings fans.  Well for the most part.  Losing Percy Harvin and Antoine Winfield certainly affects the team a great deal, but you can’t really call either of those things exciting news.  Sure the Vikes have resigned Phil Loadholt, Jamarca Sanford, Jerome Felton, and others (could I care less about Jerome Simpson?) but what fans are looking for in free agency is big name, big time players getting signed to big money deals and coming in as game-changers, not just as another guy at a given position.

This is where the Vikings have never truly delivered.  In the Rick Spielman era the Vikings have gone with the tried and true method of building through the draft, and plugging in a few players here and there with free agency.  The 2012 season was a perfect example of this philosophy.  Very little was done in free agency, whereas the draft was used to fill a number of key positions with players that will likely spend a long time in Minnesota.  This brings me to my point.  I’ve been on board with the Spielman way of doing things up until now.  Maybe I still am, but that depends on what happens in the next two days.  Let me explain:

A few months ago, after the Vikings had made it to the playoffs, Spielman was being ripped in the media and among the fan base for two things: not providing an adequate backup quarterback, and not bringing in any good (or even average) receivers.  Sure it’s easy to complain about these things when your team is in the playoffs and everything rests on those two parts of the team.  But think about the quarterback position at the beginning of the season.  This was a team that just went 3-13, and was undeniably in rebuilding mode.  Would you go with three young, talented, athletic QB’s, or would you get rid of one of those guys for a vet who will never be anything more than a backup?  I personally was all in favor of cutting Sage Rosenfels (as much as I like him) and keeping Joe Webb and Mclead Bethel-Thompson, two guys who have their whole careers ahead of them, and presumably nowhere to go but up.

On the second point, the lack of receivers, let’s not forget that Spielman did try to address this as well.  In free agency he picked up Jerome Simpson and John Carlson, two guys who could have really helped out the passing game.  Unfortunately neither worked out.  Then in the draft the Vikes picked up Greg Childs and Jarius Wright, another pair of potential playmakers that could help the Vikings abysmal passing game.  One was an utter failure due to injury, and the other was just mediocre in what playing time he had.  So to recap, that’s four guys who could theoretically catch a ball, and make an impact.  There’s only so much money you can spend on free agents, and you only have so many draft picks, so bringing in four new guys on a team that had so many needs seems to be reasonable.  Unfortunately none of them worked out as planned, but you can’t blame Spielman for not trying… although so many people do.

What does this have to do with free agency this year you might ask?  Let me reiterate that, putting emotions aside, I think the way that the receiver and quarterback situations were handled last year was the way to go.  Sure, it didn’t work out, and we all know that hindsight is 20/20, but given the way things were going into the 2012 season, it was what most of us would have done.  But now it’s 2013 and things are different.  The Vikings are a playoff team that has just been weakened by the loss of two great playmakers.  No doubt we’ll find some good players in the draft that can immediately step in and make a difference, but that won’t be enough.  Given the situation the Vikes are in right now, they need to make a move in free agency.  I’m thinking receiver.  They need to begin to replace the gaping hole in the offense that was left by Percy Harvin, and it’s not something that can be done in the draft, certainly not with all the other needs the Vikings still have to fill.  Taking Greg Jennings from our division rivals would be a good start…

It’s time for the Vikings to break their trend of mostly disregarding free agency and relying on the draft to build a team.  If they want to compete for a division title, and ultimately a Super Bowl, there are just too many things they need.  Go out and get a name like Greg Jennings, or anyone for that matter, just do something.  If there was ever a time it’d be now, where there’s a solid, young team that’s just a few big playmakers away from being a true Super Bowl contender.