Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Mr. Orange Face Todd McShay hath mocked again. Like everyone and their mother he has the Colts taking Andrew Luck #1. Then he has the Rams taking Matt Kalil #2. And with the third pick in the draft that exists only in Todd McShay’s mind, the Minnesota Vikings select…Riley Reiff, offensive tackle from Iowa.

Reiff over Morris Claiborne or Justin Blackmon? McShay obviously expects the Vikings to trade down. Which is what they probably should do. But a funny thing can happen on the way to making a trade. Remember last year when the Vikes wanted to slide down a few spots and take Christian Ponder? They couldn’t get the trade done. If the same thing happens this year, will the Vikings take the best available guy at their biggest need position even if it means reaching slightly, or will they grab for value by taking Claiborne or Blackmon?

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Jeffrey G. Pittenger-US PRESSWIRE

For weeks we’ve been taking it for granted that Matt Kalil is the ironclad #1 offensive tackle in this year’s draft. But now there’s at least one dissenting voice, and it’s a pretty prominent (if somewhat lispy) one. In his “early” position-by-position ranking of draft prospects (posted several days ago on NFL.com but only just noticed by me), the one-and-only Mike Mayock drills a small hole in the good ship Conventional Wisdom by giving the nod to Iowa tackle Riley Reiff over Kalil.

Mayock’s rundown gives no explanation why Reiff should be valued over the consensus #1 tackle Kalil. Nor does the piece give any indication of how wide Mayock thinks the gulf between the two players is. It could be Mayock has Reiff in a squeaker, or it could be he thinks Reiff is definitively better for whatever reason. It’s all just one man’s opinion of course, but this man happens to be highly respected among draft wonks and therefore worth listening to.

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I say all that in preface to this: Rick Spielman made a remark during last night’s Vikings-Texans telecast that sounds suspiciously like a hint that Shiancoe could be in danger of getting cut for cap reasons (Shank’s number for 2011 is $4.5 million, and as we know the Vikings are hard up against the cap).

The rumor-sparking remark was dropped with time winding down in the fourth quarter, after Spielman had been sitting there yakking with Ari Wolfe and Mike Mayock for at least an hour. Mayock brought up the fact that Shiancoe is in his contract year. Spielman’s response could be construed as a general statement about the dynamics of constructing a roster under the restrictions of a salary cap, or it could be seen as a specific remark about Shiancoe’s status. Here is the full quote from Spielman:

That’s one thing from a contract standpoint, we have to start identifying guys and Rob Brzezinski does a great job managing our cap, making sure we’re able to stay competitive year-in and year-out, going out and getting players that we need to get. So, there’ll be some tough decisions and a lot of it can be cap-related as well when you make these roster cuts.

Again, this may only have been Spielman thinking aloud, and not talking specifically about any player including Shiancoe. But the fact that he made that remark right after discussing Shiancoe’s contract status does have to give you pause. Is it possible Spielman was loopy from being stuck in a booth with Mike Mayock and Ari Wolfe for most of a half of football and spilled a piece of information he otherwise would not have wanted getting out there?

It’s intriguing, but in the end the evidence is far too flimsy. It’s likely Spielman was just conversing generally about cap issues and wasn’t accidentally dropping any inside info about specific players. There’s no reason for Shiancoe or his fans to worry: Shank will still be on the Vikings after Saturday afternoon’s cut-down deadline.

Probably.

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