Rick Spielman discusses Vikings 2017 NFL Draft strategy at press conference

Rick Spielman of the Minnesota Vikings has a specific strategy in mind when approaching the 2017 NFL Draft including dots and a lettering system.

With the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft just 48 hours away, the Minnesota Vikings and 31 other NFL franchises are preparing for one of the most important days in building a team to compete for the future.

Of course, the press conferences to discuss the upcoming event are usually filled with non-answers and the same kind of fluff each year. However, this year there was some meat to go with our helping of mashed potatoes.

While reporters were asking some questions which couldn’t be answered because they would either give up essential draft information or bargaining chips when dealing with players, there were some great topics being discussed in the Rick Spielman press conference.

One of the most interesting was the “U” designation. Players who don’t appear to be passionate or highly motivated about football will get that letter put on their draft cards. This stands for “underachiever” and Spielman said that this designation is something the team wants to avoid drafting at all costs.

In addition, the color coding of dots was discussed. If a player receives a red dot, they are off the team’s draft board, likely due to character concerns or major off-field issues. This is another way the team keeps track of who is on their draft board when the Vikings are on the clock.

And no, he wouldn’t say if running back Joe Mixon received a red dot.

Finally, the entire approach to evaluating players was discussed. Spielman says the team goes back and evaluates players again after they have been in the NFL for 3 years to see where they were either right or wrong on their draft day projection for success. Then, they will dive deeper to see how they can alter the way they look at things in order to more accurately find quality players using their system.

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All in all, the Minnesota Vikings seem very prepared for the 2017 NFL Draft. As in the past, they have been running scenarios and trying to prepare for the unexpected, but there are bound to be some surprises on draft day!