4 worst Minnesota Vikings fourth-round picks of the last decade

Greg Childs – WR (2012)

The Vikings moved up and down during the 2012 NFL Draft. Rick Spielman was dealing picks like a mad man and they ended up with three selections in the fourth round.

With the first two of those fourth-round choices, Minnesota went with receiver Jarius Wright and tight end Rhett Ellison. These guys didn’t develop into NFL stars, but each carved out a role on the Vikings and they can’t be looked back at as busts.

With the third of the fourth-round choices in 2012, Spielman gambled on former Arkansas wide receiver Greg Childs. It was a gamble he and Minnesota lost.

The problem with taking Childs in the fourth round was that he basically had no knees. He was coming off a patellar tendon injury which cut his junior year short in 2010. He missed his entire senior season at Arkansas and then decided to enter the 2012 Draft.

Childs had good size at 6-foot-3 and he could run a sub 4.4 in the 40-yard dash. But with the kind of injury he suffered and him not playing football for more than a year, no one was probably going to take him in the fourth round of the 2012 draft.

The Vikings’ decision to draft Childs was a major head-scratcher at the time. But maybe having extra picks in his pocket, Spielman figured he could take a shot.

Childs proved to be Mr. Glass, as he blew out both of his knees in training camp of his rookie season. He never caught a pass for Minnesota and he was out of the league in the blink of an eye.