There’d be no Gophers drafted
One thing that Rick Spielman had not done since 2010, was draft a Minnesota Golden Gopher. While he has passed on some great players over the years like De’Vondre Campbell and Antoine Winfield Jr., he does have a good reason to be gun shy.
The last Golden Gopher Spielman took was linebacker Nate Triplett in the fifth round. That pick proved to be a flop and Triplett never took a meaningful snap with the Vikings eventually flaming out of the league just a few years later.
That wasted pick was clearly etched in Spielman’s memory as he never took another player from Minnesota in his last 10 drafts with the team.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah had no past horrific experiences and wasted little time in drafting a Golden Gopher. He took Esezi Otomewo in the fifth round after he visited the team following an impressive pro-day performance.
The Vikings will hope Otomewo’s career path doesn’t go the same way that Triplett’s did. Maybe he’ll pan out and this will be the start of a new Minnesota to Minnesota pipeline. Maybe that’s a dream, but what is a reality is that Spielman would have never made this choice if he was still the man.