In most respects, this year’s NFL Draft will be unlike any we’ve ever seen.
Team brain-trusts will be ensconced in separate lairs, wrestling with technology while using hastily-erected VPNs hoping to not get hacked by the Patriots. Commissioner Roger Goodell will be announcing the first-round picks from his posh and tony basement, meaning he won’t be drowned out with booing whenever he stands at the podium. Will he even have a podium? And there won’t be any future millionaire players strutting across the stage accompanied by pre-selected walk-up music to hold up a jersey.
But thanks to Rick Spielman, one thing about the NFL Draft remains the same: the Vikings will have more than their fair share of seventh-round picks.
Just spit-balling here but with no Masters this month, maybe Jim Nantz could announce the Vikings’ seventh-round selections from his porch, preceded each time by his famous “a tradition unlike any other” phrase. Why not? Again, just throwing it out there. Think about it, Jim.
Spielman’s affinity for seventh-rounders is not just a cliché. Since 2012 when he took over as general manager and assumed full control of the team’s draft, no longer tethered to the whims of their Triangle of Authority, no NFL team has made more seventh-round picks than the Vikings. Actually, it’s not even close.
Our crack research team here at Zone Coverage reviewed the past eight drafts and did some math… namely addition.
The Vikings have become the Secretariat of the seventh round.
As the fancy chart shows, their 21 picks are five more than any other team. Subtracting the Vikes’ gaudy total from the equation, NFL teams have made an average of 8.64 seventh-round picks over the past eight years.
To put the glut of picks in further perspective, in the eight drafts prior to Spielman taking the reins as GM — from 2004 to 2011 — the Vikings made a total of nine picks in the seventh round.
The Vikings enter this year’s draft with three more seventh-round selections – the same number as the Titans, Dolphins and Texans. The Giants have four. It’s a safe bet that Spielman will corral at least one more.
Merely making seventh-round picks is one thing, but the Vikings haven’t been content to just swing for the fences with the selections as some teams do. They’ve been lucky enough to make contact in several cases.
Take last year as an example.
The Vikings had four picks in the final round and connected on three, nabbing cornerback Kris Boyd with the 217th overall selection, wide receiver Dillon Mitchell at 239, wide receiver Olabisi Johnson at 247, and long-snapper Austin Cutting at 250. Cutting won the job as the Vikings’ long-snapping starter. Boyd and Johnson were active for all 16 games as rookies and are being counted on for larger roles in year two.
Going back through the list of seventh-rounders reveals other hits like Ifeadi Odenigbo, Stephen Weatherly, Jayron Kearse, Shamar Stephen and Audie Cole. The Odenigbo pick, in particular, is looking like one that could pay handsome dividends this season, especially if Everson Griffen doesn’t return.
What’s the point of stockpiling so many seventh-round picks? The NFL trade value chart only assigns a point or two to most seventh-round selections, so what are they really worth?
One leading theory suggests that the Vikings might view seventh-round picks as a glorified form of undrafted free agency. Sure, they might pay a little more for a seventh-rounder than they do a UDFA, but it’s not much more. It’s not as if the Vikings haven’t struck gold with UDFAs in the past, as evidenced by such luminaries as Anthony Harris, Adam Thielen, Marcus Sherels, Robert Griffith and, of course, John Randle. However, by drafting the players, the Vikes don’t have to fight with 31 other teams over signing them right after the draft. They own the rights.
It’s not a bad approach and frankly, it’s a little surprising more general managers haven’t followed suit. Until they do, however, you can count on the Vikings’ maverick GM to continue hoarding last-round picks like 30-packs of Ultra Strong Charmin.
In times like this, we should all be thankful for Mr. Spielman’s thoughtfulness in maintaining some semblance of normalcy.
