The Vikings could have an exciting offense next season, and that’s because the front office dedicated last year’s draft picks to improving their team on that side of the ball. Although the organization had acquired some foundational players, including quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, head coach Mike Zimmer said his team was still considering offensive weapons in the first round of this year’s draft. Via Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune…
“The Teddy thing was huge because that was really the number one priority of the organization. We had to get a quarterback we thought could take us to the next level. Honestly, we didn’t go into this draft saying this was going to be a defensive draft. We went in and we had offensive guys targeted, but they might have gotten picked before we could pick them.
When we picked Trae Waynes, there were three or four guys there we thought we would be happy with, but part of it with Trae was the position he plays. Typically when you draft those corners, you draft pretty high. Once it gets down lower, to the second round, they don’t produce like the higher picks. Knock on wood — we hope we’re drafting a little lower next year.”
Let’s take a look at some more draft notes from around the NFL…
- The Rams were involved in the bidding for undrafted free agent La’el Collins, head coach Jeff Fisher told ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner. “Yeah, we were involved in it,” Fisher said. “There were some things, we still had some unanswered questions at the time in which he made his decision but we were involved. We were told by them that we were in the final four, which is not necessarily a consolation but we were involved, yes.”
- Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston and Colts quarterback Andrew Luck contacted Collins to recruit him to their respective teams, tweets Fox Sports’ Alex Marvez. The reporter adds that the lineman seriously considered the Dolphins‘ pitch.
- Mike Reiss of ESPN.com believes the Patriots would have willingly traded their first-rounder if an inquiring team had sweetened their offer. Ideally, the Patriots would have preferred an early second-round pick and a third-round pick in return. Reiss clarifies that the team is still please with their selection of Malcom Brown.
- The Bears had been eyeing quarterback Shane Carden during the draft, and ESPN.com’s Jeff Dickerson writes that the team was thrilled about the opportunity to sign the player as an undrafted free agent. “He was actually a guy that we had good grades on, a guy that could have potentially been a draft pick,” Bears coach John Fox told Dickerson. “Our scouts, obviously, saw a lot more of him than the coaching staff. But he was productive, smart. He has good moxie, being able to execute in a pass offense that throws the ball quite a bit and was very productive.”