vikings/nfl

It still amazes me that people have a problem with the trade that not only addressed two needs, it didn't cost them a thing!

Great day one. Kalil was a no brainer then they use one of their extra picks to strengthen the defense. Not a cornerback, but appears this safety is a stud. Two future startrs and hopefully a few more over the next two days.

The Smith trade was totally unnecessary and we lost the best 4th round pick of the four we had. They shoulda have waited until 3d or 4th round to take him and I think they should have first got a receiver or a cornerback. And if they were still gonna do ths idiotic trade the offer them the highest 4th rounder we had and if they didn't ant it forgit about the trade..I doubt he'll even make first string safety. Another dang Tyrel Johnson reach..

Fun night. Spielman was an absolute stud today.

@frederjf - I respectfully disagree. This draft is really thin at safety and the premier safety of the draft was off the board already. Smith, along with all but "project" safties would have been long gone by round 3. Conversely, the draft is deep with CB's and WR's. Besides that, do you know who our safties are? Jamarca Sanford, Mistral Raymond, Hussien Abdullah, and Peter... I mean Eric Frampton. That bunch isn't scaring anyone, especially no one named Rodgers, Stafford, or Cutler.

frederjf I think your entire comment is, well, wrong. The Vikes need help at corner and receiver, yes, but safety was almost certainly our weakest position, as in no one we had on the roster should be a starter. Smith was projected by everyone to go late first or early second--he absolutely would not have been around in the third or fourth round, and there's a good chance he would have been gone before the Vikings were up again in the second round. He sounds like a quality player who fits in with our defense, and the odds are very good he'll be a starter right away. Suggesting that he is akin to Tyrell Johnson before the guy has even been to training camp is ridiculous, particularly when there is general consensus that he was the second best safety in the draft. So, again, your comment is just way, way off.

I'm very happy with both of these picks, and indeed had viewed taking Kalil and Smith first and second as a pretty ideal scenario. The fact that, after two trades, we also have two extra late round picks only sweetens the pot. While it remains to be seen how these guys will perform on the field, right Spielman deserves major props for how he handled the first day.

Kalil is probably the real deal. I was in the stands for home game Smith played in South Bend the last two years... he is no "stud," not by a long shot.

google around for videos of smith, i saw a few plays where he was looking for his jock afterwards. plus playing against army/navy doesn't hurt the stats. maybe a good replacement for heath farwell. kalil looks good though.

I think there is some misunderstanding or bamboozling going on here. Cleveland didn't trade with the Vikings because they feared the Vikings would take Richardson. Cleveland made the trade to stop the Vikings from trading with someone else.