Vikings’ Draft History—the Good, Bad and What’s to Come

Vikings Territory Breakdown

The NFL draft nears like some ominous apparition quietly flapping its ratty black wings through a rising mist toward a stalled Vikings ship in still and murky waters. Too much? Maybe not. It should be an exciting time, but for Vikings fans, dread always attends the draft until that first trade of their top pick for a later-round selection or it’s retained and a player such as Troy Williamson is selected. And then the handwringing and self-recriminations (for believing, once more) begin.

But not this year! The Vikings have let go of the architect of their past four drafts (Kwesi Adofo-Mensah) in favor of executive vice president of football operations and longtime Vikings cap-guru Rob Brzezinski. What could go wrong?!

Well, plenty, if you know the history of Vikings drafts, where they have done things like miss the appointed time to make a pick and then selected it a few spots later. But not this year. Heck, no, not this year when the master of making the Vikings roster work, money-wise, is at the helm.

Brzezinski as acting GM will be interesting. He comes to the position with 27 years of experience with the Purple, but not on the scouting, evaluating, drafting side of things. He is well-respected and has a great opportunity to remove “acting” from his title, if, in fact, this draft is his trial run for the job—and if he wants it—as the Vikings announced they won’t conduct a search for a GM until after the draft.

All of that remains to be seen—but that won’t stop the fellas at the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast—Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com, and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com—from talking about it. We will speculate on what to expect from the Vikings draft this year, plus look back at their checkered draft history—good and bad. Tune in and check it all out. Skol!

Listen to Vikings Territory Breakdown here or on you favorite podcast network.