| Andrew Kneeland. 28th April, 2008 - 12:03 pm
 With the 43nd overall pick in the second round, the Minnesota Vikings selected safety Tyrell Johnson from Arkansas State.
This is a good pick. Johnson will not only be the eventual replacement to Darren Sharper, but he will also make an immediate impact on the pass defense of this Viking team.
Johnson had a fantastic combine, which many people blame for his dramatic rise on draft boards. He had 27 reps in the bench press, the highest among safeties. To put that into perspective, offensive lineman Jake Long had a total of 37 reps, running back Jonathon Stewart had 28, and tight end Fred Davis had 24.
Johnson also displayed his great speed in his workouts. ESPN has him as the top-rated safety, ahead of Kenny Philips.
Marcellous Tyrell Johnson, if not a starter in 2008, will have the great chance of being groomed by Darren Sharper before he is expected to fill the veteran's shoes. People are saying that Sharper has only one or two more productive seasons left in his tank and that Johnson will pick up wherever he leaves off.
Known for his great tackling and explosiveness, Johnson also has outstanding natural instincts. Coming from Arkansas State, he is naturally doubted to have the stuff needed against elite competition. He seemed to smash that when his Arkansas State Indians faced both the Texas Longhorns and Tennessee Volunteers.
Last year against the mighty Longhorns, Johnson had eight tackles, one interception, and one forced fumble. He repeated those great stats against Tennessee when he had eight tackles, one interception, and one forced fumble.
Johnson may be from a small school, but he should be fine against the top competition the NFL has to offer.
A question that is raised when watching Johnson is his ability to cover receivers man-to-man. He lacks in that department, and he isn't able to cover large tight ends or extremely fast wide receivers.
Make no mistake about it, Johnson will be a great NFL safety.
This 2008 NFL draft raises a few more questions, though. Why did Minnesota trade up with the Eagles to the 12th spot in the second round?
I don't know if anyone will ever know. The deal involved the swapping of second round picks and Minnesota giving its fourth to Philadelphia who in turn gave one of its fifth rounders to Minnesota.
I'm in no position to criticize this trade yet, so I won't. Minnesota probably did the right thing in making sure that no one had a chance to grab Johnson.
Some Minnesota fans seem disappointed with this second round selection of Tyrell Johnson. They would have liked to see Brian Brohm in a purple uniform in 2008.
All I can say to them is that with the way Childress and the rest of the Viking mangement were raving over how far Tarvaris Jackson had progressed, it seemed very unlikely they would grab any quarterback on the first day.
Other people would have liked to see Minnesota draft a tight end like Fred Davis in the second round. Theoretically, they could have. Davis was still on the board at 47. Visanthe Shiancoe has been anything but adequate for the Vikings so far, and Davis could have provided some spark for Minnesota in 2008.
In the end, however, I think that Tyrell Johnson was just too good to pass up.
In another trade, the Vikings traded up to the second spot in the fifth round to grab USC quarterback John David Booty. Minnesota gave up the 15th pick in the fifth round, and its seventh round selection to the Green Bay Packers for this pick.
It's not often that I say this, but thank you, Green Bay.
Booty, in an interview on ESPN early last week, said that he wanted to be drafted by the Vikings. That probably had a major say in why he was drafted with the 137th overall pick, but I think the biggest factor was because Booty has a great football family. Father Johnny Booty was a quarterback at Arkansas, Louisiana Tech, and Mississippi State. Brother Josh Booty was a quarterback at LSU from 1999 to 2000, and with the Cleveland Browns in 2002. Another brother Abram Booty was a receiver for LSU and Valdosta State.
Booty can be best summed up by what Pro Football Weekly had to say about him:
“Well-coached West Coast rhythm passer with enough arm and short-to-intermediate accuracy to develop into an average starter if he is surrounded by a strong supporting cast like he was throughout his college career and given a lot of predetermined reads. Could take some time to adapt to the pro game.”
Booty is a warm-weather quarterback, and the fact that Minnesota will play in a dome for more than half of their games is just an added bonus.
Everyone seems to be happy about this pick except Brooks Bolinger. He may be the odd man out and looking for a job soon.
With the 150th overall pick in the fifth round the Vikings selected the eventual replacement for Pat, Kevin Williams, or Letroy Guion. Guion played for Florida State and showed great upside. He isn't very big and won't do well against the double team. He does, however, have a great first step and is very quick. He will only get better with experience.
Guion was involved with an acedemic cheating scandal while at FSU and in turn was ruled ineligible for the postseason this past year.
Guion will provide some battles in training camp, and it will be interesting to see how good he is in a few years.
The question I have, though, is why didn't Minnesota draft offensive tackle Carl Nicks? Tackle is obviously a need for the Vikings and drafting Nicks wouldn't have been a reach at all.
There are many different opinions of Guion, some saying he should be a first day pick, others saying a seventh round reach. Minnesota must have drafted for value with this pick as they really could've used offensive tackle Carl Nicks from Nebraska.
In the sixth round, Minnesota held the 187th overall selection and drafted Notre Dame center John Sullivan. Sullivan will back up Matt Birk this year. Then, as early as next year, take over as the Minnesota Vikings' center. There are rumors that Birk will not be a Viking in 2009 because he is too expensive.
Sullivan had a poor senior season with the Fighting Irish, but doesn't want to dwell on it.
"At this point, I’m with a team that I’m incredibly happy to be with...I couldn’t be happier with the result of how the draft went and looking at draft stock, up, down, it doesn’t matter to me at this point. I’m on a great team, and I’m happy with my situation.”
Later in the sixth round, Minnesota finally addressed their need at receiver when they drafted Jaymar Johnson of Jackson State. Johnson was clocked with a 4.41 40, and considers himself a great punt-return man.
One aspect we must keep in mind as we get excited about these late round picks is that they have uphill battles to even make the final roster of the Minnesota Vikings. If they were so good, there wouldn't have been over 150 players selected above them. So before you get overly excited, remember that odds are stacked against them to even make the team.
Overall, the Vikings had an outstanding draft. They addressed almost every need and didn't have to reach at all. Minnesota should be one of the more improved teams this offseason, if not the most. Great job, Vikings' management. |
