Vikes Willing To Deal #3

[Kosar_For_President]

With the Colts and Redskins already locked in on their guys for the 2012 NFL Draft, it's up to the Vikings to provide some spice with the No. 3 pick. Most people project them taking left tackle Matt Kalil, but they are open to trading the pick.

That's according to Vikes GM Rick Spielman, who told Pro Football Weekly that he's open to moving out of the third spot as late as when the the third pick comes around.

"There are times we have been in (the war room) and we've done deals on the clock,” Spielman said. “It's an unknown, but you're prepared for both ways. We'll be ready and we'll have a good idea of what we think the value of that third pick is."

The key for Spielman and the Vikings will be developing a list of guys he's willing to take with the team's first pick. It could include two guys, it could include five guys, and it could include 25 guys. This is a group of what Spielman calls "blue-chip type of players" and if he can trade down and still get one of them, then it's a wise move to do so, because he'll pick up additional draft picks.

"If we want to get out of that pick, we'll [determine] what it will take to get out of that pick," Spielman said. “Plus you have to be careful of how far you would want to go back (down in the draft). You have to know what you're looking at, depending on how far you go back. Are you getting yourself out of the (range of) the supposedly blue-chip type of players?"

This was the premise in my most recent mock draft, where I had the Dolphins hop the Browns to grab Texas A&M quarterback Ryan Tannehill in a trade with the Vikings.

Minnesota fell all the way to eighth, but it didn't put them out of range to grab an elite player. In fact, they landed the guy they wanted in the first place, USC tackle Matt Kalil. Some might look at that skeptically, but it stands to reason that if the Vikes jump out of that spot, five of the first picks could be offensive skill-position players.

That assumes Justin Blackmon to the Browns and Trent Richardson to the Buccaneers, and it means that Minnesota simply needs to be happy with getting either of Kalil, Morris Claiborne or "Pass-Rusher X" (Melvin Ingram?).

If Minnesota's blue-chip list only includes Blackmon, Claiborne and Kalil, then it's probably not worth the risk to fall that far. And Spielman may end up spending most of his time on the clock simply picking between those three players.

[Hunt Daddy]

This draft is getting absolutely nuts haha. And we still have almost 3 weeks to go!

[SDBrownsFan]

I could see it now...

Dolphins go to 3. The Vikes get a 1st round pick next year because its a QB. We draft Kalil. We trade Kalil to the Vikings for #8 pick. (Or we could entertain other offers) We get the Vikings 2nd round pick this season. We draft Floyd at 8. J. Martin at 22. and we move into the late first round trade with the Pats to take D. Martin RB and we give up one our 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick to do it.

3 first round picks

1 2nd

1 3rd

1 4th

[cambridgeho]

@sdbrownsfan said:

I could see it now...

Dolphins go to 3. The Vikes get a 1st round pick next year because its a QB. We draft Kalil. We trade Kalil to the Vikings for #8 pick. (Or we could entertain other offers) We get the Vikings 2nd round pick this season. We draft Floyd at 8. J. Martin at 22. and we move into the late first round trade with the Pats to take D. Martin RB and we give up one our 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick to do it.

3 first round picks

1 2nd

1 3rd

1 4th

DEAR GOD, funny thing is, its probably going to happen.

[Tour2ma]

@sdbrownsfan said:

I could see it now...

Dolphins go to 3. The Vikes get a 1st round pick next year because its a QB. We draft Kalil. We trade Kalil to the Vikings for #8 pick. (Or we could entertain other offers) We get the Vikings 2nd round pick this season. We draft Floyd at 8. J. Martin at 22. and we move into the late first round trade with the Pats to take D. Martin RB and we give up one our 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick to do it.

Possible... and I'd love it... but I just don't see the Fins moving as high as #3 for Tannehill (I assume...) when he's likely to fall to them at #8 unless someone else I don't see is, or at least seems, really hot to grab Ryan. He's risky enough to spend one 1st rounder on let alone 2 of them.

But WTH do I know? The bar was set by the 'Skins...

Regardless, as I have posted before, if anyone does trade up to #3, our phone will ring off of the proverbial hook...