Vikings Message Board.Com

S197 wrote:The more I think about the McKinnon pick the more I dislike it. Okay, the guy runs 4.4, benches twice his weight, and has a 40 inch vert. So did Joe Webb and Todd Lowber and those guys were taken in the 6th and undrafted, respectively. The third round is really too high for a project like this. He should have been taken in the 5th or lower, there's plenty of guys out there that can make an impact right now.

He's going to be a Sproles like guy yet he has no experience catching the football out of the backfield. How is his pass blocking? His blitz pickup? No way of knowing, not when you're playing whoever the heck Georgia Southern plays every year. I'm glad he has a potentially high ceiling but he also has a lot of risk too. Take a De'Anthony Thomas or a Dri Archer if you want a guy with pure athleticism, at least they've seen real competition.

The pick won't make or break the draft, and I hope it works out, but I think they dropped the ball on this one.

Spielman also found the 5-9, 209-pound McKinnon riveting.

“From an athletic standpoint, he was too good an athlete to pass up,” Spielman said. “He’s too explosive as a player.”

McKinnon was recruited to Georgia Southern, a FCS (formerly Division I-AA school) as a cornerback. He switched to a triple-option quarterback and played there primarily through his career. But he also played tailback, cornerback, fullback and receiver. As a senior, he ran for 1,050 yards, 12 touchdowns and a 6.5-yard average.

“He had maybe the most interesting workout I’ve ever seen,” Spielman said. “Teams worked him out as a running back, a punt returner and a cornerback. It must have been the longest pro day I’ve ever seen.”

Spielman made it clear the Vikings are looking at McKinnon as a running back exclusively to give offensive coordinator Norv Turner the third-down, change-of-pace burst that he likes in the backfield.

Although McKinnon didn’t pass protect in college, he showed he was willing at the Senior Bowl, Spielman said. Plus, the guy did 32 reps on the 225-pound bench press, the most by a running back at the scouting combine.

“Norv’s eyes and [running backs coach] Kirby Wilson’s eyes light up with the different things they can do with this guy,” Spielman said.

The Vikings head into Day 3 still looking to fill needs, particularly in the secondary.

“That will come,” Spielman said. “Plus, you are not done when the draft is done. We don’t play until September.”

Texas Vike wrote:Also sounds like they plan to be active filling in the secondary with the rest of the draft and w/ UDFA:

Jeffbleedspurple wrote:I'm not trunk anymore and I still don't like the McKinnon pick, RB could had waited.

PurpleKoolaid wrote:Why Crichton over Nix? Don't like this a lot.

Still not big on our RB choice, nor when he was picked.

Guess we will have to see.

PurpleKoolaid wrote:Why Crichton over Nix? Don't like this a lot.

Still not big on our RB choice, nor when he was picked.

Guess we will have to see.

Purplemania wrote: Barr should be starting day 1.
I like these pick. They're projects, but they're not big projects. Besides, this Vikings team isn't going to compete for a SB next year anyways.

CbusVikesFan wrote:This is what I mean. woulda, coulda, shoulda. I thought that there were better options at every pick so far. If we really wanted Johnny Football.....a trade up for Filo instead of Bridgewater. Gilbert, Dennard, Fuller, Mosley, instead of Barr. This draft was about opposite of what I would have done. They know more than I do about talent, so we shall see.

Purplemania wrote: I'm not sure what Lowber's bench is, but Webb had 21 reps comapre to 32 reps by Mckinnon. Just to give you guys more perspective, Greg Robinson benched 32 reps.

I'm the first to admit I don't like work out warriors, but that's only the case if they are flying up the board in the first round. In these later rounds, it's actually very good to take risks on work out warrior type guys. And in addition to this, McKinnon is a RB, which doesn't require a lot of skills. Webb was an athlete, but he was drafted to play QB, then WR. Lowber, I don't know much about except he's a WR and that takes a lot of skills and coordination. Having a beast like McKinnon, we just have to teach him how to block and pick up blitzes, but aside from that his athleticism will shine when he is running with the ball. I'm concern about his ability to catch, as he didn't do that very often in college, but Spielman states he's very natural when it comes to catching the ball, so I'll have to take his word for it.