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STRENGTHS Very good athlete. Outstanding weight-room strength -- bench-presses twice his weight and squats three times his weight. Tough runner -- slams hard inside and usually falls forward. Good versatility. Superb worker. Efficient cut blocker. Led all backs at the combine with 32 bench-press reps. Has a 40 1/2-inch vertical jump.

WEAKNESSES On the short side. Runs a bit upright and hesitant. Average burst to the perimeter. Not a creative, make-you-miss runner. Very limited career receiving production (10 career catches). Not stout in pass protection.

DRAFT PROJECTION Rounds 3-4

BOTTOM LINE Adjusted from a triple-option quarterbacking role as a junior to a tailback role as a senior and possesses the athletic ability to warrant a chance as a change-of-pace back in the pros. Could even be tried as a return man and cornerback, where he began his college career. Would benefit from focusing on one position and will require some time to develop. Displays some similarities to Chicago Bears 1999 fifth-round pick Jerry Azumah.

Mothman wrote: You should start proofreading them too.

Sorry, I had to do it. The irony was too much to resist. From master of typos to another: you have my sympathy.

PurpleKoolaid wrote:My lord. And an English major too.

And I don't think I've seen a typo in any of your posts. They are very articulate. Or the equivalent of articulate for the spoken word.

Mothman wrote:A refresher on McKinnon:

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2011/profiles/ ... id=2543715

He played tailback (and apparently some other RB positions) in Georgia Southern's offense. He's not just a small school option QB trying to make the transition to a position that's entirely new to him. He's played RB. However, he's coming from a small school and very different type of offense. I imagine he needs time to fully adjust to the pros.

From the link:

MikethePurple wrote:Thanks for the refresher. I guess I've been hearing the analysts talk about him as an option qb in college who hadn't played running back. Shows what happens when you don't check the sources :/

Crax wrote: I believe I read once that his big main issue was ball security. Evidently he tended to fumble a fair amount in practice.

EDIT: Here's where I read that, took me a bit to find it. http://vikingsterritory.com/2014/analys ... tice-squad

dead_poet wrote: It's not like he doesn't have experience with the position. He scored 42 rushing TDs on a 6.3 YPC clip. He has the size and speed to eventually become a feature-caliber NFL running back. Of course, he could be out of the league in three years, too. Like Patterson, the potential is there due to his freakish athleticism. I also questioned the pick at the time, but so did a lot of people with Toby and (IMO) he performed well in the role he was asked to fill.

NBC Sports wrote: “He’s pretty impressive and there’s not too many guys who impress me like that, especially rookies coming in,” Peterson said, via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “He’s been able to do some real good things in the offense, picking it up well and just his running style.”

@Andrew_Krammer -- RT @ProFootballTalk Vikings tried out free-agent RB Dion Lewis on Wednesday, per league source.

dead_poet wrote:

Dion Lewis is a better brand of back if only because he is more powerful than anyone the Vikings have or James, even if he isn’t a “power back.” His 193-pound frame is compact and can break tackles through contact. His career yards after contact is 3.3, and it shows up on the tape, where he can be seen breaking tackles and driving his legs through contact better than James or Asiata ever did. He might not seem like the short-yardage back from a prototypical standpoint, but when he is in power situations, he’s successful. There just aren’t enough running backs that meet contact and continue to churn in the NFL, and he’s one of them.

What’s better, he has better vision than McKinnon or Banyard, and the best available one-cut running over anyone on the roster, with the kind of first step that Banyard wishes he had. Further, his cuts are fluid and he looks decisive, even if he seems a little too patient at times. I may be a little too high on him, as he has been 4.8 yards per carry in his brief NFL career.

Unfortunately, he missed all of last year with a broken fibula and was put on injured reserve. Should he recover (and being cut by the Browns and later the Colts might imply he hasn’t), he’d be one of the best veteran pickups the Vikings could make. I shouldn’t undercut the importance of this—that’s quite an injury to recover from—but that might be the only question in terms of his ability to make an impact. The fact that he should know Norv Turner’s system (though technically, he didn’t play in it) is a massive boon as well.

dead_poet wrote: Frankly, I don't care as long as it doesn't prevent them from doing something else. I fail to see them not spending on Drew Brees because their cap on Adrian Peterson is preventing it, as Jim points out.
How can you possibly blame the team's failures lately largely on Peterson's contract? I really want to know.
It's more complicated than one player's contract.
That's not contrarian. As been pointed out previously, that's the formula of the last three Super Bowl champions (or 5 of the last 7) and others that have made the playoffs. Teams don't have to be the Saints or Packers to win it all.
Nobody is debating that it helps to have a Hall of Fame QB starting. Yet, recall that in 2009, the Vikings were also in the top-10 in rush attempts per game. They fielded a good rush offense as well as an above-average passing game. You can't run the same offense with lesser players and expect the same results.
Last season the Vikings fielded a top-15 offense and were 14th in points scored/game. The Bengals, Chiefs, Seahawks and 49ers (run-first teams) also finished in the top-10. The Vikings are not doing anything that contrary to many other (successful) teams. They have deficiencies at QB and on defense (among other things), none of which have anything to do with Peterson or his contract.

Our divisional foes also have Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler (not to mention Jordy Nelson, Randal Cobb, Brandon Marshall, Calvin Johnson and Alshon Jeffery). Personal influences offensive identity/ideology.

FWIW, the Packers were #12 last year in rush attempts/game, #7 in rushing yards, and #4 in YPC.

Just Me wrote: This was the point I was trying to make. If the Vikings knew they were going to need a replacement for AD this year, they likely would have went a different route. There should have been plenty of time to try to make the transition for McKinnon (taking advantage of his 'freakish athleticism'), and even "re-tool" if the experiment doesn't work out. My thought when we drafted McKinnon wasn't "Here is ADs replacement." It was. "A running back? Really? The one position of 'least need' on the team, when we desperately need some competent players in the secondary" (And there were still quite a few left on the board at that point).

Here's what Adrian Peterson had to say about McKinnon:
Sounds like a guy that can run the ball to me...

purplereign1 wrote:
The Vikes were not drafting McKinnon to be AD's replacement. They drafted him to become a good 3rd down back, which he may be. I think they were looking at becoming a team that uses a couple of people at the position in the future to avoid have the huge contract at the RB position. It makes sense and works in todays NFL which is clearly a passing league. We still need to find the other half of the equation, which is a good back to use on first and second down.