Draft Day 1 Recap

Busy Saturday here in my little corner of the Internets. It started at five this morning when me and a couple of buddies went fishing out at Carlyle Lake. Got home just in time to take a nap as the draft kicked off, but woke up in time to see the Raiders set their franchise back another 25 years. They made it to the Super Bowl in this decade? Really?

Anyways, looking at day 1 of the draft, I like what the Vikings did, and although I'm sad to see that they haven't drafted any Buckeyes, neither did the Packers. To recap:

Oh Mercy, Percy!! I give Brad Childress and the Vikings a lot of credit for this pick. I liked and advocated for Percy Harvin on multiple Vikings message boards (yeah, multiple...I'm a total loser) because I thought he was the best athlete in the draft, and could fill multiple roles for the Vikes. When it came out that he was dancing with Mary Jane, I thought the Vikings had taken him off of their board, and no one would have ripped them for bypassing him and looking to offensive line or defensive back, consensus areas of need entering the draft.

But they didn't. They took him, and with it, they have taken on quite possibly the biggest boom or bust, feast or famine pick in recent Vikings memory. Harvin not only has off the field issues, but he has on the field injury concerns as well. Adrian Peterson had injury issues that caused a few people to question the pick, but that seems to have worked out all right.

What Harvin brings to the table is speed. Fast, blinding, holy-fuck-did-you-just-see-that speed.

Kind of like this (start at about 1:57).

If Brad Childress can harness that speed, put Harvin in favorable match ups, opposing defenses will either have to pick to stop Adrian Peterson or Percy Harvin. If he can't, the Vikings will have a hard time rising to the level of an elite team, and Childress, with a lot of expectations on him and his team, will be out of a job.

They also addressed the right tackle position, which a lot of fans think was the weak link on the offensive line, and a lot of draft experts thought it would be a position addressed in round 1. Phil Loadholt, who is nearly 340 pounds of moving pissed off, will challenge Ryan Cook immiedately as the starting right tackle, and is great value for that deep in the second round.

For the Buckeyes, I was disapointed to see James Laurinaitis slip to the second round, but hey, he's now a St Louis Ram, so I will get to follow him closely in his post-Buckeye career. Malcolm Jenkins was about the only guy save Matthew Stafford to go where he was predicted to go, to New Orleans, Beanie Wells heads to the Arizona desert, and Brian Robiskie stays in Ohio.

Biggest surprises for me was seeing Ray Maualuga drop out of the first round, and the Jets moving up so far to draft Mark Sanchez. I think the Vikings had a about as good as a first day as the Raiders had bad. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be a Raider fan this evening. Michael Crabtree, who was on the board when your team selected Darius Hayward-Bey, is now just across the bay in San Francisco, while your team drafts the 2009 version of Troy WIlliamson. Then your team grabs a safety that wasn't even on the board of a lot of teams, by most accounts. Ouch.