Mocking Minnesota: Making a Move for Sauce
K. Joudry
|
Before venturing into this trade up mock, I explored what a trade down might look like. Smarter minds than mine might quibble with the choices I made, but I believe that mock showed something: there can be tremendous value in trading down. The 12th choice got turned into the 23rd, 55th, and 201st picks. In so doing, the Vikings were able to snag another upside player in the second round. The current mock draft involved me going in the opposite direction. Rather than accumulate more picks, I sent some out so the Vikings could jump up in this mock draft.
Similar to the first iteration, I relied on the handy mock simulator over on PFF.
Part of what made this draft challenging was that Derek Stingley Jr. went so early. I came into it thinking that the team really wanted a CB1 with their opening round selection, so seeing Stingley go fourth overall was concerning. For this reason, I decided to give the bots who run the Giants a call. I was able to pry away the 5th pick in exchange for 12, 77, 184, and next year’s third. It’s not insignificant, but it’s also not the multiple firsts we see when teams move up for QBs.
With the 5th overall pick, I opted for Ahmad Gardner, who is commonly referred to by his nickname: Sauce. Take a look at what The Draft Network has to say about the stud CB:
Ahmad Gardner was a wiry, 160-pound high school recruit that was overlooked by the top Big Ten schools in the recruiting process but developed into one of the best cornerbacks in college football and a top NFL prospect. Since joining the Bearcats, Gardner has filled out his frame and became a standout starter as a true freshman. Gardner is a long and athletic corner that can function in a variety of coverage techniques but his best work comes in zone and press coverage. He is a feisty competitor with excellent coverage instincts and he has above average ball skills. When it comes to areas of concern at the next level, there can be some drag-down tendencies as a tackler—his high hips elongate his ability to trigger and drive downhill and he needs to trust his athleticism more and not be so grabby in coverage. Gardner has the makeup of an NFL starter that could claim that role in year two if not year one. He has every necessary trait to develop into an above average starter for an NFL defense and his high-level play across three seasons in college sets him up well for success at the next level.
In choosing Gardner in this mock draft, the Vikings are hoping they get someone who can replicate Pat Surtain’s strong season for Ed Donatell’s 2021 Broncos. Sauce’s length and ability in press coverage will be intriguing to Donatell and the Vikings. Moreover, his ball skills are precisely what the secondary needs.
In the second round, I decided to beef up the defensive front. Houston’s Logan Hall got chosen with the 46th pick. Again, I turn to TDN for the evaluation:
Logan Hall is an ascending talent that combined mental and technical growth in 2021 to produce his best season and vastly improve his overall valuation. Houston plays him all across the defensive line, giving him plenty of chances to play on the edge and interior as both a run defender and pass rusher. Hall features a long, stocky, and well-proportioned frame that is engineered to play defensive line in the NFL. He is an explosive athlete that plays with a motor that is always fully cranked. He does well to stay leveraged and compete hard from snap to whistle. The growth he demonstrated in 2021 with his hand technique is notable and he’s slippery working through the edges of blocks. He’s developed counters and refined his overall pass-rush plan. As a run defender, Hall shines when he gets opportunities to shoot gaps but is also fully capable of fighting pressure with pressure and remaining stout at the point of attack. With that said, his lack of mass will be challenging to do the same in the NFL if asked to play on the inside on run downs. Hall’s versatility will be an asset at the next level as teams continue to become more and more multiple with their fronts. In year one, Hall has the upside to crack the rotation and situationally make an impact. By year two or three, Hall has the makings of a fixture up front that claims a starting role and plays at least 60% of the snaps while taking advantage of his balanced skill set and ability to execute from a variety of alignments.
The concerns about his size don’t worry me. In the Donatell 3-4, Hall could be a 3 or 5-technique, allowing him to avoid the nitty-gritty of nose tackle duties. As a result, he could partner with either Za’Darius Smith or Danielle Hunter, creating matchup problems for the offense. To my mind, Hall complements Dalvin Tomlinson, Armon Watts, and Harrison Phillips given that he has a different build, perhaps allowing him to fit a specific role that the other three aren’t as equipped for.
The overall goal for these two picks is to raise the defense’s floor and ceiling, especially when it comes to shutting down the pass. This Vikings mock draft thus responded by going all-in on a top-tier corner, someone whom many believe will ascend into CB1 status in the NFL. If that does occur, then the draft capital to jump to 5th was more than worth it.
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”991344″ player=”26281″ title=”WATCH%20Tom%20Brady%20gets%20too%20much%20credit%20for%20Buccaneers’%20success%20says%20Bruce%20Arians” duration=”139″ description=”Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians says the team’s franchise quarterback, Tom Brady, gets “way too much credit” for the success the Bucs have had on offense over the last two seasons.Arians and Brady seem to have a unique relationship. The pair were thrust together for the 2020 season and the result was as good as it could get when they brought Tampa Bay their second Super Bowl trophy. However, ever since then things have changed, and quickly.” uploaddate=”2022-04-12″ thumbnailurl=”undefined” contentUrl=”https://cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/streaming/991332/991332.m3u8″ width=”16″ height=”9″]