Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman held his annual predraft news conference Tuesday afternoon at Winter Park. It's a useful enough event, and I believe Spielman attempts to answer all the questions to the best of his ability.

But it's also annually an event — keep in mind, this is two days before the start of the draft — in which it is in the opposite of Spielman's best interest to give away any real information. He achieves this not via misinformation but by crafting answers that make it hard to zero in on any one thing. In short, he wants to create more and varied information, just in case his words wind up in the hands of 31 other NFL teams.

As such, we found out:

*Two teams have called the Vikings just today, inquiring about making a deal for the No. 23 pick. So if you're reading out there, the Vikings might make a trade.

*I asked Spielman if there is a single position the Vikings absolutely would not choose in rounds 1-7, the complete draft. He said no, there are no positions off the table — including punter and kicker. You could choose to read that as Blair Walsh and/or Jeff Locke, who both struggled in some capacity last year, have been put on notice. I choose to read it as Spielman not wanting anyone to cross a single player off his board.

*When asked if coming off an 11-5 season makes it more tempting to choose players based on need rather than long-term planning, Spielman again wouldn't bite. The Vikings, he reiterated, just want to take the best football player.

So if the goal was to leave the podium 20 minutes after he started talking without giving away much information of value, Spielman succeeded. This particular year, though, nobody should worry too much about it — at least when it comes to the first round.

The Vikings sure appear headed toward that wonderful convergence of immediate need, long-term need, the right players available and the right value for the pick in the first round when it comes to wide receivers. They might value one over another, but there are a bunch of impact guys slotted in the general area of their pick. In particular if bigger wideouts Laquon Treadwell or Josh Doctson is available at No. 23 (and none of those callers has persuaded Trader Rick to part with the pick), this should be a no-brainer.

He tried to dissuade us from that notion, saying Tuesday the Vikings have not "honed in on a receiver in the first round. We'll look at the best potential player, regardless of position."

But let's be honest, go get some rest and wait until 9 p.m. (or so) Thursday rolls around.