Vikings add Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter to defense

With attractive offers to trade down in the second round for the additional picks he always covets, Vikings General Manager "Trader Rick" Spielman kept his trigger finger holstered just long enough Friday night to select another UCLA player to fill another big need at linebacker for a second straight year.

A year after selecting Anthony Barr to be coach Mike Zimmer's three-down outside linebacker, Spielman used the 45th overall draft pick to select Eric Kendricks, Barr's old teammate, roommate and best friend with the Bruins. The goal for Kendricks is to step in immediately and become the first three-down middle linebacker the team has had since E.J. Henderson. But he also has the versatile skill set to serve as potential heir apparent to "will" linebacker Chad Greenway if necessary.

"We felt he was the most instinctive linebacker in this draft," Spielman said. "He's very good in coverage. He's very instinctive against the run. He plays very heavy-handed to shed and get off blocks and really locate the ball. He has great range sideline to sideline."

In the third round, Spielman failed to trade up before trading down twice from 76, acquiring the Chiefs' sixth-round pick (193rd) to move to 80 and the Lions' fifth-round pick (143rd) to move to 88. With the 88th pick, the Vikings didn't fill a particular need, but picked up LSU's 6-foot-5, 252-pound defensive end Danielle Hunter, a raw pass-rushing project whose skills match right defensive end, a strength with Everson Griffen, but were too good for Spielman to overlook.

"He's a project," Spielman said. "He only played two years of high school and three years of college. So there's tremendous upside with this kid. And character-wise, he was A-plus, off the charts."

The Vikings now have six picks in four rounds on Saturday and probably will turn to the offensive side of the ball with remaining needs at offensive line and receiver.

At 6-feet, 230 pounds, Kendricks doesn't have ideal size for a middle linebacker. But he's known for playing bigger than he is. If he's able to do that at a high level, he would replace Jasper Brinkley, who left for Dallas in free agency, in the base and Greenway in the sub packages.

"I think I'm ready immediately; definitely immediately," said Kendricks, the 2014 Butkus Award winner with a FBS-high 101 solo tackles. "I'm going to work for that. I'm not going to say I will because I have to work for that. But I'm going to prepare like I'm the starter and I'm going to prepare like I'm going to the Super Bowl."

The normally reserved Barr couldn't hide his excitement, taking to Twitter immediately to say, "I feel like I just got drafted again lol." Neither Barr nor Kendricks had any idea this would happen, but they should have because Spielman has now selected seven sets of college roommates since becoming general manager with final say on personnel in 2012.

Barr said Kendricks' five years spent at UCLA makes him NFL-ready, as Barr was when he came out ninth overall last year. Fortunately for Kendricks and the Vikings, he'll be able to join the team immediately even though UCLA is on the quarters system, which normally prevents players from joining their NFL teams for most of spring drills.

"I'm graduated," Kendricks said. "I got my degree in political science with a 3.2, so I'm ready to go and I'm excited."

The Vikings had to wait through 12 picks at the start of the second round. At positions of need for the Vikings, teams took three receivers, a safety and two linebackers immediately in front of the Vikings. Spielman was communicating with several teams to join the wave of teams moving up, but stopped when Kendricks fell.

"I had a lot of texts," said Spielman, who traded his first three second-rounders as general manager. "But we said, 'We're good. We'll stay here.'"

Hunter was the third defensive player selected by the Vikings, who took cornerback Trae Waynes in the first round. Spielman mentioned the size of his arms [35 ½ inches], his unusual broad jump [10 feet, 10 inches] and how it remains to be seen whether Hunter can develop enough versatility to challenge Scott Crichton as the heir apparent to 32-year-old left end Brian Robison.

"I'm going to take the coaching I'm about to receive and just work my butt off," Hunter said. "I'm a hard worker. I don't have a bad head on my shoulders."

With five years at UCLA, Kendricks isn't raw. Last year, he joined a list of Butkus Award winners that includes Luke Kuechly (2011), Von Miller (2010), Patrick Willis (2006) and Henderson (2002).

"I think hopefully we'll be a top-five defense this season," Barr said. "We were 14 or so last year. We gave up too many yards in the run game. If we continue to work and understand our scheme and with our new additions to the team, I really think we're going to be a formidable defense."