Trading down a possibility for Vikings

Rick Spielman said there are six "very good football players" that the Vikings would take in a heartbeat with the 12th pick of the NFL draft on Thursday.

But in a yearly news conference usually filled with subterfuge, the team's vice president of player personnel dropped in a far more intriguing nugget Tuesday at Winter Park.

Spielman revealed that three or four clubs with interest in moving up to the 12th pick have called him, admitting it's a more likely scenario he would stay put or move back rather than improve his draft position. "We're going to look at all of those options," he said. "But a lot of that won't happen until we're actually on the clock."

Moving back in the opening round might make the most sense given the Vikings' need for a quarterback -- the feeling of some is that there won't be a quarterback left worthy of that high a selection -- and the desire to recoup the third-round pick lost to New England last season in the ill-fated trade for Randy Moss.

Trading down could enable the Vikings to address a major need and also obtain an extra pick. Spielman said not having a third-round pick doesn't eat at him -- the Vikings have nine choices overall -- but he also, unsolicited, brought up his desire to obtain one shortly after the season.

"If you can get a player you like and get a third-round pick, you'd think we've had a very successful draft," Spielman said Tuesday.

Coach Leslie Frazier understands that turning around a team that went 6-10 and finished in last place in the NFC North only will be done if he has a quarterback. Frazier has expressed a desire under a best-case scenario to build with a young quarterback, a move that would go away from the Vikings' recent trend of going with veterans.

The Vikings can't address this need through free agency or trades because, despite a ruling by a federal judge Monday, the NFL has told teams to continue operating under the rules put in place during the lockout. That means, at least for now, the draft will be the only way for teams to improve their roster.

The Vikings have Joe Webb and Rhett Bomar as their quarterbacks, with Webb slated to start. Frazier expressed confidence in Webb, who was drafted last year with the intention he would be moved to wide receiver, but the reality is there is a miniscule chance he will be the starting QB when the 2011 season gets underway.

"We're still having discussions about the different scenarios and where guys may fall," Frazier said when asked if there was a quarterback or two he thinks could be the right choice. "We have some ideas about some people that we really, really like and we'll just have to see how things play out. Some of what you like depends on what happens ahead of you and sometimes behind you. We'll just have to see how things go."

Spielman acknowledges the fact so many teams need a quarterback, could mean that Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert won't be the only ones to go early. Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, Andy Dalton and perhaps Ryan Mallett also could go faster than originally expected and alter the Vikings' potential plan to go back.

"There's going to be a lot of quarterbacks taken and they're going to be taken early," Spielman said. "We've done a very extensive study and analysis or whatever you want to classify it and every one of these guys has a strength and everyone has a weakness. We're identifying what those strengths are and what those weaknesses are."

The Vikings, meanwhile, must not only project how the quarterbacks will fall but also every other position in the top 11 as they attempt to figure out if a team will draft for the future or for immediate need because of the current labor situation. There is always a chance a prospect the Vikings like will fall past 12, enabling them to move down, get someone they like and add a draft choice in the process.

Not a bad idea for a team with many needs.

"You have an idea [how players will be taken] but I don't know, because there's some pretty good players up there, what order they're going to come off," Spielman said. "If one of those players we have in the top five falls to us at 12, I can tell you right now we're not going to trade out.

"But you're just going to have to sit back, you're going to have to be patient and you're going to have to wait. ... So you could potentially move back, pick up a third-round pick and still get one of those maybe three or four players that you would have taken at 12."