Rick Spielman entered the NFL draft with eight draft picks. By the time his busy weekend was finished, he had made four trades, selected 10 players, infused a bevy of young talent into new head coach Mike Zimmer's defense and found the franchise's next quarterback of the future.
"We're very excited about this weekend," Spielman said. "We feel we really upgraded our football team. We got a lot of really good football players."
Spielman, who brokered two draft-night deals during the first round before selecting UCLA outside linebacker Anthony Barr and Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, twice traded back to acquire an additional pick Saturday, giving the Vikings and new Zimmer 10 new rookies to coach up. Only three were selected in their original draft slot.
"We thought that if we accumulated more picks, there was enough depth there to add to our roster and create competition," Spielman said.
Seven of the new Vikings players are defenders, including three defensive backs —Virginia Tech's Antone Exum, Maine's Kendall James and North Carolina's Jabari Price —who were selected Saturday. The Vikings also added Connecticut defensive tackle Shamar Stephen and Georgia Tech outside linebacker Brandon Watts in the seventh round.
The lone offensive player selected Saturday was Stanford guard David Yankey in the fifth round.
The new Vikings, including Barr and Bridgewater, will report to Winter Park for the team's rookie minicamp on Thursday. They will be joined by a group of undrafted rookie free agents on the practice field when their workouts begin Friday. The minicamp ends Sunday.
Finally, secondary help
Cornerback appeared to be one of the team's biggest needs entering the draft and the safety position also looked it needed to be addressed after the Vikings finished 31st in pass defense in 2013. But they waited until the final day of the draft to add three defensive backs.
