If Rick Spielman needed a reminder not to rest on his past draft-day successes, all he had to do was look at all the new faces making the decisions at the top of Thursday night's first round.
Eight of the first 14 picks were made by the league's seven new general managers. They're new because the teams they work for were a combined 34-78 and 0-for-7 in playoff appearances a year ago. They're new because their predecessors messed up way too badly on way too many draft days.
Those seven new faces mean that nearly a quarter of the league's decisionmakers are new this year. That's a good thing for the Vikings, who look comfortable and confident with Spielman overseeing the Vikings' draft for the seventh time, including the past two with final say on all transactions.
In his first six drafts, Spielman used his first-rounders on rookies of the year Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin, a rookie Pro Bowl tackle in Matt Kalil, a 16-game rookie starter at safety in Harrison Smith and trade bait to land multiple All-Pro defensive end Jared Allen.
Spielman also used Day 3 picks (fourth round or lower) to land five starters – Brian Robison, John Sullivan, Brandon Fusco, Jamarca Sanford and Letroy Guion – a rising star in Everson Griffen and an All-Pro kicker in Blair Walsh.
Thursday night, he filled not one, not two, but three needs with first rounders. No. 23 pick Sharrif Floyd will play nose tackle this year and then replace Kevin Williams, the last Vikings' defensive tackle taken in the first round back in 2003.
No. 25 pick Xavier Rhodes gives the Vikings a pair of 6-2 starting cornerbacks, along with Chris Cook, to combat the NFC North's giant receivers. And No. 29 pick Cordarrelle Patterson fills a huge need at receiver, which was obvious by how much the Vikings paid (picks in the second, third, fourth and seventh rounds) to New England to trade back into the first round to get him.
The seven new GMs — Kansas City's John Dorsey, Jacksonville's David Caldwell, Cleveland's Michael Lombardi, Arizona's Steve Keim, the Jets' John Idzik, San Diego's Tom Telesco and Carolina's Dave Gettelman – would be more than happy to do as well as Spielman has on draft day.
