While there is much speculation that the Vikings will select a quarterback with the No. 8 overall pick in the NFL draft, General Manager Rick Spielman made it clear that he won't draft a QB with the pick because he said they will take the best player on the board with their first selection, and there is no reason to believe that a quarterback will be the best player on the board.
Spielman was asked about the decision between drafting a quarterback or going another way and selecting perhaps a defensive player.
"That's one of the reasons we signed Matt Cassel and signed him back right at the beginning of free agency and were able to get that done, because that does not box you into taking a quarterback at No. 8," Spielman said. "We can really follow our board and take the best player available. I think it is a deep class in this quarterback class. There's going to be some value I think through other rounds, too, if you don't take one in the first.
"But in doing what we were able to do in the unrestricted free-agent market — trying to fill needs in that area by signing Cassel and getting some of the defensive linemen under contract that we were able to sign, and signing Captain Munnerlyn will help our secondary — that gives you the flexibility to take best available player when we get into the draft next month."
Spielman said the team is getting ready to begin the process of finalizing its draft board.
"As we go through that, we start our draft meetings on Monday and we'll go eight straight days with our coaches and finalize our plan before the draft," he said. "There are some very good defensive players, some very good receivers in this draft, some good offensive linemen. … There's some significant linebackers that can play not only standing up but also help you rush the passer as well. I think we're going to have a lot of options at 8, but we're also going to potentially look to move out of that pick as well."
Can find QB later
Spielman is confident he will be able to draft a good quarterback in the second round and maybe even in the third. It was in the third round two years ago where Seattle landed superstar Russell Wilson out of Wisconsin.
"It's a very tortuous process this year trying to figure out these quarterbacks because there's a lot of different flavors of quarterbacks," Spielman said. "There's mobile quarterbacks, there's pocket passers, so you really have to home in and decide what type of quarterback you want, what kind of quarterback and what traits fit the kind of system you're about to run.