Mark Craig: Spielman keeps all options on table

Few things can destroy a team's draft like a conceited executive who stops listening because he knows his finger is the one resting on the trigger.

"I've been to places where there have been egos involved," said Rick Spielman, Vikings vice president of player personnel. "All of a sudden, the ego takes over and your vision narrows because you're thinking, 'I'm going to prove these guys wrong.'"

The Vikings apparently don't have that problem. They also have the success under Spielman to prove it.

"Hey, I've been in the room at times when I might be the only guy who likes a player," said Spielman, who has supervised the Vikings' drafts since 2007. "But I know I'm not always right. If there's that strong a feeling from [coach] Brad [Childress], the coaches, [director of college scouting] Scott Studwell, you have to be willing to listen in an objective manner and say, 'No, you guys are right. I was wrong. I see your point.'"

Spielman said he wouldn't pick a player Childress isn't comfortable with. That comfort level is ironed out for hundreds of players during numerous pre-draft meetings at Winter Park. Coaches, scouts, front office personnel and medical staff attend and help assemble an elaborate draft board in which Spielman stacks and ranks players according to a numbering system that now stretches to the thousandth of a percentage point.

Entering their fourth draft under Spielman, there's an intricate understanding throughout the organization as to what Childress is looking for at every position. It accelerates the process, but there are still times when people disagree.

"There's a couple of players right now that we have differences of opinions on," Spielman said Thursday.

Spielman likens it to being part of a family.

"If you can't sit there and openly discuss everything as a family," he said, "then you're going to have a dysfunctional family."

From 2007 to '09, the Vikings had the third-fewest draft picks (18), but the most who have been selected to a Pro Bowl (three). Six of the 18 are starters. By comparison, the Packers found four starters in 28 picks since 2007.

When it comes to managing the first round, Spielman is pitching the perfect game with two NFL offensive rookies of the year and one blockbuster trade for an All-Pro pass rusher in his prime.

Granted, luck was involved, too, but let's not forget that there was some risk involved when they picked Adrian Peterson (medical) and Percy Harvin (character), and traded for Jared Allen (character).

In Rounds 2-5, Spielman has traded up four times and down once since 2007. Perhaps his best trade came in 2007 when he moved down in the second round and took South Carolina receiver Sidney Rice instead of USC's more heralded Dwayne Jarrett.

The trade came about when the Falcons wanted to move from No. 44 to No. 41 to take cornerback Chris Houston. The Vikings switched second-round picks and received a fourth-round pick (121st overall) that originally belonged to the Broncos.

Three years later, Rice is coming off a breakout, Pro Bowl season while Houston was recently traded to the Lions for a sixth-round pick this year and a conditional seventh-rounder in 2011.

The Vikings also took that extra fourth-round pick in 2007 and dealt it back to the Broncos for two late-round picks in 2007 and a 2008 third-round pick that became part of the Allen trade. Not too shabby.

As part of its pre-draft coverage this year, the Sporting News ranked Spielman as the NFL's sixth-best decision-maker. It's so mething Spielman seems uncomfortable accepting.