What does a team do after it gives up a third-round draft choice for a once-productive goofball that the smartest man in the NFL has decided is no longer worth the trouble? In this case, it uses a fourth-round draft choice to take a player who reportedly tested positive for marijuana two months earlier at the league's mass audition for prospects.
The Vikings erred grievously by allowing New England's Bill Belichick to convince them to give up the third-rounder for the burnt-out Randy Moss last October. And they still were attempting to make up for the blunder when the NFL entered the third day of its draft marathon Saturday.
The bounty after three rounds was quarterback Christian Ponder and tight end Kyle Rudolph, and that had increased the talent gap the Vikings faced in the NFC Central vs. Green Bay, Chicago and even Detroit at the end of last season.
The Vikings went for the talent in the fourth round as well as another Christian -- this one Ballard, a defensive lineman from Iowa. The early projections had him as a second-rounder, but that was before Ballard apparently told teams at the NFL combine that he expected to test positive for marijuana.
Ballard also had expected his Hawkeyes to beat the Gophers at the end of last season, but this time he was right ... about the positive drug test.
On Saturday, Ballard was on a conference call and question No. 5 from the media was: "There were reports that you failed a drug test at the combine. Do you think that caused you to slide in the draft?"
Ballard: "I'm not really sure what caused that. I've made mistakes in the past, but I'm going to look to the future. I'm a Viking now. Whatever happened in the past is behind me."
Reporter: "Were those reports accurate?"