Two years ago the Vikings made only five selections in the NFL draft as they tweaked the roster of a team that had won the NFC North and proved to be on the cusp of a run to the conference title game.
This past weekend the organization doubled that number of choices in the seven-round draft as it began the process of turning over the roster of a franchise coming off a last-place 6-10 finish in the division.
The reality -- although Vikings vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman and coach Leslie Frazier are unlikely to say it -- is that this draft was the first step in what could be considered a rebuilding process at Winter Park.
Only Washington (12) and Philadelphia (11) had more picks than the Vikings, who accumulated the same amount of picks as Green Bay and San Francisco.
That is not to say the Vikings are blowing up their roster. It is to say the window for the Vikings to win a Super Bowl with the collection that lost to the Saints in the NFC Championship Game in January 2010 has closed.
There will be some key pieces that remain in place, including Pro Bowl running back Adrian Peterson and linebacker Chad Greenway, but the Vikings fielded the second-oldest roster in the NFL at the end of last season, with an average age of 28.3 years and 17 players 30 or older.
That included 41-year-old quarterback Brett Favre, who is among a list of veterans who have played their last down in purple. Frazier is a nice and personable fellow whom the players like, but he made it clear Saturday after the draft that making changes and releasing players isn't going to be an issue for him.
"I really wanted us to shore up our depth and create better competition at certain positions," Frazier said.