Sid Hartman: Vikings cover glaring needs in defensive backfield

When the Vikings season came to a close, it was obvious that they had to address the lack of depth at cornerback with Cedric Griffin rehabbing a bad knee, Antoine Winfield having foot problems and Benny Sapp being a restricted free agent.

Well, they did a good job of adding replacements with the conclusion coming at the draft.

First they signed Sapp. Then they signed Lito Sheppard, a Jets free agent who had worked with coach Brad Childress and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier when they were all with the Eagles.

The final move came with the draft, when the Vikings used their top pick on cornerback Chris Cook of Virginia. Frazier spent a long time not only working out Cook, but did a lot of studying that convinced him that Cook can do the job.

"On Lito Sheppard, we think he'll be able to come in and help us," Frazier said. "We're fortunate we were able to sign him. We're very excited about him coming here."

What's his strong point?

"His ability to get turnovers," Frazier said. "He has been a guy who has gotten his hands on a lot of balls. He's been to a couple of Pro Bowls. He has had a very good career. The fact that he can get interceptions is exciting to us."

"Yes. The fact that he was released by the Jets this offseason was kind of surprising a little bit," Frazier said. "It worked out perfectly for us with our situation in the secondary."

Frazier said of Sheppard's play last year: "It didn't look like he lost a step. He got injured during the season, and that probably didn't sit well with their staff and organization. He did come back from that injury and it didn't look like he lost a step. It looks like he can still play man coverage, still play zone. He's always been a good tackler."

Cook to the rescue Frazier said that Cook is intelligent and has great leaping ability. "He has unique size and rare speed to go along with it," Frazier said. "It's a great combination for us. With our situation [Cedric Griffin's injury], we really needed someone young who we could began to develop.

"He is so rangy. He's 6-foot-2 and over 200 pounds and can run a 4.4 40 [-yard dash]. That is very unique. He has a 39-inch vertical jump."

Frazier said there was no doubt in his mind that Cook had first-round ability when he worked him at the NFL Combine and in Virginia.

To be sure about Cook's ability to play in the NFL, Frazier also talked to a lot of people who knew Cook.

"I talked to his secondary coach at the University of Virginia," Frazier said. "I talked to his former secondary coach at the University of Virginia. I talked to a lot of different people. It was all positive. The only thing that negative was the academic dismissal. He was able to overcome that and ended up getting back in school and has done very well."

Likes Gerhart's style Childress was asked to compare the running style of Stanford running back Toby Gerhart, the Vikings' second pick in the draft, with current back Adrian Peterson.

"He is bigger and has his own style of running," Childress said. "He has good eyes to go along with good feet and he can come out the other end and pick his feet up and run through trash, break arm tackles. I think he can wear on you a little bit. Whether he's catching the check-down over the football and turning on the linebackers, he can out-athlete you in a lot of regards. He was offered a contract to play professional baseball and those guys are generally good athletes."

Jottings The consensus of the Vikings staff involved in the draft was that there wasn't a quarterback outside of Sam Bradford who would do the job in the future better than the quarterbacks they already have, including Brett Favre. So regardless what others were saying, there weren't any quarterbacks on top of the Vikings' list.

Cook was asked how difficult the 2008 season was when he was academically ineligible to play football. "The 2008 season was one of most trying times of my life," he said. "I was lax in the classroom and I wasn't doing my job and completing my tasks. I paid a price for it, and I had to sit out. It was a difficult time for me but I had a lot of strong people behind me, a good support system with my mom, my brother and my family. They helped me stay focused and helped get me back into school and do what I had to do."

There has been some question about the motivation issues of new Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen, and Director of College Scouting Scott Studwell was asked if you put Griffen in the locker room with defensive players Jared Allen and Kevin and Pat Williams, that those issues would be cleared up in a hurry. "Yeah, absolutely," Studwell said. "There will be enough peer pressure in that room. I mean, he is not a bad person. He doesn't have bad work habits. Here is a guy that why did he drop [in the draft]? Who knows? Things happen. People go into different directions, people fill different needs. It wasn't a priority position for us. We have some pretty good defensive end on this right now but he had too much ability to pass up."

Griffen was told that most of the scouts believed he had first-round ability but that inconsistency was a problem. "Everything happens for a reason," said Griffen who might be the sleeper of the draft because of his ability. "I'm just excited that the organization looked at me as a great player and they know I can play. They know I can contribute to the team."

It was interesting that Griffen lasted to the fourth round and his college coach, Pete Carroll, now the Seahawks coach, didn't draft him ahead of the Vikings when he had the chance.

As it turned out, the Vikings had four picks in the top 100: 34th, 62nd, 93rd and 100th.

Burnsville native and former North Stars hockey player Mark Osiecki was named the Ohio State hockey coach on Saturday.

Good break for the Gophers' Nate Triplett: Vikings linebackers Chad Greenway and Ben Leber will be unrestricted free agents after next season and the team drafted only one linebacker, Triplett.