Vikings drafts by the numbers in the Spielman era

With the NFL draft (mercifully) just two days away, let's take our annual look at recent Vikings drafts by the numbers. This year, we crunched the numbers from 2007 to 2014, which coincides with General Manager Rick Spielman's tenure with the team. We will also pull out some specific stats from 2012 to 2014, the three years since Spielman was given final say in the draft room.

Some interesting trends emerged in this process, such as the Vikings showing a lot of love to Pac 10 and ACC players in recent years and Spielman using more seventh-rounders than first-rounders.

So keep these numbers in mind this weekend, when the Vikings pick another class of players.

— The Vikings drafted 65 players from 2007 to 2014. Of those picks, 32 were used for defensive players, 31 were used for offensive players, one was used for a kicker and one for a punter.

— Which positions have the Vikings targeted most? They selected 10 linebackers over that span. They drafted nine offensive linemen (though only two of them were taken in the first four rounds). They also drafted nine wide receivers and eight cornerbacks. On the flip side, they have only selected three running backs (the first, Adrian Peterson, is a pretty good one) and one fullback.

— They drafted players from 43 different schools. Spielman and the Vikings like their Golden Domers, selecting four from Notre Dame since 2007, including safety Harrison Smith and tight end Kyle Rudolph. That is tied for the most picks with Florida State and USC. They have taken three players apiece from Arkansas, Oklahoma, UCLA (all three in the past three years), and Penn State.

— They have drafted just one player, linebacker Nate Triplett, from the University of Minnesota.

— Since Spielman took over the draft room, they have really stocked up on players from the Pac 12 and ACC. The Vikings have taken eight Pac 12 players the past three years, including linebacker Anthony Barr. They drafted six ACC players, including three on the third day of last year's draft.

— The Vikings have selected 10 players in the first round, including seven the past three years (only one was picked at their original draft slot). They have drafted six in the second (none in Spielman's three years running the show), five in the third, seven in the fourth, 10 in the fifth and 12 in the sixth. They've taken a whopping 15 guys in the seventh, including eight under Spielman.

— Of their 10 first-round picks, only three were in the top 10 and just four were in the top 16. The Vikings hold the 11th pick in this year's draft, though they could trade out of their slot (again).

— Their earliest pick was USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil at fourth overall in 2012. Their latest was the 237th pick in 2010, used on Ryan D'Imperio, a linebacker they drafted to play fullback.

— The most picks they had in one draft was 10 each in 2011, 2012 and 2014. The fewest was five, which they had in both 2008 and 2009. They will enter Thursday's first round with seven picks, but it is worth noting that Spielman has drafted at least nine rookies in each of the past three years.