Vikings Developmental Camp Video

Kudos to KFAN for feeding hungry off-season Vikings fans. They’ve done a far better job than the mainstream media and even fan rags such as Viking Update by providing some raw video of this year’s Vikings Developmental Camp. (You’ll need MS Media Player to watch the video.)

June 1 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

June 2 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

June 3 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

June 6 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

June 7 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

June 8 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

June 9 Vikings Developmental Camp Video

Minnesota Vikings’ 2005 Draft Picks

While I think Troy Williamson was a 10-15 round pick, and I preferred USC WR Mike Williams, it looks as if the Vikings could find no takers to trade down and get Williamson where he probably should have been taken with about the 10th pick. Fine. At the end of the day, I’m happy we got him because I do think we need someone aside from the pot-smoking, stolen-handgun-totin Kelly Campbell to stretch the field. I’m also excited about the Vikes taking DE Erasmus James with the 18th pick, but I think you gotta worry about whether or not he’ll stay healthy. It was good to see the team pick up an offensive lineman in the second round with Marcus Johnson and I think they got real value in the fourth round by picking up RB Ciatrick Fason. Mike Tice told KFAN this morning that they traded up to get Fason but I’m guessing that they traded up for a chance to pick Guard Elton Brown–who many people had rated among the top three Guards in the draft–only to have Denny Green snatch him up one slot ahead of them.

Minnesota Vikings’ 2005 Draft Picks (with video – see Yahoo for videos of more picks):

  1. Troy Williamson, WR, South Carolina, (1st round, 7th overall) video [KFAN profile]
  2. Erasmus James, DE, Wisconsin, (1st round, 18th overall) video [KFAN profile]
  3. Marcus Johnson, OT/OG, Mississippi, (2nd round, 49th overall) video [KFAN profile]
  4. Dustin Fox, DB, Ohio State, (3rd round, 80th overall) [KFAN profile]
  5. Ciatrick Fason, RB, Florida, (4th round, 112th overall from Washington for 2005 4th & 5th round picks) video [KFAN profile]
  6. C.J. Mosley, DT, Missouri, (6th round, 191st overall) video [KFAN profile]
  7. Adrian Ward, CB, Texas-El Paso, (7th round, 219th overall from Oakland) [KFAN profile]

The Vikings also signed undrafted rookie free agent Placekicker Jonathan Nichols of Mississippi.

A Mossless Vikings

This Vikings team continues to put on impressive performances every week and the reason that it’s impressive is that they have yet to field a completely healthy team.

This week it was Randy Moss who went down (but not without scoring another spectacular touchdown), luckily with just a hamstring strain. The Vikings were forced to play more than a half without him and the offense never hesitated in his absence.

The telling statistics from the Vikings/Saints match-up is this: Six for 134. Those are Nate Burleson‘s receiving stats and they reveal more about Marcus Robinson than Burleson himself. They reveal just how much Robinson means to this team. The fact that our third reciever got six touches for one-hundred-plus yards tells me that teams are acutely aware that Robinson is a threat. With a Mossless Vikings, the Saints turned all of their attention to Robinson.

Robinson had four catches for 32 yards but two of them were touchdowns, one a pretty jump ball that would’ve made Randy proud.

Mewelde Moore

The obligatory line on any story about Moore during training camp was that (I can practically recite it from memory) he was only the second player in NCAA history to amass at least 4,000 rushing yards and 2,000 receiving yards with former Vikings running back Darrin Nelson the other.

All I can say, is: As Advertised.

Against the Texans, Moore gained 92 yards rushing, 90 receiving, and returned one kick for three yards; that’s 185 total yards from scrimmage. Against the Saints, Moore rushed 15 times for 109 yards, caught seven passses for 78 yards, and picked up 51 yards returning kickoffs for 238 all-purpose yards. He might have picked up another yardage category had a halfback pass play not broken down.

We haven’t had a running back like this since Chuck Foreman was wearing number 44 for the Purple. While not the exact same type of back, Moore’s got some of the same assets that made Foreman so dangerous. He’s got soft hands and knows how to run after the catch. But he’s not simply a screen-catching RB like Michael Bennett or Robert Smith before him. Mewelde can get upfield before catching the ball.

He runs well between the tackles, finding seams and breaking tackles. And he protects the ball. He does need to work on his pass blocking and at times, he still runs like a rookie by outrunning his blocking. But still, most of the time he has the patience of a veteran to let a play unfold.

It’s a hell of a luxury to have a fourth round, fourth string back with that type of production. Michael Bennett has been quoted saying, jokingly, the reporters are almost too quick to point out, that he’d better get back in there or he might lose his job. Bennett may be more right than he’d care to admit. Though healthy, he has lost his job for at least one week: Moore will start on Sunday against the Titans.

Super Freak Randy Moss Video

You gotta just shake your head in amazement when you think of teams like the 49ers who, through some cruel cosmic joke on the rest of the league, are able to field two Hall of Fame quaterbacks one right after the other, Joe Montana becomes Steve Young, without missing a beat, or, shall we say, pass.

Vikings fans have some inkling of what it must be like because we have had the great good fortune of watching one certain future Hall of Famer and another who, if he remains healthy, will almost equally certainly be a Hall of Famer. If you’re a bit slow on the uptake, I’m talking about recievers Cris Carter and Randy Moss. It’s not comparable to having two Hall of Fame quaterbacks, but it’s the next best thing.

Randy Moss Video

The reason I was thinking of this is that I stumbled across a Randy Moss highlight video on a Viking fan site called Purple Dawgs. The Purple Dawgs are Viking tailgaters who party in a purple van.

While clicking around on the site, I found a QuickTime video of highlights from Moss’ rookie season that is phenomenally well done. I don’t know if someone connected with the site created the video, or if they found it and are just hosting it at their site. I’ve sent an email inquiry but to date I’ve had no response.

You do have to see the video. It’s set to the song Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down. The video uses a comic book theme in which Moss is the superhero and morphs from comic-book like animation to live action. It’s worth the download wait both for cleverness of the artistry as well as for, of course, all those astounding Moss catches.

Carl Eller

It’s about time Carl Eller got into the Hall. Why oh why do they never include video highlights of the inductees’ careers on the Hall of Fame Web site?!? Is it just me, or is that a no-brainer? On Eller’s Hall page their idea of "multimedia" are still photos. Very lame. Leave it to Minnesota Public Radio to fill in the multimedia gap by posting a Real Audio feed of Eller’s induction speech. MPR had Eller on their Midday show today. It was a very good interview that mostly covered his social activism rather than his football career. KSTP TV has a short Windows Media video clip on Eller’s speech at their site and Twin Cities Public Television ran an interview with Eller on their Almanac program.

What is it, though, about Minnesota inductees using their platform for social crusades? Alan Page did the same thing. I don’t recall Bud Grant‘s speech but he did not lack for political activism; he can easily get all worked up about Native American fishing rights.

Here’s something I can get all worked up about: Jim Marshall not getting in this year.