Minnesota Vikings back to NFC title game?

Much of the ink that has been spilled about the Minnesota Vikings this offseason surrounds the annual “will he, or won’t he” status of quarterback Brett Favre. More important than “Favretirement Watch 2010″, however, is the concern for the Vikings’ ground game with the loss of RB Chester Taylor to divisional rival Chicago. The team made a move to sign free agent RB LaDainian Tomlinson to fill the void, but lost out to the New York Jets.

The Minnesota Vikings have been conspicuously quiet in free agency with their biggest moves being the retention of CB Benny Sapp and DT Jimmy Kennedy. Still, if the Vikings hope to return to the NFC Championship game next season for another shot at the Super Bowl they will need more than the signings of PK Rhys Lloyd (Panthers) and DE Mike Montgomery (Packers) to get them there.

2009 Team Record: 12-4
First Round Pick: 30th Overall

Roster Analysis

2009 Active Roster Batting Average (NFL Average): 39.62% (44.69%)
2009 Draft Pick Retention: 80.0%*
Undrafted Players on 2009 Active Roster (NFL Average): 30.19% (27.89%)

2010 Free Agents

Unrestricted: 5
Restricted: 7
Notable: Tavaris Jackson, QB (RFA); Ray Edwards, DE (RFA); Jimmy Kennedy, DT (UFA)

Last Five First Rounds

2009 – Percy Harvin, WR, Florida (22nd Overall)
2008 – No pick, selection trade to Kansas City for DE Jared Allen
2007 – Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma (7th Overall)
2006 – Chad Greenway, LB, Iowa (17th Overall)
2005 – Troy Williamson, WR, South Carolina (7th Overall)
2005 – Erasmus James, DE, Wisconsin (18th Overall)

DNQBR

For the 2009 season, Brett Favre had a Draft Nuggets quarterback rating of 23.1, good for 2nd in our rankings.^

Notes & Observations

• Four of the Minnesota Vikings five 2009 draft picks made the team’s active roster
• If you include the trade for DE Jared Allen, the Vikings have used three of their last six first round draft picks on defense
• Neither 2005 first round selections are currently on the Vikings roster
• WR Troy Williamson traded to the Jaguars for a sixth round pick in the 2008 draft
• DE Erasmus James traded to the Redskins for a conditional seventh rounder after injury plagued seasons in 2006 and 2007

* we have not performed a complete analysis of teams’ 2009 draft selections versus their 2009 active rosters in order to calculate an NFL league average.

^ we will detail the breakdown of the DNQBR in a future post, however, the figure represents the approximate number of points per game that the team’s quarterback contributes. As a point of reference Saints QB Drew Brees lead the league with a DNQBR of 26.3, while Jets QB Mark Sanchez possessed the lowest at .7

Follow all the action with Draft Nugget’s Around the Draft series leading up to the 2010 NFL Draft.

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