Wasted Newsprint

The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently ran a column saying that the Minnesota Vikings late season win against the Washington Redskins was the costliest in team history. About the only accurate claim this column made was the "costly" knee injury to fantastic running back Adrian Peterson. As tragic as that injury was it's the risk you take in football. The only way to guarantee injury-free football is to not play the game at all and that would just be silly. Peterson will be back and ready for week 1! The real problem with this column is the writer's claim that the "meaningless" win over the Redskins cost the Vikings the second pick in the upcoming draft. These "could've been" views are a waste of time. The people diddling with these sad thoughts are likely the same people that wanted the Vikings to lose games just to get a shot at Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Losing is never a good thing. During the season the coaches and players don't, and shouldn't, care too much about what might happen in the NFL Draft. With the presence of two terrific quarterbacks in this particular Draft and the Inianapolis Colts' likely selection of one of those quarterbacks #1, the price tag for the second pick is going to be pretty steep. As the holder of that pick the St Louis Rams are listening to all offers. They could get as many as three #1 picks. The bidding likely starts in that ballpark. The Star Tribune writer moans that this could've been the Vikings. It's not! So what? Personally, it's difficult to imagine being anything but ecstatic at the prospect of possibly adding USC tackle Matt Kalil to the Vikings needy offensive line. Teams dream of plugging a player as talented as Kalil in at the critical left tackle position. He's been compared to current top tackles like Cleveland's Joe Thomas and Miami's Jake Long. Even Hall of Famers and former USC tackles Anthony Munoz and Ron Yary are mentioned in the same sentence as Kalil. Possibly because they all went to USC but mostly because Matt Kalil is really good at knocking people down. It's a stretch to compare a player that has yet to take an NFL snap to those greats but Kalil has the skill and look of a player that will excel for a long time. Quartebacks, running backs and coaches sleep easier knowing that the blindside is protected for a decade or more. If teams wisely use the picks that they do have there's no reason to cry about the picks that they never had.