What's In A Visit?

The NFL's annual pre-draft "meet and greet" process is a puzzle. It's always been difficult to judge the importance of visits and workouts during this time in terms of the team's interest in players. There's clearly some interest but how much interest? What do these visits mean come draft day?. Each team can host up to 30 players at their facilities. It can't be cheap to entertain 30 football players. Sometimes teams entertaining them in herds. A dozen or more in one express-line meet-and-greet. That really can't be cheap. And an NFL team doesn't want to appear cheap. If a team wants to work out a player they have to go to that player. No workouts are allowed at the team facilities unless the player is local through his college days, or even high school days. I guess that the league wants to give the players some control of their environment during this very invasive time. So, what does a visit mean? Does it mean that they have serious interest. Drafting all 30 players that they host isn't realistic and that's just the fraction of the list of players in which a team shows interest. They can interrogate players at the college all-star games. They can do all sorts of stuff to the players at the Scouting Combine. The meetings aren't quite as rude when they get to the individual Pro Days. Teams probably start to show some real love at this stage of the process. What's it all mean? Only the draft reveals a team's interest in a player and that's not much of a gauge.

Here's a list of players that have been reported to have some contact with the Minnesota Vikings:

Quarterback:

Devin Gardner, QB/WR, Michigan: East West Shrine Game meeting

Running back:

Jay Ajayi, RB, Boise State: Pro day meeting

David Cobb, RB, Minnesota: NFL combine meeting

David Johnson, RB, Northern Iowa: Winter Park visit

Zach Zenner, RB, South Dakota State: East West Shrine Game meeting

Wide receiver:

Sammie Coates, WR, Auburn: NFL combine meeting

Stefon Diggs, WR, Maryland: Pro day meeting

Dorial Green-Beckham, WR, Missouri: Winter Park visit

Tyler Lockett, WR, Kansas State: Senior Bowl meeting

Devante Parker, WR, Louisville: NFL combine meeting

Devin Smith, WR, Ohio State: NFL combine meeting

Tight end:

Gerald Christian, TE, Louisville: NFL combine meeting

Richard Ross, TE, Old Dominion: Pro day meeting and private workout

Maxx Williams, TE, Minnesota: Winter Park visit

Offensive line:

Jamon Brown, OT, Louisville: East West Shrine Game meeting

T.J. Clemmings, OT, Pittsburgh: Winter Park visit

Shaq Mason, G, Georgia Tech: Senior Bowl meeting

A.J. Cann, G, South Carolina: Winter Park visit

Terry Poole, OT, San Diego State: East West Shrine Game meeting

Defensive line:

Vic Beasley, DE, Clemson: NFL combine meeting

Bud Dupree, DE, Kentucky: NFL combine meeting and pro day meeting

Dante Fowler, DE, Florida: NFL combine meeting

Randy Gregory, DE, Nebraska: Pro day meeting, Winter Park visit

Marcus Hardison, DT, Arizona State: Pro day meeting and Winter Park visit

Preston Smith, DE, Mississippi State: Winter Park visit

Za’Darius Smith, DE, Kentucky: East West Shrine Game meeting

Lynden Trail, DE, Norfolk State: Winter Park visit

Linebacker:

Stephone Anthony, MLB, Clemson: Pro day meeting

Paul Dawson, MLB, TCU: Winter Park visit

Benardrick McKinney, MLB, Mississippi State: NFL combine meeting, Winter Park visit

Denzel Perryman, MLB, Miami: NFL combine meeting

Shaq Thompson, OLB, Washington: NFL combine meeting and Winter Park visit

Defensive back:

Jalen Collins, CB, LSU: Winter Park visit

Quandre Diggs, CB, Texas: NFL combine meeting

Anthony Harris, S, Virginia: Winter Park visit

Byron Jones, CB, Connecticut: Pro day meeting

Marcus Peters, CB, Washington: Winter Park visit

Damarious Randall, S, Arizona State: Winter Park visit

Josh Shaw, CB, USC: East West Shrine Game meeting

Cedric Thompson, S, Minnesota: Winter Park visit

Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State: Winter Park visit

The Winter Park visits are usually the contacts that attract the most interest but they don't have to mean any more than any of the other visits/workouts. After the 2012 NFL Draft, safety Harrison Smith commented that he had no contact with the Vikings before they traded up in the first round to select him. The Vikings coaching staff had Smith in the Senior Bowl. They learned all that they needed to learn about their future safety during that week of practices and in the game. The Vikings visited/worked out Teddy Bridgewater a bunch last year. Quarterbacks always get so much attention. That interest proved to be real as they traded up in the first round to draft Bridgewater. This year it seems that the Vikings have spent the most time with linebackers Shaq Thompson and Benardrick McKinney. They met the players at the Scouting Combine and brought them to Winter Park. These visits could be to solidify the team's interest or remove the player from consideration. Who knows? The only thing that any of these interactions indicate is that a team is interested in finding out more about a player, good or bad.

The draft isn't even a perfect indication of a team's interest as it never reveals the players that got away. And the team rarely, actually never, admits to the players that they didn't get.