DBs Are People Too

In recent years Rich Eisen has pounded the table for proper respect for punters. His catchphrase "Punters are people too" appears on t-shirts. Shirts usually worn by punters but the word is out there. Mission accomplished. Punters have some respect. For nearly every one of the 55 drafts in the history of the Minnesota Vikings franchise the same cry could be made for DBs. Defensive backs. Cornerbacks. Safeties. DBs are people too. Saying that the secondary was secondary when it came to Minnesota drafts would be an exaggeration. Drafting cornerbacks and safeties has been an afterthought throughout the history of the Vikings. One could even go so far as to say that the Vikings have ignored these positions. That lack of support for the secondary has come to an end. It had to end. The NFL is a passing league. Offenses are moving the ball through the air far too often, far too effectively to ignore supplementing the players that are tasked with stopping it.

Since the Minnesota Vikings made their first ever draft pick in December 1960 they have selected a cornerback or safety in the first round on five occasions. Five! It doesn't take long to list them. Here they are:

1983-Joey Browner, S, USC
1994-DeWayne Washington, CB, North Carolina St.
2012-Harrison Smith, S, Notre Dame
2013-Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida St.
2015-Trae Wayners, CB, Michigan St.

That's it!

The Vikings selected football players for 22 years before they selected their first defensive back in the first round. They've selected more in the last four years than they selected in the first 51 years. That's astonishing. They might not have selected a defensive back in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft but they still brought home three in the later rounds. Since Rick Spielman was elevated to General Manager in 2012, the Vikings have selected eight defensive backs in the draft. Priorities have changed. There's been an emphasis on improving the level of talent at the back of the Vikings defense like never before. That emphasis should remain as long as Spielman and defensive-minded head coach Mike Zimmer are charged with selecting and developing players in Minnesota.

Bobby Bryant, Carl Lee, and Antoine Winfield are arguably the best cornerbacks in Vikings franchise history. Bryant was a seventh-round pick in 1967. Lee was a seventh-round pick in 1983. Perhaps this seventh-round success kept the Vikings from spending a first on a corner. Winfield was a free agent addition. Paul Krause and Joey Browner are the top safeties in franchise history. Krause was acquired through a trade. Browner ranks as one of the best draft selections the Vikings ever made. If injuries hadn't cut short his career, he would likely be honored in Canton. The current group of defensive backs has the talent to be the best that the Vikings have ever put on the field. It starts with the talent of those three first round selections. Harrison Smith, Xavier Rhodes, and Trae Waynes. The Vikings have finally dipped into the pool of secondary talent at the top of the draft. It's working so far. Smith and Rhodes look like franchise cornerstones. Hopefully Waynes will join them.

For whatever reason, certain teams simply have tremendous success or luck at certain positions. The Chicago Bears have had a ridiculous run of good fortune at middle linebacker. The San Francisco 49ers have seen more than their fair share of excellent quarterbacks. The Vikings have had great success drafting defensive linemen. Many of those defensive linemen have been first round selections. Carl Eller, Alan Page, Doug Martin, Keith Millard, Chris Doleman, and Kevin Williams. Eller, Page, and Doleman are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Vikings have also had a decent number of complete misses. Busts. Jim Dunaway, Jerry Shay, Gerald Robinson, Derrick Alexander, Duane Clemons, and Dimitrius Underwood. No matter the success or failure of the first round picks the Vikings kept swinging. They've selected 19 defensive linemen in their 55-history. That's a 19-5 edge for the DLs vs DBs in the first round of 55 drafts. Stopping the run and pressuring the quarterback has long been step one for any defense. It still is but the importance of a strong secondary working in conjunction with that line seems to have increased. The Seattle Seahawks have really brought that into focus in recent years. The Vikings appear to have finally accepted that thinking. The secondary is really no longer of secondary importance in Minnesota.