Minnesota Vikings: An Early Look at Potential Schemes and Best Draft Fits

It was just over a year ago when the Minnesota Vikings hired defensive guru Mike Zimmer as their ninth head coach in franchise history.

While the Vikings' record only improved by 1.5 games over the 2013 season, Zimmer impressed everyone who watches Minnesota, and he has the team headed on the right path moving forward.

So how to get better? Zimmer ditched the Tampa 2 defense employed by Leslie Frazier and instead used a variety of schemes on defense that lifted the group from 31st to 14th overall in the league.  

On offense, the Vikings dropped from 13th in the league to 27th in their first year under Norv Turner, but much of that can be written off to the loss of Adrian Peterson and a rash of injuries on the offensive line.

Zimmer and Turner now both have a full season under their belts with the Vikings and will make little tweaks in their schemes to better fit the personnel on hand. 

With that in mind, let's take a look at which players in the 2015 draft might make the best fits when considering Minnesota's plan of attack.

Defensive Needs

We'll start on defense. Even though that unit looks to be further along than the offense, Zimmer is a defense-first coach, and it really wouldn't be a surprise to anyone if the Vikings picked some defensive players early in the draft.

Minnesota took linebacker Anthony Barr with the ninth pick in 2014, and he exceeded almost every expectation before missing the last four games with a minor knee issue. The 6'5", 255-pound Barr has a rare combination of size and speed (4.66 40-yard dash), and he looks like he'll be an impact player for years to come.

With Barr, defensive end Everson Griffen and safety Harrison Smith, the Vikings now have at least one "impact" player at each level on defense. In defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and cornerback Xavier Rhodes, Minnesota has two other players who are certainly emerging and will have big expectations in 2015.

What that means, however, is that there is room for improvement at every level of the defense. 

Minnesota finished 25th in the league against the run, a number that has to sting Zimmer, so it certainly needs to become more stout up front. 

Minnesota hasn't had an impact middle linebacker in years, and even though the position isn't highly valued in Zimmer's system, it could certainly use an upgrade.

In the secondary, only Smith and Rhodes should be guaranteed starting spots heading toward next season.

So yes, it's a pretty wide net when discussing where the Vikings might be looking for defense in the draft.

Here's a list of defensive players Minnesota might be looking at in the first two rounds:

Player	School	Pos	HT	WT
Danny Shelton	Washington	DT	6'1"	332
Jordan Phillips	Oklahoma	DT	6'5"	334
Landon Collins	Alabama	S	6'0"	212
Shaq Thompson	Washington	LB/S	6'2"	224
Gerod Holliman	Louisville	S	6'1"	206
Denzel Perryman	Miami (Florida)	ILB	6'0"	242
Benardrick McKinney	Miss. State	ILB	6'5"	249
P.J. Williams	Florida State	CB	6'0"	196
Quinten Rollins	Miami (Ohio)	CB	6'1"	203

Like we said, a pretty wide net. You could easily double or triple the size of that list and still be on the money.

Defensive tackle may seem like a luxury at this point, but Minnesota simply has to be better against the run to improve on defense. And if the Vikings like either Shelton or Phillips enough to think his value is a lot greater than anyone else on the board, it's not crazy to think they'd go that way.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

While Shelton—with his massive size and great agility—is an ideal run-stuffer, with Sharrif Floyd and Linval Joseph on hand, it's probably a long shot that Minnesota would go there in the first round.

As far as the safeties go, most people think Collins will be gone by the No. 11 pick to either the Chicago Bears or Washington. Thompson is an incredible athlete who was an undersized linebacker and running back at Washington, but it's not hard to picture him as another version of Kam Chancellor at safety.

While Collins and Thompson might both be too similar to Harrison Smith in the strong safety mode, Holliman is a ball hawk who picked off 14 passes at Louisville last season and would be a great get for Minnesota in the second round.

The two middle linebackers listed would both be big upgrades for the Vikings. McKinney, at 6'5", along with Barr would give Minnesota a pair of tall, rangy linebackers who would be interesting to play around with. Perryman is more in the mold of the 49ers" target="_blank">San Francisco 49ers' bevy of linebackers—short and tough with a menacing style of play.

There aren't any cornerbacks who are good enough for the Vikings to consider in the first round, but there are more than a handful that would be great second-round picks. Williams and Rollins both have a nice combination of height and weight. Rollins might be a better fit for Minnesota with his ball-hawking skills.

Offensive Needs

Minnesota would do just as well by going for offense in the first two rounds. It needs to get better on the offensive line, at wide receiver and possibly at running back depending on how the Peterson situation plays out.

While many draft prognostications seem to have the Vikings trying to replace Matt Kalil at left tackle, that seems far-fetched. It's the belief here that Kalil will have a productive offseason and be a much-improved player in 2015.

That doesn't mean the Vikings won't go looking for an offensive lineman or two in the draft. Depending on what they do in free agency, it wouldn't be surprising at all if Minnesota took one in the first two rounds.

Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater certainly needs more weapons at his disposal. The Vikings are lacking a true No. 1 receiver and could address that at the top of the draft. 

Just like on defense, the Vikings can't really go wrong if they pick up a couple of contributors on offense.

Here's a look at some offensive players who may be in the mix come draft time:

Player	School	Pos	HT	WT
Brandon Scherff	Iowa	G/T	6'5"	320
Andrus Peat	Stanford	T	6'7"	316
A.J. Cann	South Carolina	G	6'4"	311
Tre' Jackson	Florida State	G	6"4"	330
Rob Havenstein	Wisconsin	T	6'8"	333
DeVante Parker	Louisville	WR	6'3"	211
Kevin White	West Virginia	WR	6'3"	210
Jaelen Strong	Arizona St.	WR	6'3"	215
Todd Gurley	Georgia	RB	6'1"	226

Scherff would be an ideal fit for Minnesota, as he could immediately start at left guard and has the versatility to play either tackle position as well.

Cann and Jackson are both players the Vikings might be able to get in the second round who could also take over at left guard.

John Raoux/Associated Press

Nobody would be surprised if Minnesota took a wide receiver in either of the first two rounds. Last year's dynamic crop of rookie receivers sort of blew the lid off the old theory that wide receiver is the toughest position to transition to in the NFL.

College and even high school offenses have gotten much more complicated schematically in the passing game over the last decade. You can also argue that while many of the best athletes used to want to be running backs, they're now gravitating toward playing receiver.

Parker, White and Strong all have the look of being No. 1 receivers in the NFL. Parker might be the only one who looks good enough to select 11th overall, but White is rising up draft boards. Todd McShay of ESPN currently has Parker ranked eighth and White 12th on his overall board.

If the Vikings are going to play in 2015 without Adrian Peterson, they're going to need another running back to add to their stable. Matt Asiata isn't good enough to get a lot of carries, and Jerick McKinnon's best role is probably as a complementary back.

The shelf life of running backs in the NFL makes it pretty risky to use a first-round pick on one. With most NFL teams operating under that assumption, you can find great backs after the first round. The last two backs to go in the first round were David Wilson and Doug Martin in 2012. Those look like wasted picks, while getting Le'Veon Bell and Eddie Lacy in the second round in 2013 looks brilliant.

While Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon will probably break the two-year streak of no backs being taken in the first round, the Vikings might have a shot at either Gurley or Tevin Coleman of Indiana in the second round.

Obviously, much still needs to play out for the Vikings in both free agency and Peterson's situation. As it stands now though, outside of quarterback and tight end, every other position is in play for Minnesota in the first two rounds.