MVN - Most Valuable Network

Vikings Take Tyrell Johnson

I’ll admit it…when I saw the Vikings leap from #47 to #43, I had a suspicion that they’d take Brian Brohm. It wouldn’t have been the most rational pick for the Purple — but one may have viewed the trade as an attempt to move ahead of Chicago so the Vikings could nab Brohm before the Bears could get their paws on the Louisville quarterback. (Of course, the Bears stayed away from Brohm even though he was available when they were on the clock.)

But that didn’t happen. The Vikings opted to select safety Tyrell Johnson from Arkansas State with the 43rd pick in the draft, and I don’t mind this selection one bit. Johnson’s stock has been consistently on the rise, and scouts are saying that he should even be able to start in a year or two.

That’s good, because I only think Darren Sharper has one or two seasons of productive play remaining. However, there is still plenty of opportunity for Johnson to be groomed, and that’s what makes this such a strong selection. The Vikings addressed an area of need without reaching, and they selected someone who will be able to contribute when the time has come for Sharper to leave the starting lineup.

To complete the deal, the Vikings gave up their fourth-rounder and will receive Philly’s fifth round pick. I’m not crazy about losing that fourth round selection, but ultimately, I can’t offer too much criticism of the trade. Many consider Johnson to be the best safety in this year’s draft class (above Kenny Phillips), and most scouts had him ranked in their top 40 best players available for the draft.

Johnson is a fearless, reliable tackler who is especially explosive when the play is in front of him. He sees the field well and plays an aggressive style of football. A common question mark raised surrounding Johnson is the level of competition he faced in college, but it’s worth noting that he performed impressively against Texas and Tennessee in his senior year.

Against the Longhorns last season, Johnson compiled eight tackles, forced a fumble, and picked up an interception. Meanwhile, he made eight tackles, forced a fumble, and intercepted another pass against Tennessee. Yeah, he played for a small school, but make no mistake about it — Johnson will be just fine at the NFL level.

The downsides of Johnson? Scouts haven’t been impressed with his man-to-man cover abilities, and his ability to cover bulky tight ends and wide receivers with elite speed has also been questioned

For those disappointed that the Vikings passed up Brohm, I wouldn’t be too concerned. The Vikings will be able to add quarterback depth on Sunday, and frankly, given the level of Chilly’s confidence in Tarvaris, it would have been VERY surprising if they had selected a quarterback in the second round.

Many Vikings fans wanted to see the team opt for a tight end in the second round. I certainly would have been pleased if they had taken Fred Davis in the second round, as Visanthe Shiancoe has shown himself to be a complete bust and a terrible signing. Garrett Mills, although intriguing, is a mystery man. Selecting Davis would have made quite a bit of sense for the Vikings.

But I can’t complain about the direction they decided to take with the 43rd pick. We may be entering Sharper’s final season with the Purple — however, even if he retires a Viking, it was still imperative that this organization decided upon a long-term replacement for Sharper. That’s exactly what they did today.

Some highlights of Johnson…

Be prepared to see some hard hits in the coming years, because this guy can knock people out. It’s always nice to have a hard-hitting enforcer (to use a hockey term) in the secondary, and that’ll be a large part of Johnson’s role with the Vikings.

Also, although it’s important to note that most of the games in these highlights took place against weak competition, it’s worth mentioning that Johnson certainly appears to have good hands. Hopefully, he’ll be able to pick up where Sharper will leave off by taking advantage of poorly-thrown passes, and intercepting a few balls.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.