After the Vikings added a couple of starting-caliber offensive linemen in free agency and created more competition at safety, too, their biggest remaining need heading into next month's NFL draft is at wide receiver. While 22 players will be picked before they're on the clock, recent history suggests they can still find a difference-maker in the first round.
Pick No. 23 hasn't been a bad place to be when needing a wide receiver
In this decade, standout wide receivers Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, DeAndre Hopkins and Kelvin Benjamin are among the receivers who were snagged between the 20th and 32nd picks.
March 28, 2016 at 7:57PM
In this decade, standout wide receivers Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, DeAndre Hopkins and Kelvin Benjamin are among the receivers who were snagged between the 20th and 32nd picks. Of the 10 receivers selected in that range since 2010, seven produced a 1,000-yard season within their first three years in the NFL, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The mercurial Percy Harvin, whom the Vikings drafted 22nd overall in 2009, fell 33 yards short of that milestone in 2011, his third NFL season.
Cordarrelle Patterson, whom the Vikings traded up to select 29th in 2013 after shipping Harvin to the Seahawks for a first-rounder and change, did not reach 1,000 receiving yards in his first three seasons combined.
Patterson has certainly been a disappointment the past two seasons. But given that he scored nine touchdowns as a rookie and is still one of the NFL's most electric kickoff returners, it is a stretch to label him a bust.
For example, Craig Davis, A.J. Jenkins and Jonathan Baldwin, three wide receivers picked in that 20-to-32 range in the past decade, did squat.
Still, more often than not, these late-first-round receivers have been able to contribute early in their careers. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, 10 of the 18 receivers selected between No. 20 and No. 32 in the past 10 years averaged better than 51 yards per game over their first two seasons. That included Harvin, who averaged 57.2 yards per game in 2009 and 2010.
So which wide receivers might tempt the Vikings at No. 23 on April 28?
Mississippi's Laquon Treadwell is expected to go sometime in the first 20 picks, so if the Vikings desperately covet him as a potential void-filler at the split end spot, they are probably going to have to trade up to get him.
TCU's Josh Doctson and Ohio State's Michael Thomas are projected to go in the second half of the first round. They also have size and the ability to make contested catches, something we didn't see many of in 2015.
Corey Coleman was a big-play machine at Baylor but is not a big target at 5-foot-11. The Vikings say size isn't everything at wide receiver, though.
Notre Dame's Will Fuller is said to be a speedy deep threat in the mold of Mike Wallace and, well, we know how Wallace worked out here, in part because deep-ball accuracy is a big flaw in Teddy Bridgewater's game.
GM Rick Spielman will not share how the Vikings have stacked the wide receiver column on their draft board. But it would be a safe bet, if you can wager on these things, that they'll draft one in the first three rounds. And that sweet spot where need meets value might just be Round 1.
Despite Harvin, and potentially Patterson if he never sees the light, not panning out for the Vikings, recent history shows that the end of the first round isn't a bad place to be when in need of a productive pass-catcher.
Mike Conley was in Minneapolis, where he sounded the Gjallarhorn at the Vikings game, on Sunday during the robbery.
