Day one of the NFL Combine is in the books. As decompress in my hotel room, I’m struck by a few key story lines from this year’s event.
The main story line is the lack of story lines. There’s a tiny bit of talkability to Joe Mixon and Christian McCaffrey, but little else. In years past, we had passionate debates about Jonny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater’s arm, and the elite quarterbacks at the top of the draft boards.
By comparison, this year feels non-descript.
The quarterback crop is mundane to the point that most people believe that the pass-needy Browns and 49ers won’t take a quarterback with the first and second overall picks. Maybe that will change if Mitch Trubisky or DeShone Kizer ace their pro days and individual workouts.
Even aside from quarterbacks, there aren’t a lot of splashy players at the top of the draft. Last year, people loved diving into Ezekiel Elliott’s college highlights, and projecting him (correctly) to Dallas early in the first round. Does defensive tackle Jonathan Allen excite many people? No.
Compounding to the silence, the Vikings don’t have a lot of offseason intrigue. They desperately need lineman, and a lot of them. Filling other gaps (RB, OLB, SS, etc…) simply aren’t proirities, although they’ll be addressed, too.
Further, offensive lineman are the league’s least sexy position group. I’m not sure people want to hear breakdowns about third and fourth-round tackles. But the reality is, those guys are going to end up on the Vikings, and very possibly, starting at some point this year.
So, through one day, the Combine feels a little anticlimactic. But, hey, at least Vikings fans don’t have to fret about finding a quarterback. I’ll take it.