The Minnesota Vikings are one of a few teams that do not have a General Manager. In fact they do not even have someone with that title within the organization. Rick Speilman is the Vice President of Player Personnel and he runs the Vikings war room. 2011 will be his fifth draft with this team and so far he has done fairly well. Of course he has also been very aggressive trading for players and signing up big name free agents. None of that led to a successful 2010 NFL season, but this is a guy who can find big time playmakers for his team.
Speilman is a scout by trade. He started scouting for the Detroit Lions in 1990, and worked his way up from college scouting to pro level scouting in his six years with the team. After that he went on to the Chicago Bears as Director of Pro Personnel. He was not in the windy city long before leaving for the Miami Dolphins. He worked there for four seasons before spending the 2005 season as an analyst for ESPN before joining the Vikings just after the 2006 draft.
In 2007 he drafted Adrian Peterson and Sidney Rice. In 2008 he landed Center John Sullivan. In 2009 Phil Loadholt and Percy Harvin, but so far his 2010 class has underperformed. That includes his trading of a first round pick in 2010 to division rival Detroit. For the most part he has done better than the average on draft day but that 2010 class may just drag his average way down.
Related Links:
- Minnesota Vikings War Room
- Joshua Lobdell.com
