KFAN just reported that the word out of Winter Park "this morning" is that the Vikings really like WR Troy Williamson, which makes me think that they don’t. Why do you leak who you’re going to pick the morning of the draft? Smoke.
Plenty of people have the Vikings taking Williamson with the 7th pick. During the past week or so, he’s been considered a "fast riser" by many a draft guru. Two weeks ago, he was considered a late-middle-round pick. A lot of people had the Vikes taking Williamson with the 18th pick prior to last week.
Here’s what I don’t understand: How does a prospect become a "fast riser" well after the Senior Bowl, well after the Souting Combine, well after Pro Days, and well after teams have done their due scouting dilligence on prospects?
What gives? The only plausible things that could affect an individual prospect’s movement one week before the draft would be rumors (and rumors are always negative, so they’d make a player fall), some type of previously unknown personal issues (unlikely at this point, and, again, negative), or something that happened as a result of a prospect visiting NFL teams for a pre-draft interview and to my knowledge, Williamson has not been visiting anyone–certainly not the Vikings.
Finally, there is the possibility that the Vikings have conducted a whisper campaign designed to make Williamson rise so fast and so high that he knocks the team’s true objet du desir down to them; so, for example, the Vikings wanted Mike Williams all along but were afraid he wouldn’t be available at the seventh slot so they whisper Williamson up far enough to knock Williams down to them. But I don’t think the Vikings are that sophisticated–they have enough trouble getting thier pick in on time.
So, anyway, I will be greatly disappointed if the Vikes pick Williamson at seven. I think he’s a fine prospect, but I do think he’s a reach at seventh. If the Vikings do actually covet Williamson, I’d rather see them trade down to get him.