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NFL teams will select plenty of first-round offensive tackles for the second year in a row.
By CHIP SCOGGINS, Star Tribune
Last update: April 21, 2009 - 5:48 AM
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Andre Smith was entering seventh grade and just really starting his football career when he asked his father what is the highest-paid position in the NFL. Left tackle, his father said.
"The ball got rolling after that," Smith said.
He soon will have a better appreciation of how much NFL teams covet offensive tackles. Six likely will be selected in the first round of the draft on Saturday. A record eight were taken in the first round last year.
Smith, a left tackle from Alabama, could join Virginia's Eugene Monroe and Baylor's Jason Smith as top-10 picks. Those three should be long gone by the time the Vikings select at No. 22 overall.
Many draft followers believe the Vikings will use their first-round pick to upgrade their right tackle spot. Mississippi's Michael Oher, Arizona's Eben Britton and Connecticut's William Beatty might still be available.
Rick Spielman, Vikings vice president of player personnel, said he expects another run on tackles. A number of mock drafts predict the Vikings will select Britton at No. 22 -- the fifth tackle taken.
"You can tell those guys are a premium," Spielman said of tackles. "And if they're any good, they're going to come flying off the board."
The top two: Monroe and Jason Smith
It's an eclectic group for sure, one that includes a former rodeo performer (Jason Smith); a creative writing major whose grandmother, Estelle Parsons, won an Oscar for her role in "Bonnie and Clyde" (Britton); a success story whose difficult upbringing became the subject of a book (Oher); the youngest in a family of 16 children (Monroe); the son of two pastors (Beatty); and a player who probably cost himself millions with his bizarre antics at the NFL Scouting Combine (Andre Smith).
"I think there are a lot of great players in the group, a lot of athletic players, myself included," Oher said. "It's going to be a great year for us."
By CHIP SCOGGINS, Star Tribune
Last update: April 21, 2009 - 5:48 AM
Featured comment
Video: Access Vikings: Which wide receiver?
Video: Access Vikings: Will the Vikings take a QB?
Andre Smith was entering seventh grade and just really starting his football career when he asked his father what is the highest-paid position in the NFL. Left tackle, his father said.
"The ball got rolling after that," Smith said.
He soon will have a better appreciation of how much NFL teams covet offensive tackles. Six likely will be selected in the first round of the draft on Saturday. A record eight were taken in the first round last year.
Smith, a left tackle from Alabama, could join Virginia's Eugene Monroe and Baylor's Jason Smith as top-10 picks. Those three should be long gone by the time the Vikings select at No. 22 overall.
Many draft followers believe the Vikings will use their first-round pick to upgrade their right tackle spot. Mississippi's Michael Oher, Arizona's Eben Britton and Connecticut's William Beatty might still be available.
Rick Spielman, Vikings vice president of player personnel, said he expects another run on tackles. A number of mock drafts predict the Vikings will select Britton at No. 22 -- the fifth tackle taken.
"You can tell those guys are a premium," Spielman said of tackles. "And if they're any good, they're going to come flying off the board."
The top two: Monroe and Jason Smith
It's an eclectic group for sure, one that includes a former rodeo performer (Jason Smith); a creative writing major whose grandmother, Estelle Parsons, won an Oscar for her role in "Bonnie and Clyde" (Britton); a success story whose difficult upbringing became the subject of a book (Oher); the youngest in a family of 16 children (Monroe); the son of two pastors (Beatty); and a player who probably cost himself millions with his bizarre antics at the NFL Scouting Combine (Andre Smith).
"I think there are a lot of great players in the group, a lot of athletic players, myself included," Oher said. "It's going to be a great year for us."