Blake Bortles not expected to visit or work out for Minnesota Vikings
Blake Bortles throws the ball during the 2014 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings could be one of those teams that looks to wait on taking a quarterback in the 2014 NFL Draft, but I think they need to go for one of the top-tier options with the eighth overall pick. It’s clear that quarterback is easily their biggest need, and they should only hold off on taking a QB in the first if they truly believe in Zach Mettenberger as a franchise QB (I don’t) or truly believe someone like Teddy Bridgewater will be there in the second (I don’t, as I view Bridgewater as the best QB in the class).
While the Vikings have been checking up on the likes of Bridgewater and Mettenberger closely as they take a look at all of their options at the position in this year’s draft, a source tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press’s Chris Tomasson that the Vikings are not expected to bring Bortles in for a visit or schedule a private workout with the former UCF Knights star. Why? Well, the Vikings reportedly feel that they have seen enough of him at his pro day.
Most of the reports in the pre-draft season need to be taken lightly (but not totally ignored) because of the nature of the process: teams like to leak info in order to help themselves, and we never know what their motives are when giving out enough. Sometimes they are passing off legit info, but it’s difficult to differentiate fact from fiction. We could read into their decision not to work out Bortles as a sign that they are sold on him and don’t need to see anymore of him, but we could also draw the conclusion that the Vikings have seen enough of Bortles and don’t like him. This doesn’t give us any specific insight on the Vikings draft strategy, but it serves as an interesting point of discussion regarding a talented but unpolished QB in this year’s draft class who is viewed as the top QB by some. Plus, the wording, “not expected”, is intentionally vague so as to not rule out the chances of Bortles meeting up with the Vikings before the draft, though that seems very unlikely following this report.