Day three Vikings college draft primer: A.J. Klein and Quinton Patton

The Minnesota Vikings watched a lot of players they could have used go off the board in rounds two and three Friday, thanks to giving up their picks in those rounds in a trade that got them in position to select Cordarrelle Patterson (who says Randy Moss was his role model. Not sure I'm jazzed to hear that.) Guys like Manti Te'o, Arthur Brown, Justin Hunter, Robert Woods and Markus Wheaton are all gone now.The Vikings will be back at the draft table Saturday though, picking 120th overall in the fourth round. A total of 23 teams will pick before they do.The Vikes addressed three big needs on Thursday night - defensive tackle, cornerback and wide receiver. They did not address their middle linebacker situation.One name to watch out for at that spot is Iowa State's A.J. Klein. Like almost all of these college players, I've never actually seen him play. But the scouting reports I've read describe him as a better athlete than advertised (white football players always get that label) with good ball skills and a reliable tackler. He averaged well over 100 tackles per season at Iowa State. If he's still around at #120, he might be the Vikings man. Kevin Reddick and Khaseem Greene might also be possibilities.The other name that jumps out at me who is still available going into round four is wide receiver Quinton Patton. Some draftniks thought he'd be a second or third round pick. Not so. Obviously no NFL team felt Patton's gargantuan production at Louisiana Tech the past two years (183 catches, 2,594 yards, 24 TDs) warranted being picked that high. However, I don't think he'll slide any further than the fourth round.Some fans will wonder why the Vikings would select Patton when they've already drafted Patterson and also have Greg Jennings, Jerome Simpson, and Jarius Wright. But if a guy with this kind of production is still there at #120, he'd be hard to pass up. And I bet he'd be more productive as a receiver in his rookie year than Patterson.
Source:http://kab-vikings.blogspot.com/2013/04/day-three-vikings-college-draft-primer.html

Day three Vikings college draft primer: A.J. Klein and Quinton Patton Images