Tag: SKOL Search

SKOL Search: Who is Lewis Cine?

Lewis Cine is the ultimate defensive enforcer.

With the 32nd selection in the 2022 NFL draft, the Minnesota Vikings selected Lewis Cine, a 6-foot-2, 199-pound junior safety from the University of Georgia. He was a two-year starter that was the MVP of the national championship game.

The selection signals a shift in drafting philosophy. I spoke about it on The Real Forno Show on Monday that Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah prioritized two things across the board:

-Explosive 10-yard splits
-Played at a power-five school

Cine has both of those and a little bit more than that. Who is Cine the player? I’ll say this much: The Vikings got themselves a good one.

SKOL Search: Predicting the Vikings 2022 NFL draft class

It’s time to lock in the draft class predictions.

On Monday, I wrote about what I would do with the Vikings draft class. It went a different direction than I was expecting, but it ended up looking really good.

For this mock draft, there isn’t a lot we can surmise from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. However, I can confidently predict he will do three things

  1. Target premium positions with premium picks
  2. Maximize the market
  3. Select younger players with premium picks

This is strictly projection based on how the organizations Adofo-Mensah previously worked for operated. It is something that I feel confident in because of his background and belief in analytics and data.

This mock draft will be made with those things in mind. But also keep this in mind, there can be selections that happen outside of these parameters based on how the board falls and if the talent value is too good to pass up.

After two months of focusing on exploring different possibilities, it’s time to predict. Here is my best projection for how the Vikings will draft this upcoming weekend using The Draft Network’s Mock Draft Simulator.

SKOL Search: The ‘What I Would Do’ 7-round mock draft edition

If you like trades, you’ll love this.

We are just days away from the NFL Draft kicking off on a man-made island platform in the heart of Las Vegas.

The Vikings are in a unique position to project out. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell are each in their first year at their respective positions, and the only data we can go off of is that of their superiors. How they will build the team moving forward has been a fascinating talking point.

The only real data point I’m going off of is this: Adofo-Mensah will maximize the market. Coming from Wall Street and having spent the last eight years in the NFL, he has a good understanding of what the market will look like, and he will find ways to maximize and manipulate it.

This mock, however, won’t be done from the lens of what Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell might do. It’s coming from my perspective. How would I maximize the board and the Vikings draft class.

I used The Draft Network’s mock draft simulator for this exercise and believe this would go a long way in fixing the Vikings.

SKOL search: Is Malik Willis the next Josh Allen?

There are clearly some similarities between Willis and Allen.

This Sunday evening, we were witnesses to one of the most remarkable football games of our lifetime. Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes were on another planet with both players amassing an EPA/play over 0.500,  combining for seven touchdowns, zero interceptions and only six punts.

Sunday’s game—and the weekend in general—epitomized the seismic shift that we have been seeing in the NFL over the last decade. If your quarterback is playing at a superb level, you can overcome a subpar defense.

These two quarterbacks exemplify the ultimate victory when you bet on a player with sky-high traits. Neither were polished college players or even considered successful starters for their respective programs. There were major accuracy issues with Allen and questions about Mahomes’ decision-making abilities, including whether the Air Raid would translate to the NFL.

But there are two things both players possessed that has shown an immaculate ability to translate: outside of structure play and immense arm talent.

The NFL is largely a reactionary and copycat league. We have seen it time and time again that one organization shows some progressive thinking, the rest of the league will copy that process to produce their own levels of success. The most recent examples are teams starting to utilize RPOs, the massive expansion of wide zone and focus on rotating defensive lineman. The next trend is becoming glaringly obvious: high upside quarterbacks with elite arm talent.

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SKOL Search: Matt Corral Scouting Report

Scouting Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral as one of several draft options for the Vikings.

Welcome to the first installment of the 2022 SKOL Search series! Initially, I will be focusing on the quarterbacks due to the uncertainty of Kirk Cousins’ future with the Vikings.

A four-star recruit out of California, Matt Corral was initially committed to Florida, but flipped to Ole Miss when the Gators landed Emory Jones right before signing day. Throughout his career, Corral has seen some high peaks and valleys, including multiple five interception games in 2020. However, 2021 saw a much improved version of Corral with him tossing just five interceptions compared to his 14 the previous year.