Three of the top five Vikings draft picks will miss most of the Vikings Organized Team Activities in late May and early June as they finish their degrees.
The Vikings drafted UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr with the ninth overall pick, they also drafted Oregon State defensive end Scott Crichton in the third round and Stanford guard David Yankey in the fifth. All three of those schools are PAC-12 schools on the quarter system, so they will need to return to school to finish their degrees.”
Anthony Barr Vikes No.1 pk graduates UCLA June15th-NFL has rule that he cannot join Vikes for OTA's until after graduation!Vet-Mini camp yes
— Larry Fitzgerald Sr. (@FitzBeatSr) May 16, 2014
Missing OTA’s might affect Barr the most. He has only played defense for two years at UCLA.
“You know, it’s hard for me to judge how much it’s going to set him back,” Vikings coach Mike Zimmer told 1500 ESPN. “He was pretty good out there this morning, with the reads and the alignments and all the different things.”
Zimmer was impressed how quickly Barr learns, according to the Pioneer Press.
But that’s not quite how the players feel about it.
“It’s a huge disadvantage,” Crichton told the Star Tribune. “Everyone else is learning but at the same time I will get the plays they have to do, the clips of the practices on my iPad. That kind of helps but the whole one-on-one thing with my coach, the vets coming in too, that’s a big disadvantage I’m missing out on.”
The NFL rule limits players to a single minicamp with their professional team while college is still in session. The rule was created in 1990 with encouragement from the American Football Coaches Association.
“I want them to lean how we are lifting how we coach the different techniques, how we coach certain things,” said Zimmer, during his press conference. “Things that they can take and go back to their schools and work on.”
Linebackers coach Adam Zimmer plans to fly out to Los Angeles to visit with Barr as often as possible. He also plans to continue working with UCLA staff, as well.
Crichton plans to keep in contact with the defensive line coaches through video chat.
