The Minnesota Vikings picked 10 players in last April’s NFL Draft, but only seven of them got into games last year.  As of right now only two of the players the Vikings picked (Christian Ponder and Kyle Rudolph) project to be starting players down the road.  Here is a look at how the rookies did in 2011:

23-year old QB Christian Ponder came to the Vikings in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft.  He played in 11 games for the Vikings last year and he completed 158 of 291 passes (54.3%) for 1,853 yards with 13 TD passes and 13 INTs (70.1 QB Rating).  Ponder also carried the ball 28 times for 219 yards (7.8 ypc) last year.  Ponder needs to improve his game if he wants to remain the starting QB of the Vikings as he threw too many pickoffs last year.

22-year old TE Kyle Rudolph was a second round pick of the Vikings last April.  Rudolph played in 15 games for the Vikings last year and he caught 26 passes for 249 yards (9.6 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  The Vikings think that Rudolph will eventually replace Visanthe Shiancoe as the starting TE.

23-year old DT Christian Ballard was selected in the 4th round by the Vikings.  He played in all 16 games for the Vikings last season and he had 13 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss.  The Vikings hope that Ballard will show improvement in the near future.

22-year old CB Brandon Burton was picked in the 5th round of the draft.  He played in 10 games for the Vikings last year and he had 8 tackles.

23-year old OT Demarcus Love was picked in the 6th round.  Love didn’t get into any games for the Vikings last year.

24-year old safety Mistral Raymond was also picked in the 6th round.  Raymond played in 10 games for the Vikings last year and he had 22 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception and 3 passes defensed.  He could earn a bigger role with the Vikings in the near future.

23-year old center Brandon Fusco was a 6th round pick last April.  He played in 3 games (0 starts) for the Vikings last year.

24-year old linebacker Ross Homan was picked in the 6th round by the Vikings.  He was cut before the season started and he didn’t hook on with another team.

24-year old DE D’Aundre Reed was picked in the 7th round by the Vikings.  He didn’t play in any games for the Vikings last year.

22-year old WR Stephen Burton was also picked in the 7th round by the Vikings.  He played in 3 games for the Vikings last year and he finished up with 2 grabs for 38 yards (19.0 avg).

GRADE FOR 2011:  D

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  C-

The Vikings got rid of Donovan McNabb early in the year and they turned the job over to first round pick Christian Ponder.  23-year old Christian Ponder led the Vikings to a 2-8 record in his starts in 2011.  He played in 11 games (10 starts) for the Vikings last year and he completed 158 of 291 passes (54.3%) for 1,853 yards with 13 TD passes and 13 INTs (70.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 28 times for 219 yards (7.8 ypc) last year for the Vikings.  Ponder will likely go into the 2012 season as the Vikings’ starting QB, but he will have to play better than he did this year to keep the job.

25-year old Joe Webb often energized the offense when he came into games in relief of Christian Ponder.  Webb played in 9 games (0 starts) for the Vikings last year and he completed 34 of 63 passes (54%) for 376 yards with 3 TD passes and 2 INTs (74.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 22 times for 154 yards (7.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs last year.  Webb has now played in 14 games (2 starts) in his first two years with the Vikings and he has completed 88 of 152 passes (57.9%) for 853 yards with 3 TD passes and 5 INTs (66.6 QB Rating).  Webb has also carried the ball 40 times for 274 yards (6.9 ypc) with 4 TD runs so far in his NFL career.  He is 1-1 as a starting QB in the NFL.  Look for Webb to push Ponder for the starting QB job at some point in 2012.

The Vikings played outstanding football defensively yesterday, but it wasn’t good enough to win.  The Vikings sacked Bears’ QB Josh McCown 7 times yesterday.  LB E.J. Henderson (8 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss), LB Chad Greenway (8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 QB hit) and DE Jared Allen (5 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks and 4 QB hits) led the way for the Vikings on D in this game.  CB Cedric Griffin (interception), safety Jamarca Sanford (fumble recovery) and DE Letroy Guion (fumble recovery) also made big plays on D for the Vikings yesterday.  The Bears finished up with 92 yards rushing on 25 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 15 of 25 passes (60%) for 117 yards.

Christian Ponder was awful before leaving the game due to injury yesterday.  He completed 4 of 10 passes for 28 yards with 0 TD passes and a interception that was returned 22 yards for a TD by Bears’ CB Charles Tillman.  Joe Webb finished up this game at QB by completing 17 of 32 passes for 200 yards with 0 TD passes and 2 INTs.  He also carried the ball 4 times for 2 yards (0.5 ypc).  Toby Gerhart led the way on the ground with 67 yards rushing on 15 carries (4.5 ypc).  Lorenzo Booker carried the ball 2 times for -3 yards (-1.5 ypc) and he also caught 3 passes for 33 yards (11.0 avg).  Percy Harvin led the way in the passing game with 10 grabs for 115 yards (11.5 avg) and he also carried the ball 5 times for 13 yards (2.6 ypc) with 1 TD run.  WR Devin Aromashodu (3 rec, 53 yards) and TE Kyle Rudolph (3 rec, 15 yards) also pitched in for the Vikings in the passing game.  The Vikings finished up with 79 yards rushing on 27 carries (2.9 ypc) and they also completed 21 of 42 passes (50%) for 222 yards as they had possession of the ball for 31:14.  The Vikings are now 3-13 on the year.