Anthony Barr drawing rave reviews from Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are impressed with first round pick Anthony Barr who should go a long way toward replacing the departed Jared Allen.
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Barr was mentioned in the same breath as No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney during his final season at UCLA and for the start of the pre-draft process with his ability to get to the quarterback and his immense potential.
He slid down to the No. 8 pick where the Vikings may have one of the steals of the draft if you ask defensive end Brian Robison who believes Barr is a high-upside and versatile talent who complements the defensive line.
"“He can give us that versatility on defense to where we can all kind of move around and have different parts of the defense and allow us to keep offenses offbeat,” Robison said, via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “[Offenses] can’t key in on one guy. If they have one guy they need to take care of, they can’t because they don’t know where he’s going to be. So whether it’s myself, [right end] Everson [Griffen] or Barr, you are not going to know where those rushers are coming from. You might be on the right side one time, you might be on the left side one time, you might be inside one time. You might be blitzing from the back end one time. You just never know where you’re going to be.”"
Barr had 40.5 tackles for loss, 23.5 sacks and 10 forced fumbles his final two seasons at UCLA after beginning his college career on offense.
Head coach Mike Zimmer has molded a number of pass-rushers in his career as a defensive coordinator and now as a head coach has a lot to work with to mold Barr into one of the top edge rushers in the NFL.