"There's guys I know, right now, that they could come in, in a tuxedo and serve wine and cheese, and I don't know if they would get back on our board," Spielman said today.

Besides leading the Vikings to the NFC North title, coach Brad Childress and his staff have accomplished another key goal: upgrading the character of the players on his roster. The number of arrests and embarrassing episodes has dropped dramatically since Childress took over in January 2006, and Spielman intends to keep improving to that end.

"It comes down from ownership, and comes down from Brad, and what type of players he wants in the locker room. And that's my job, to make sure I understand what type of people we want on this Football team," Spielman said. "There's always going to be issues here and there that crop up. But we do our due diligence."

The Vikings go to great lengths to help discern which players with red flags are worth pursuing. For instance, at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., last month, the Vikings interviewed every player there. Coaches and scouts will also conduct scores of interviews at the NFL combine next week in Indianapolis.

"We try to interview close to 350 players, just to make sure we do get in front of these players," Spielman said. "Get to know the players, to see if they're the type of player you want to bring to the team."

The Vikings are one of a handful of teams that uses a psychological test that complements the standard Wonderlic given to all players. The Wonderlic is a 50-question test that players must try to complete in 12 minutes. The psychological test used by the Vikings takes about the same time, but is more of a picture and problem-solving test.

One thing Spielman wants to investigate through the interviews is why some of the more heralded seniors did not show up for Senior Bowl.

So far, Spielman and his scouts have done a preliminary evaluation of the draftable players, pooling them into categories based on their potential (elite player, potential starter, special teams player, etc.). Assistant coaches will begin to jump into the process at the combine and thereafter.

Spielman, though, is sparing the coaches some of the players "because I know we're not going to waste our time" with them.

A variety of concerns could take a player off the Vikings' draft board, from character to ability to learn the team's schemes.

"It's not just one specific thing," Spielman said.

Spielman declined to talk about which position groups are strongest in the draft, and he steered clear of a question about rookie quarterbacks being able to step in right away and succeed, after the strong play of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco in 2008.