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Brad Childress is often the butt of many jokes among Vikings fans, particularly when it comes to his lack of enthusiasm (see tonight’s presser) and seemingly has endless amounts of crazy ways to try and motivate his team.

Fans often wonder how effective speeches about water buffalo, videos about NASCAR, and having “that guy from American Idol” stand on the sidelines can possibly be.

Perhaps Childress doesn’t need to worry about his personal motivational speaking skills, however, if he keeps drafting guys with plenty of reasons to be self-motivated.

If you think about it, there is a trend in the works here.

If you look at recent draft picks by the Vikings, you will find a slew of players that have personal reasons to be the best they can be that go beyond getting an NFL paycheck.

In 2007, six teams passed on drafting Adrian Peterson because of “injury concerns.”  Peterson has entered the NFL with the mentality of taking defenders head on and making them hurt more than they make him hurt.  He has been one of the most vicious and violent runners, proving everyone wrong when it comes to his durability.

Upon being drafted, John Sullivan referred to himself as the “giant midget” because of his size and body shape which was the ultimate reason he fell to the Vikings in the fifth round of the 2008 draft.

Last year, Percy Harvin had a giant smoke-colored cloud hanging over his head as he began to slide down draft boards where he eventually landed in the Vikings lap at #22.  There were many nasty things said about Harvin and terrible rumors floating around about him.  Under the wing of Brett Favre, Harvin worked hard and played great on his way to being the Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Jasper Brinkley fell to the Vikings because of a nasty injury that he had to come back from at Carolina.  Jamarca Sanford overcame a troubled youth involving criminal offenses and eventually became the captain of his college defense before being drafted by the Vikings and contributing in his rookie season, despite being a seventh round pick.

This year, the Vikings first pick was cornerback Chris Cook.  Cook was twice injured in college and faced an academic suspension during his entire 2008 season.

During that year he worked at SEARS, making money by “putting refrigerators and stoves and washing machines and dryers on the back of trucks and unloading trucks, taking trash out to the dump and everything.”

“It killed me that I had to sit out for a year,” he said. “I won’t say it benefited me, but I feel like it made me a smarter person and a stronger person, having to deal with that situation.”

The Vikings second pick in 2010, running back Toby Gerhart, has some motivation of his own that seems fit for a Hollywood screen if it ends in happily.

Gerhart has faced racial stereotypes because of the fact that he is a white running back, which is a unique combination in today’s NFL.  Gerhart has been outspoken about his abilities matching that of any college running back regardless of skin color.

The Heisman runner up thinks he can do big things with the Vikings despite the genes that were passed along to him.

“I’m color blind,” Gerhart said in February.  “I’m a running back, I’d compared myself to the running styles of Eddie George and Corey Dillon.”

The Vikings have snagged a pair of players that might have a little extra to play for and a little extra to prove, which has worked out pretty well for them in the recent past.