2020 Minnesota Vikings Off-Season Thread

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The Vikings have a fundamentally flawed roster that can't easily be fixed. Football is a young man's game and we are way too old at many positions.
 

John Galt said:
The Vikings have a fundamentally flawed roster that can't easily be fixed. Football is a young man's game and we are way too old at many positions.
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This is likely true ... and yet, which specific Vikings players would you say there is a fair chance will play significantly worse in 2020 than they did in 2019?

I'm not really seeing that. Of course, that in itself can be part of the problem. Cousins, for example.


But I also wonder ... if this team just had a better OL, would we have finished the season in a much more satisfactory way? Say less than a 1TD loss at SF, or who knows maybe we even have a different playoff path altogether. Maybe beat GB at home a few weeks ago and who knows?
 

John Galt said:
The Vikings have a fundamentally flawed roster that can't easily be fixed. Football is a young man's game and we are way too old at many positions.
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Thats why they need to be smart and only hold on to guys in their prime. I might consider trading Thielen and Harrison Smith if i could a good offer
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
Thats why they need to be smart and only hold on to guys in their prime. I might consider trading Thielen and Harrison Smith if i could a good offer
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I am 100% on trading Harrison Smith. And I'd cut him if I can't trade him. I'd rather keep Harris and they can't afford both.

Linval Joseph, Rhodes and Smith should be gone along with not re-signing Griffin and Trae Waynes. Re-sign Harris and McKenzie Alexander. Re-build the D through the draft and spend FA $$ on the O-line.

And if Jalen Hurts is there at 25, take him.
 

Re-signing Rudolph was a mistake. And Barr. I would trade Dalvin and get draft picks. Mattison is similar to Dalvin and younger. We need youth on the d-line, secondary and players on the o-line. We're also stuck with Kirk. He's okay but doesn't seem like the type of player who can carry a team.
 


John Galt said:
Re-signing Rudolph was a mistake. And Barr. I would trade Dalvin and get draft picks. Mattison is similar to Dalvin and younger. We need youth on the d-line, secondary and players on the o-line. We're also stuck with Kirk. He's okay but doesn't seem like the type of player who can carry a team.
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Mattison is underrated IMHO.

Strategy with Cousins. Let his contract expire. Try to find his replacement in the meantime. If you cant find anything better, try re-signing him at half what he makes right now. See if we can get a discount because he doesnt want to leave/up root his family
 

howeda7 said:
I am 100% on trading Harrison Smith. And I'd cut him if I can't trade him. I'd rather keep Harris and they can't afford both.

Linval Joseph, Rhodes and Smith should be gone along with not re-signing Griffin and Trae Waynes. Re-sign Harris and McKenzie Alexander. Re-build the D through the draft and spend FA $$ on the O-line.

And if Jalen Hurts is there at 25, take him.
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You want to trade or cut Smith, pro-bowler 2015-2019 who has one more year left on his contract, and keep Alexander, who I've seen Zimmer yell at more than maybe any other player?

I would have an extremely difficult time voting yes on that. You'd have to provide some more logic for that.

Why not just let his contract run out in 2020?


Linval, Rhodes, Griffin, and Waynes, those I agree with getting rid of.
 

John Galt said:
Re-signing Rudolph was a mistake. And Barr. I would trade Dalvin and get draft picks. Mattison is similar to Dalvin and younger. We need youth on the d-line, secondary and players on the o-line. We're also stuck with Kirk. He's okay but doesn't seem like the type of player who can carry a team.
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As the STrib guys have argued, and I agree: Kirk can be great, if you give him great protection. He can't do what Russel, Rodgers, etc. can do and make something out of nothing.
 

MplsGopher said:
You want to trade or cut Smith, pro-bowler 2015-2019 who has one more year left on his contract, and keep Alexander, who I've seen Zimmer yell at more than maybe any other player?

I would have an extremely difficult time voting yes on that. You'd have to provide some more logic for that.

Why not just let his contract run out in 2020?


Linval, Rhodes, Griffin, and Waynes, those I agree with getting rid of.
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I want to keep Alexander if the cost is reasonable. Smith is still a good player. I'm not sure he's a great player anymore to match his salary. They have cap issues, they will have to make cuts somewhere.
 



I'd like to keep Smith, at least one more year. He'll be 31.

We can decide not to re-sign him. Is there much market to get a significant draft pick for picking up the hefty contract of a 31 year old pro-bowl safety? Maybe there is, entertain the offers, sure.
 

One deficiency I have seen with Zimmer is he is too loyal to his guys. Call it the unpatriot way. He won't get rid of Smith if that means he could sign Harris. He didn't let Barr leave, even though he wasnt worth that money in our scheme. He kept Rhodes as a starter at cb when PFF had him the worst rated in the nfl, and the 4th best on the Vikings.

As much as I love Cook, giving big money to rb's which seem somewhat replaceable with cheap rookies doesnt seem smart either.
 

march madness said:
One deficiency I have seen with Zimmer is he is too loyal to his guys. Call it the unpatriot way. He won't get rid of Smith if that means he could sign Harris. He didn't let Barr leave, even though he wasnt worth that money in our scheme. He kept Rhodes as a starter at cb when PFF had him the worst rated in the nfl, and the 4th best on the Vikings.

As much as I love Cook, giving big money to rb's which seem somewhat replaceable with cheap rookies doesnt seem smart either.
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And zim is supposed to be a great D coach. Let's invest in the o line so zim can prove his worth.
 

howeda7 said:
And if Jalen Hurts is there at 25, take him.
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Is there a reason that Hurts is rated so low? One ranking I saw had him something like the 87th best prospect overall and the 6th QB. From the eye test and his stats, it would seem he should be better than that. I suppose he’s only listed at 6’-2”, which could hurt some. I’d be all for drafting a QB if there is a good one available. IMO, the thing that will eventually sink this team is the fact that Spielman has refused to address the 2 most important parts of a team in the current NFL: QB and OL. It has become more and more important to find a good QB and win while he’s on his rookie deal.

I didn’t (and still don’t) disagree with the Cousins deal. Getting a competent QB is really hard, and always expensive. But he is what he is: a guy that can put up decent stats, but doesn’t necessarily make his team better. If they extend his contract, I would take that as a very bad sign of the teams potential.
 



forever a gopher said:
Is there a reason that Hurts is rated so low? One ranking I saw had him something like the 87th best prospect overall and the 6th QB. From the eye test and his stats, it would seem he should be better than that. I suppose he’s only listed at 6’-2”, which could hurt some. I’d be all for drafting a QB if there is a good one available. IMO, the thing that will eventually sink this team is the fact that Spielman has refused to address the 2 most important parts of a team in the current NFL: QB and OL. It has become more and more important to find a good QB and win while he’s on his rookie deal.

I didn’t (and still don’t) disagree with the Cousins deal. Getting a competent QB is really hard, and always expensive. But he is what he is: a guy that can put up decent stats, but doesn’t necessarily make his team better. If they extend his contract, I would take that as a very bad sign of the teams potential.
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I'm not sure really. Until this year he hadn't played much the last couple years since Tua passed him. There is no sure thing. If Tua has a 50% chance of being a star and a 20% chance of being a bust, it's probably 40%/40% for Hurts. It's not worth trading 2-3 1st round picks for Tua.
 

Were the real Vikings, 1100 years ago, bad people? I ask because I think "Skol" is old Norse for "skull" and an abbreviation of an old Viking toast: "One day we will drink ale out of their skulls".
 

Packers got their cheeseheads stoved in first half. Now they just scored so maybe they’ll make a game of it.

But ... maybe just maybe .... the Vikings were really are a top 4 team in the league this year and just ran into a buzz saw??
 

49ers have the best defensive line in the league. Of the playoff teams, Vikings have the worst offensive line. Bad matchup for us. But yes the Packers losing by 17 just like we did, helps our case of running into a buzz saw. Vikings aren't a great road team, they need home field.
 

march madness said:
49ers have the best defensive line in the league. Of the playoff teams, Vikings have the worst offensive line. Bad matchup for us. But yes the Packers losing by 17 just like we did, helps our case of running into a buzz saw. Vikings aren't a great road team, they need home field.
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I argue that playing in a dome makes teams soft. Vikings need #1 seed every year, or hope the Falcons or Saints have #1 seed and Vikings the #2 seed. Playing at Dallas is also like playing in a dome with its stupid hole in the ceiling
 

So my point is simply this: let's say our team was exactly the same this year, but we had eeked out a win over the Packers, won the North, got a home game in the wild card, won that, and then beat the Saints (seed #2) on the road in the divisional, and THEN lost at San Fran last night, in the same fashion as we did the weekend before.

Would there have been less complaining? A bit more satisfaction? Or would the reaction been basically the same?
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
The two Super Bowl teams show again why RB is no longer an important position in the NFL. Trade Dalvin.
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If somebody gives you something good, I’d be all for it. But who is giving up anything for a RB these days? They know they’re just going to have to pay him big money, so why wouldn’t they just wait until free agency and overpay then without having to trade anything?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The two Super Bowl teams show again why RB is no longer an important position in the NFL. Trade Dalvin.
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Lol....what the hell are you talking about? Garoppolo has thrown for a total of 208 yards in San Francisco's two playoff wins so far. On the other hand....they've rushed for 471. Last week in the Championship, Garoppolo only threw for 77 yards. They had 285 yards on the ground on the other hand.

Saying that a running back isn't an important position is a bad take.
 

forever a gopher said:
If somebody gives you something good, I’d be all for it. But who is giving up anything for a RB these days? They know they’re just going to have to pay him big money, so why wouldn’t they just wait until free agency and overpay then without having to trade anything?
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He's good and cheap for next year. I think you can get a 2nd rounder for him.
 

stocker08 said:
Lol....what the hell are you talking about? Garoppolo has thrown for a total of 208 yards in San Francisco's two playoff wins so far. On the other hand....they've rushed for 471. Last week in the Championship, Garoppolo only threw for 77 yards. They had 285 yards on the ground on the other hand.

Saying that a running back isn't an important position is a bad take.
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The position is important. It’s not a position where you need to pay big to get good to great production.

“
For the record, Coleman, Mostert and Breida will make a combined $6.8 million this season in salary and bonuses.
“
 



Yeah. Same for Harrison Smith or any other guy signed through just 2020. Why would anyone trade anything of value away in order to pick up someone else's contract for one year?

I'm sure it has been done before ... but did it ever result in a long term, or even short term, great outcome?
 

Mostart is a time share journeyman running back who is playing well. But lets not pretend any average rb couldnt get 150 yards with their run blocking. You get dominant lines and you don't have to pay for expensive skill players.
 

march madness said:
Mostart is a time share journeyman running back who is playing well. But lets not pretend any average rb couldnt get 150 yards with their run blocking. You get dominant lines and you don't have to pay for expensive skill players.
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Mosert looked really good though. Runs super hard. That being said, I agree
 

stocker08 said:
Lol....what the hell are you talking about? Garoppolo has thrown for a total of 208 yards in San Francisco's two playoff wins so far. On the other hand....they've rushed for 471. Last week in the Championship, Garoppolo only threw for 77 yards. They had 285 yards on the ground on the other hand.

Saying that a running back isn't an important position is a bad take.
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And they’re doing it with a good OL and castaways at RB. Invest in the OL, not at RB. That’s my point.
 

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