All Things 2021 Minnesota Vikings Off-Season Thread

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Apparently the Seahawks take a cap hit of $39 million if they trade Wilson. So yeah..that's not happening.
 



Saw they're adding a $1M bonus option onto Rieff's contract for 2021.

I think this pretty clearly says they're "going all in" on 2021, or bust. Like Ogee said.

So, 2022 $45M be damned, it's going to be Cousins for 21. Try to sign everyone back on defense, as much as possible, hope there aren't a bunch of injuries. Try to sign or draft a new starting LG, and roll with the other starters on offense (who were good).

Once more for posterity: it's either going to work out for a magical, 2017 like run, or if people get hurt or just fall off for whatever reason, I think they're all gone.
 

Pretty good look by Arif Hasan at The Athletic at the most mocked players to the Vikings at #14 on Day One of the draft this spring. Paye (Edge), Rousseau (Edge), Barmore (DT), Slater (OT/OL) and Vera-Tucker (OT/OL)

Five Players most mocked to the Vikings in Round 1

I honestly don't think I would be disappointed with any of these picks, although the best possible scenario would be sliding down a few spots and still getting one of them. I wouldn't be surprised if at least 4, if not all 5 of these players were available at #14. I've seen Rousseau going higher in a few mocks
 


Well, there you have it. Wentz traded to the Colts. Bears are going to have to look elsewhere for their 2021 starting QB. Say what you want about Wentz, but he would have made the lowly Bears a lot better.

Colts could be dangerous next year if Frank Reich can remotely get Wentz back to his near-MVP year form. Should be a fun team to watch
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Well, there you have it. Wentz traded to the Colts. Bears are going to have to look elsewhere for their 2021 starting QB. Say what you want about Wentz, but he would have made the lowly Bears a lot better.

Colts could be dangerous next year if Frank Reich can remotely get Wentz back to his near-MVP year form. Should be a fun team to watch
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He should at least be able to match what 69 year old Phillip Rivers did last year.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Well, there you have it. Wentz traded to the Colts. Bears are going to have to look elsewhere for their 2021 starting QB. Say what you want about Wentz, but he would have made the lowly Bears a lot better.

Colts could be dangerous next year if Frank Reich can remotely get Wentz back to his near-MVP year form. Should be a fun team to watch
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Not a Bears apologist here, but I wouldn't describe them as lowly-especially when they're coming off a playoff appearance (albeit a very weak sauce 8-8, but better than the Vikes).

It's really amazing how pathetic the Bears have been at quarterback over the years, especially given their relative success. I've began watching football in earnest around 1980-in those 40 years, here's been the Bears rotation of starting QB's: Bob Avellini, Vince Evans, Jim McMahon, Mike Tomczak, Steve Fuller, Jim Harbaugh, Erik Kramer, Shane Matthews, Cade McNown, Jim Miller, Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton, Jay Cutler, and Mitch Trubisky (there's more, but these are the guys with a minimum 20 games in that period). I challenge you to find a more putrid collection of QB's in that time period, yet, the Bears have won a Super Bowl, appeared in another, made it to three other NFC Championship games, and made the playoffs 12 times. In the same period for the Vikings? No Super Bowl appearances, 5 conference championship appearances (so, same number as the Bears), and 20 playoff appearances.

In some ways, the Vikings are as depressing a team to follow as the T-Wolves.
 




howeda7 said:
Wow. Not even close. The Wolves are too pathetic to even warrant being depressed about them.
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Ha yeah there is no team in the world more depressing than the T Wolves. With the things that team has screwed up and how badly they've been for 20 years you'd think the organization was part of some kind of fictional soap opera.

Vikings haven't been great and have broken hearts with some of their losses but the Wolves have been unwatchable in every aspect since 2005.
 

Souhan: Kirk Cousins is the Vikings' quarterback, for better or for worse

Imagine this conversation: Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman goes to owner Zygi Wilf and says, "You know that quarterback we've spent $150 million on, the one we told you would put us over the top? The guy who played really well the last 10 weeks of the season, causing us to commit to running the same offense under another guy named Kubiak? The guy who would kill us financially if we traded him?

"We're not just going to trade him — we're going to give up four prime draft picks and the linebacker our coach loves so Watson can run around behind an offensive line we can't afford to fix."

A new coach and general manager might be willing to start all over with Watson.

But the Vikings, with Spielman and Zimmer, are set, or stuck, with Cousins for at least one more year.

www.startribune.com

Kirk Cousins is the Vikings' quarterback, for better or for worse

The rumors of Kirk Cousins potentially being traded away from the Vikings are out there. But unlike up to 18 other teams in the NFL this offseason, the Vikings won't be making a change under center.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Skol Vikes!!
 

Nope, two more years.

The $35M in cap savings they would get by cutting or trading him after the 2021 season, vaporizes into thin air on March 20, 2021.


Souhan either, somehow, doesn't realize this, or he purposefully ignored that to better sell the narrative. Guessing latter.


Unless Kirk is willing to do something crazy and/or sign a "kick the can down the road" extension, he will cost $45M in cap space for the 2022 season.
 

MplsGopher said:
Nope, two more years.

The $35M in cap savings they would get by cutting or trading him after the 2021 season, vaporizes into thin air on March 20, 2021.


Souhan either, somehow, doesn't realize this, or he purposefully ignored that to better sell the narrative. Guessing latter.


Unless Kirk is willing to do something crazy and/or sign a "kick the can down the road" extension, he will cost $45M in cap space for the 2022 season.
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Yep. The brain trust over there really got themselves into a sticky situation. They have so many high priced players on a mediocre to terrible (depending on who is healthy) defense that they can’t afford to fix the OL. But of course, you paid big bucks to a QB that needs a completely clean pocket to thrive. And in 2022, they’ll have to jettison somebody just to stay under the cap with Cousins absurd cap hit. All because they were trying to win now in a very lame attempt. Cousins should have never received the extension he did. By kicking that can down the road, they just prolonged the misery of mediocrity.
 



forever a gopher said:
Yep. The brain trust over there really got themselves into a sticky situation. They have so many high priced players on a mediocre to terrible (depending on who is healthy) defense that they can’t afford to fix the OL. But of course, you paid big bucks to a QB that needs a completely clean pocket to thrive. And in 2022, they’ll have to jettison somebody just to stay under the cap with Cousins absurd cap hit. All because they were trying to win now in a very lame attempt. Cousins should have never received the extension he did. By kicking that can down the road, they just prolonged the misery of mediocrity.
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You're not entirely wrong, but what's the alternative? You have to have a QB. Kicking the can down the road is pretty much how it works in today's salary cap league. Cousins played at roughly a top-10 QB level and the defense got devastated by a ration of losses, for a variety of reasons; COVID opt-out, injuries, etc and the defense was by just about every metric a bottom-10 unit. Special Teams, kicking game was no stellar unit either. You could argue that Hunter and Pierce alone, or in an extreme case some more competent placekicking, put this team in the playoffs.

The other thing people seem to forget is the mentality of the folks involved. Like it or not, this coach and GM, like just about ANY other coach and GM in a similar situation, are not necessarily looking at what's best for the team a few years down the road. Right now? They're looking at "What's going to put us in position to win the most games in 2021". Period.

Bitch about the Cousins contract all you want but unless you want to roll with Tyrod Taylor, Mitchell Trubisky, Jameis Winston, or someone like that, you're going to have to make moves like extending Cousins.
 

JJ Watt to the Cardinals. :sneaky:

Well, we'll see him at their place in 2021.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
You're not entirely wrong, but what's the alternative? You have to have a QB. Kicking the can down the road is pretty much how it works in today's salary cap league. Cousins played at roughly a top-10 QB level and the defense got devastated by a ration of losses, for a variety of reasons; COVID opt-out, injuries, etc and the defense was by just about every metric a bottom-10 unit. Special Teams, kicking game was no stellar unit either. You could argue that Hunter and Pierce alone, or in an extreme case some more competent placekicking, put this team in the playoffs.

The other thing people seem to forget is the mentality of the folks involved. Like it or not, this coach and GM, like just about ANY other coach and GM in a similar situation, are not necessarily looking at what's best for the team a few years down the road. Right now? They're looking at "What's going to put us in position to win the most games in 2021". Period.

Bitch about the Cousins contract all you want but unless you want to roll with Tyrod Taylor, Mitchell Trubisky, Jameis Winston, or someone like that, you're going to have to make moves like extending Cousins.
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Very solid take. I especially like the part about Hunter and Pierce. You get them back, along with Kendricks, plus another year of experience for the young corners.

I also would say that, judging from the moves they've made to date, this team — from ownership on down — has no interest in tearing it down and starting over. Not in 2021.
 


Ogee Oglethorpe said:
You're not entirely wrong, but what's the alternative? You have to have a QB. Kicking the can down the road is pretty much how it works in today's salary cap league. Cousins played at roughly a top-10 QB level and the defense got devastated by a ration of losses, for a variety of reasons; COVID opt-out, injuries, etc and the defense was by just about every metric a bottom-10 unit. Special Teams, kicking game was no stellar unit either. You could argue that Hunter and Pierce alone, or in an extreme case some more competent placekicking, put this team in the playoffs.

The other thing people seem to forget is the mentality of the folks involved. Like it or not, this coach and GM, like just about ANY other coach and GM in a similar situation, are not necessarily looking at what's best for the team a few years down the road. Right now? They're looking at "What's going to put us in position to win the most games in 2021". Period.

Bitch about the Cousins contract all you want but unless you want to roll with Tyrod Taylor, Mitchell Trubisky, Jameis Winston, or someone like that, you're going to have to make moves like extending Cousins.
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You are completely spot-on, and I agree with everything you said. I'm not really referring what's going to happen in real life, rather simply as a frustrated fan that can see the truck that is sitting on the tracks 2 miles down the path, just waiting to derail the train. Really, my main complaint is two-fold. 1. If your GM/coach are only one bad season away from being canned, do you have any confidence in them? If you don't, then why have them in the first place? Thus if your GM/coach are only one bad season away from being canned, they are not going to look out for the long-term health of the organization, hence the Cousins contract. Spielman had more leash early in his tenure, and was able to whiff big (Ponder) and whiff not quite as bad (Teddy) and keep his job. At this point in his tenure, he knows he has no leash to attempt to draft a QB and develop them (especially assuming the first year of any starting QB will have plenty of bumps). 2. What are the chances this team does anything of note in the playoffs (if they make it to the playoffs)? Cousins has had very little success in big games in his career. Even IF everybody stays healthy on D, Cook stays healthy, the OL isn't terrible, the ceiling isn't super high. If that's the case, what is the point of keeping this going and maintaining status-quo?
 

It's all a "what if". There is some chance that Spiel, Zim & Co. could land on that magical combination of good team + considerable luck (injuries, calls, ball bounces, etc.) needed to get to the Super Bowl.

It's an odd numbered year, meaning Zimmer should at least make the playoffs. Pretty creepy how consistent it is:
TeamYearRegular seasonPostseason
WonLostTiesWin %FinishWonLostWin %Result
Total64471.57623.400
MIN2014790.4383rd in NFC North————
MIN20151150.6881st in NFC North01.000Lost to Seattle Seahawks in NFC Wild-Card Game
MIN2016880.5003rd in NFC North————
MIN20171330.8131st in NFC North11.500Lost to Philadelphia Eagles in NFC Championship Game
MIN2018871.5312nd in NFC North————
MIN20191060.6252nd in NFC North11.500Lost to San Francisco 49ers in NFC Divisional Game
MIN2020790.4383rd in NFC North————
 



Sounds like Rudolph is in retirement mode, and that's cool. But I saw where Jason Witten played until he was 38, and Kyle is only 31. We saw last season that he can still play. I wonder if he'll be tempted to give free agency a go.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Sounds like Rudolph is in retirement mode, and that's cool. But I saw where Jason Witten played until he was 38, and Kyle is only 31. We saw last season that he can still play. I wonder if he'll be tempted to give free agency a go.
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I would think he could help a team for at least a couple more seasons. If nothing more, he has a lot of knowledge that he can pass on to young guys, like no doubt he did to both Irv and Conklin.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Sounds like Rudolph is in retirement mode, and that's cool. But I saw where Jason Witten played until he was 38, and Kyle is only 31. We saw last season that he can still play. I wonder if he'll be tempted to give free agency a go.
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I imagine he's in a strong position; if a team that is attractive, decent location, good roster, a chance to win makes him an offer, he can roll with it. If not, he may be content to hang up the cleats. He's been a great Viking, represented the team well with little drama. Hard to not be a fan. Best of luck to him whatever he decides to do!
 

Bad Gopher said:
Sounds like Rudolph is in retirement mode, and that's cool. But I saw where Jason Witten played until he was 38, and Kyle is only 31. We saw last season that he can still play. I wonder if he'll be tempted to give free agency a go.
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Witten's still playing and intends to play next year I believe.
 


Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I imagine he's in a strong position; if a team that is attractive, decent location, good roster, a chance to win makes him an offer, he can roll with it. If not, he may be content to hang up the cleats. He's been a great Viking, represented the team well with little drama. Hard to not be a fan. Best of luck to him whatever he decides to do!
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Rudolph's made nearly $60 million in his career and he's endured nagging (but seemingly not dramatic) injuries throughout his career at a pretty demanding position. As you said Ogee, seems as if he's in an enviable position-hook on with a team that offers ideal circumstances or sail into the sunset at age 31.
 

I am on board with a quick re-build plan:

-Trade Cousins and Barr to the Broncos for their 1st round pick and Drew Lock.

-Trade Hunter for two 1sts or a 1st and a 2nd.

-Sign a left guard.

-Sign Teddy to back-up/compete with Lock.

-Re-sign Eric Wilson

-Use the 4 first round picks to rebuild Zim's defense.
 


GophersInIowa said:
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Didn't take long for Chad and Arif at The Athletic to weigh in. Some good discussion on what this means;

Vikings release Reiff

Talks were ongoing, but they stalled at some point and no deal. This was an interesting note that I recall them discussing on The Athletic before:

"Reiff wasn’t about to give the Vikings what he felt like would’ve been yet another discount. He was upset about the position the Vikings put him in at the end of August after they traded for Yannick Ngakoue. To fit Ngakoue under the cap, the Vikings told Reiff that he needed to take a pay cut or they’d release him. At that time, just a week before the season was going to begin, there would have been no market for Reiff to make the kind of money he believed he was worth since teams already had their rosters set. After initially thinking he’d accept being cut, Reiff changed his mind and returned to the team."
 

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