All Things 2022 Minnesota Vikings Off-Season Thread

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upnorthkid said:
Cousins will be the QB this year. No one wants that contract and why eat the dead money to get another guy. They may overreach on a QB to try develop for a year this year depending on what OConnell wants. Cap casualties would be the following to me:
Thielen: making far too much money (17-18 mil/yr for the next 3), hasn't been healthy in a couple years. Either you restructure him or try move him; hard to know he'll have a market
Hunter: 26 mill this year then his contract gets more friendly, but i could see them trying to leverage that to move on given the younger guys they like vs restructuring him if he's going to stay to balance his money out
Barr vs less likely Kendricks: Lot of money at LBer
Smith: he's 33 and his contract is going to hurt worse and worse; luckily his dead cap hit becomes less each year so he may have a market.

Cousins still will cost us 45 mil if we cut him. 10 mil if we trade him. And someone will want you to eat some of the salary to trade him given he's not on a multiyear deal and KC has a history of not signing those.
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He's easily traded. Pittsburgh, Tampa, Denver, Carolina and others all need a QB. They can get at least a 2nd round pick.
 

howeda7 said:
This was handled poorly by the Vikings. If there's no "fit," you figure that out in the initial conversation on Saturday and move on. Everyone assumed (reasonably so) that if someone of Harbaugh's caliber actually sets foot in Minnesota it's a done deal.

The only recent hire that I think is comparable here is Tubby Smith. The Gophers were never going to bring him to MN, have a chat and then say, "yeah thanks anyway you can go back to Kentucky." If you advance that far down the road with someone like this, it's a done deal 95% of the time.
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I don't agree with this. I'm glad they're going through the full interview process for all guys, no matter who it is. Harbaugh isn't above all that.

This is why there are interviews for any job and it's not just hiring based on resume.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I don't agree with this. I'm glad they're going through the full interview process for all guys, no matter who it is. Harbaugh isn't above all that.

This is why there are interviews for any job and it's not just hiring based on resume.
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Agreed, it's not the Vikings fault everyone assumed it was a done deal or Harbaugh misread the situation. Sounded like they were up front with him that he was a candidate and that the interview wasn't going to be just a formality.
 

Ope3 said:
Agreed, it's not the Vikings fault everyone assumed it was a done deal or Harbaugh misread the situation. Sounded like they were up front with him that he was a candidate and that the interview wasn't going to be just a formality.
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I think you're right.

The media pumped it up.
 

upnorthkid said:
Cousins still will cost us 45 mil if we cut him. 10 mil if we trade him. And someone will want you to eat some of the salary to trade him given he's not on a multiyear deal and KC has a history of not signing those.
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I think Cousins will more than likely be the QB. Gotta kind of laugh at all the Vikings Cousins haters, he's not good enough for us but there will be a handful of teams, some of them historically stable and proud and well-run franchises, lining up to give the Vikings any number of assets to take him. That's an interesting take, no doubt about it.
 


howeda7 said:
He's easily traded. Pittsburgh, Tampa, Denver, Carolina and others all need a QB. They can get at least a 2nd round pick.
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he is if Cousins is willing to restructure or the Vikes are willing to eat some of the cap. The Vikes don't really have much leverage here with his contract being what it is. That's a ton of cap space with no long-term guarantee. Maybe Tampa would do it if we eat some of the cap and send a pick our way since they're the only win now roster on this list. the rest, what's the point?
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I think Cousins will more than likely be the QB. Gotta kind of laugh at all the Vikings Cousins haters, he's not good enough for us but there will be a handful of teams, some of them historically stable and proud and well-run franchises, lining up to give the Vikings any number of assets to take him. That's an interesting take, no doubt about it.
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Cousins is a really solid QB with an average or better offensive line. He's immobile but very accurate when protected. If he is to be the QB, you have to invest in an offensive line. With Cook and Jefferson and Thielen, I'd be piling all the effort I could into adding a couple of offensive linemen. Add a creative offensive coordinator and the tools are here for one of the best offenses in the league.
 

PA says O’Connell was always the man and his track record is off the charts!
 




bga1 said:
Cousins is a really solid QB with an average or better offensive line. He's immobile but very accurate when protected. If he is to be the QB, you have to invest in an offensive line. With Cook and Jefferson and Thielen, I'd be piling all the effort I could into adding a couple of offensive linemen. Add a creative offensive coordinator and the tools are here for one of the best offenses in the league.
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There's also ways to overcome a bad OL with better designed quick passes and rollouts. I don't feel like they've done a very good job of that.
 

bga1 said:
Cousins is a really solid QB with an average or better offensive line. He's immobile but very accurate when protected. If he is to be the QB, you have to invest in an offensive line. With Cook and Jefferson and Thielen, I'd be piling all the effort I could into adding a couple of offensive linemen. Add a creative offensive coordinator and the tools are here for one of the best offenses in the league.
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The advance stats show that he's highly ineffective when his team needs a big play. He's way down the list of crunch time performers and that's why his .500 career record belies his nice looking stat line. As to how much of that is the fault of his offensive lines or his coordinators, we'll never know. He gets paid huge dollars to deliver on third and 12 in the last two minutes of the game and that's where he historically has struggled.
 

GophersInIowa said:
There's also ways to overcome a bad OL with better designed quick passes and rollouts. I don't feel like they've done a very good job of that.
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I think there's a very good chance that the Vikings much-maligned OL will be a fairly decent unit in 2022. Darrisaw will be a lot better, O'Neill should continue to improve, Cleveland and/or Davis could take a step forward, and it's awfully likely that they make a move, draft or FA, to add to the unit.

At the very least, I'm willing to give KOC the benefit of the doubt that he can get more out of Cousins than he's shown before.

Might be moot though, they may just trade him. I would be surprised if they don't at least test the market to see what the return could be. I think you have to at least do your due diligence
 

If they go with Davis at RG and hopefully he is solid as Darrisaw ... what do they do with Center?

Is it still Bradbury??
 



Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I think there's a very good chance that the Vikings much-maligned OL will be a fairly decent unit in 2022. Darrisaw will be a lot better, O'Neill should continue to improve, Cleveland and/or Davis could take a step forward, and it's awfully likely that they make a move, draft or FA, to add to the unit.

At the very least, I'm willing to give KOC the benefit of the doubt that he can get more out of Cousins than he's shown before.

Might be moot though, they may just trade him. I would be surprised if they don't at least test the market to see what the return could be. I think you have to at least do your due diligence
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I'm a little concerned that Davis couldn't even see the field last year even with all the injuries/covid. Hopefully it was more of a coaching thing.
 

Starting to look like Rick Spielman could be taking charge of things in Jacksonville, the hire of Doug Pedersen moving this further along. Short story, nobody wants to work with Jax GM Trent Baalke, Pedersen willing to take the gig if Jacksonville hires Spielman in a position ABOVE Baalke and will have a lot more say in things than the GM. Sounds like Leftwich not only wanted Baalke out but wanted his buddy Adrian Wilson in as Jax GM and Jax wasn't biting

I really like the hire of KAM for the Vikings new GM, but I was never really fully behind dumping Spielman. Zimmer? Yeah, okay, it was probably time to move on. At the end of the day, not a bad time for a wholesale change in Eden Prairie
 

upnorthkid said:
he is if Cousins is willing to restructure or the Vikes are willing to eat some of the cap. The Vikes don't really have much leverage here with his contract being what it is. That's a ton of cap space with no long-term guarantee. Maybe Tampa would do it if we eat some of the cap and send a pick our way since they're the only win now roster on this list. the rest, what's the point?
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The Vikings have to eat $10 million of the $45 million cap #. So the cap # to the new team is not as awful even without an extension. And I'm not sure why he would refuse an extension with a new team. Certainly he can use that as leverage to have some sway on where he's traded if he wants.
 


howeda7 said:
The Vikings have to eat $10 million of the $45 million cap #. So the cap # to the new team is not as awful even without an extension. And I'm not sure why he would refuse an extension with a new team. Certainly he can use that as leverage to have some sway on where he's traded if he wants.
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Depends on the dollar figure. He’s had track record of betting on himself in short term contracts and franchise tags. 35 mil is still a hefty cap hit and restricts his market, especially if isn’t willing to sign an extension (again this is all speculation but my own interpretation of how I think it’ll go down and why cousins will be our QB next year, which isn’t a bad thing).
 

upnorthkid said:
Depends on the dollar figure. He’s had track record of betting on himself in short term contracts and franchise tags. 35 mil is still a hefty cap hit and restricts his market, especially if isn’t willing to sign an extension (again this is all speculation but my own interpretation of how I think it’ll go down and why cousins will be our QB next year, which isn’t a bad thing).
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Even if he'll only do a 3 year-contract, it's still pretty easy to get the 2022 cap # under $25 million. Also, he's 34, if his agent has a brain, he'll stop insisting on short-term deals and take the longest deal they can get.
 

howeda7 said:
Even if he'll only do a 3 year-contract, it's still pretty easy to get the 2022 cap # under $25 million. Also, he's 34, if his agent has a brain, he'll stop insisting on short-term deals and take the longest deal they can get.
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Don’t doubt that if you’re willing to be on the hook for 35-40+ The next 2 years. He won’t take a pay cut with being a Pro Bowler and how QB Starved the market is
 


any Cousins trade only works if Cousins is willing to do a contract extension with the new team that lowers the cap hit. So, you need two things - a team that is willing to give up a quality draft pick (2nd or 1st round) and a team that can convince Kirk to do an extension. If you can find that, you make the deal. if not, you bite the bullet and live with Kirk's cap hit for one year.

I know a lot of people look at the Vikes' offensive weapons, but the problem with the Vikings has been short-term thinking. You have to look at the defense, too - and that defense has a lot of aging players with sizable contracts, or guys with diminishing production due to age and injuries. that defense needs a pretty significant revamp. of course, 1st you have to hire a DC and figure out what type of defense you want, and then you start looking at personnel and cost.

this is not a 1 year quick-fix situation. it might take 3 or 4 years to get the roster re-balanced and create a new window for making a serious playoff run.

and that really only works if you have a young QB playing under a manageable contract.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
PA says O’Connell was always the man and his track record is off the charts!
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This is why you interview people and not just go from resume. Besides impressing them with his vision for the team, I understand he came with evaluations of all their prominent players and how he sees them fitting in...on top of preparing for the Super Bowl, of course. Not bad. The more you hear about him, the more impressive he seems--like him having the top Wonderlic score at the combine. That's not everything, and it doesn't guarantee he can be the big-picutre and process-oriented thinker that a head coach needs to be, but it's not nothing either. Let's give him that he's brainy.
 


Would PA ever say anything but the company line regarding the Vikings? Or course he says O'Connell was always the guy.

He'd have said that about anyone they hired.
 

Bad Gopher said:

This is why you interview people and not just go from resume. Besides impressing them with his vision for the team, I understand he came with evaluations of all their prominent players and how he sees them fitting in...on top of preparing for the Super Bowl, of course. Not bad. The more you hear about him, the more impressive he seems--like him having the top Wonderlic score at the combine. That's not everything, and it doesn't guarantee he can be the big-picutre and process-oriented thinker that a head coach needs to be, but it's not nothing either. Let's give him that he's brainy.
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1644013808380.png

Just teasin' - hope it is a homeun!
 


Gopher_In_NYC said:
View attachment 16863

Just teasin' - hope it is a homeun!
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I see it this way: the Vikings had a choice who to hire, and this is the choice they made, and this is their way of explaining their choice. It doesn't have to be more complicated than that, really. They need PA and Charch to be their mouthpieces right now because they can't hire and announce for another couple weeks.
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
Starting to look like Rick Spielman could be taking charge of things in Jacksonville, the hire of Doug Pedersen moving this further along. Short story, nobody wants to work with Jax GM Trent Baalke, Pedersen willing to take the gig if Jacksonville hires Spielman in a position ABOVE Baalke and will have a lot more say in things than the GM. Sounds like Leftwich not only wanted Baalke out but wanted his buddy Adrian Wilson in as Jax GM and Jax wasn't biting

I really like the hire of KAM for the Vikings new GM, but I was never really fully behind dumping Spielman. Zimmer? Yeah, okay, it was probably time to move on. At the end of the day, not a bad time for a wholesale change in Eden Prairie
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Spielman is very over-rated, not sure why he was here as long as was. Maybe Jacksonville wants to hire someone who can accumulate a lot of 7th round picks?
 

Tony Dungy was on Dan Patrick today. I didn't catch all of it, but he said he got hired after the one season the Vikings didn't make the play-offs and that wasn't a coincidence. He had a week to only worry about studying the Bucs roster and have details about his plans. In prior seasons he could not do that and didn't get the job. Also at least one owner told him that he was too quiet and wouldn't be able to motivate players.
 

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