All Things 2022 Minnesota Vikings Off-Season Thread

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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 solid QB, but will he get you to a Super Bowl? Not likely. Elite QBs find a way to win, regardless of holes in the roster. This years playoffs was another example of that.

People keep complaining about the Vikings OL, but Cousins was one of the least sacked QBs in the league this season. Burrow was the most, and he's playing in the Super Bowl while Cousins missed the playoffs.
 

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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I think Rick is a good hire especially because they don't have to draft a QB as long as they develop Lawrence correctly. He will make Jacksonville competitive again, but much like Cousins isn't a Super Bowl caliber QB, I don't think Spielman is a Super Bowl caliber GM. But being competitive again is a big upgrade for the Jaguars. His time here was up and I'm glad the Vikings moved on.
 

For those who want Cousins gone so badly, what's your plan for replacing him, both in 2022 and going forward?
 



short ornery norwegian said:
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.
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No chance. Even $45M is different than $35M, the latter being I believe what the cap hit would be to the new team if they did not renegotiate and we would eat the difference $10M as dead cap.

Zero chance we "live with" $45M cap hit.

All that was, was the most dollars we could push to the back end of that extension, when it was made. No one ever had any intention of actually taking that much hit, that season.


He either renegotiates here, or he renegotiates somewhere else. I think he is due for a change in scenery.
 

Gophers1992 said:
For those who want Cousins gone so badly, what's your plan for replacing him, both in 2022 and going forward?
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2022 rebuild. Don't care if it's Mond, Teddy, or whomever. Just cheap.

Beyond: try to find Joe Burrow in the draft.


How is that not the formula, for pretty much every team?
 

Gophers1992 said:
For those who want Cousins gone so badly, what's your plan for replacing him, both in 2022 and going forward?
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Trade him for pick(s) and draft or pick up a QB. We may go backwards for awhile, but we have paid Cousins approx $100,000,000 over 3 years, and we have missed the playoffs 2 of those 3 years, and we have one playoff win. It is not working with Cousins, we need to go with a different plan.

I believe that Cousins has a career losing record and he is scheduled to make over $40 million next year.

Remember when the Twins were bad and we were strapped with Mauer's huge salary, he retired and we used that money to get other good players and the Twins immediately got better.
 

Gophers1992 said:
For those who want Cousins gone so badly, what's your plan for replacing him, both in 2022 and going forward?
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Well DUH!! That's easy. Jettison Cousins and go young. It's so easy that about 4-6 teams in the entire league have been successful with that strategy over the last 5-6 years. Young QB's drafted in the last handful of years that are definitely and markedly better than Cousins:

- Joe Burrow
- Josh Allen
- Justin Herbert
- Mahomes
- Lamar Jackson - probably, if he can stay on the field

- Kyler Murray - maybe, if he can stay healthy

Too early to tell:
- Mac Jones
- Justin Fields
- Zack Wilson
- Trevor Lawrence

Lastly, this isn't exactly the year, or so it appears, to scrap things and go with a youth movement at QB. You're sitting there with the #12 overall pick, in what by all accounts is a weak QB draft, and you have other holes to fill.
 



No one is saying you have to draft a QB this year. Mond, Teddy (trade Cousins to Denver, if they don't get Rodgers) for 2022.

Draft a QB in 2023.
 


Gophers1992 said:
For those who want Cousins gone so badly, what's your plan for replacing him, both in 2022 and going forward?
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Jettison all overpaid and old players. Concentrate on building a better OL and DL.

Don't draft any QBs in 2022. They aren't good.

Go through growing pains next year while earning a high draft pick.

Draft your QB in 2023.
 
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howeda7 said:
I've heard they're not that close anymore and besides that's irrelevant now that Harbaugh is 1,000% committed to Michigan for the rest of his life or whatever his text said. Fangio isn't going to college.
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And extremely grateful for the opportunity..........
 

just for fun, I went through the Vikings entire draft history - focusing on QB's.

the best QB picks:
1961 Fran Tarkenton 3rd round
1977 Tommy Kramer 1st round
1981 Wade Wilson 8th round. (not a star, but serviceable)
1992 Brad Johnson 9th round (see above)
1999 Duante Culpepper (5 solid years then blew up the knee)

some other notable picks:
2006 Tarvaris Jackson 2nd round
2011 Christian Ponder 1st round
2014 Teddy Bridgewater 1st round (2 years as the starter then the knee injury)

I could go on with Joe Webb, John Dave Booty, Chad May, Tyler Thigpen and Gino Toretta, but why bother.

the point - in the history of the Vikings franchise - over 60 years, they have drafted and developed
two "franchise" QB's in Fran and Tommy, and a possible franchise QB in Duante.

They have not drafted what I would term a good QB since 1999. that's 23 years ago.

(ps - Rich Gannon was not drafted by the Vikes. He was drafted by the Patriots and traded to MN)
 

Gophers_4life said:
No one is saying you have to draft a QB this year. Mond, Teddy (trade Cousins to Denver, if they don't get Rodgers) for 2022.

Draft a QB in 2023.
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I assume you're ok calling 2022 a throwaway year if you want to start Mond, correct?
 

Trade Cousins and Harrison Smith. Cut Pierce. Restructure Thielen, Hunter and Kendricks. That should put them around $45 million under the cap.

Sign Mariotta, a FA center and #1 CB. Address DT, LB and RG in the draft.

After 6/1 cut Barr and bring back Woods/Patrick Peterson if possible.
 

howeda7 said:
Trade Cousins and Harrison Smith. Cut Pierce. Restructure Thielen, Hunter and Kendricks. That should put them around $45 million under the cap.

Sign Mariotta, a FA center and #1 CB. Address DT, LB and RG in the draft.

After 6/1 cut Barr and bring back Woods/Patrick Peterson if possible.
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Don't forget about Cook. Dump or trade him after June 1, too.
 


Gophers1992 said:
I assume you're ok calling 2022 a throwaway year if you want to start Mond, correct?
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I don't necessarily want Mond to start. Just throwing out that I want a cheap QB. It can be a vet, too. Don't draft a QB in 2022. Do draft a QB in 2023.

Do as good a job as you can with what you have, in 2022.


2022 Vikings = 2019 Bengals, perhaps. Hopefully 2023 has better results than 2020 Bengals, but obviously 2021 Bengals is the dream.
 





Gophers_4life said:
I don't necessarily want Mond to start. Just throwing out that I want a cheap QB. It can be a vet, too. Don't draft a QB in 2022. Do draft a QB in 2023.

Do as good a job as you can with what you have, in 2022.


2022 Vikings = 2019 Bengals, perhaps. Hopefully 2023 has better results than 2020 Bengals, but obviously 2021 Bengals is the dream.
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If Dalvin Cook hadn't coughed up the ball in OT in the season opener, the 2021 Bengals & Vikings would've had identical 9-8 records (assuming the results of the year stayed the same).

Not saying that they are as good as Cincy. Just that the current talent gap isn't real wide.

The Bengals have got hot at the right time. I don't think they will be the favorites to win their own division next year, much less repeat as AFC or SB Champs.
 


Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook excited about Kevin O’Connell taking over as Vikings coach

The reviews are good so far from two star Vikings players on the upcoming hiring of Kevin O’Connell.

O’Connell, offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, is expected to be named Minnesota’s head coach after the Rams face the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI next Sunday. And wide receiver Justin Jefferson and running back Dalvin Cook are excited about that.


Jefferson and Cook are among five Minnesota players who will play for the NFC in the Pro Bowl against the AFC on Sunday in Las Vegas. Both spoke to NFL Network at a Pro Bowl event about O’Connell.

“I’ve been watching the Rams’ offense for a minute now,’’ Jefferson said. “They get their playmakers the ball. They have some tremendous plays, Cooper Kupp wide open all the time. So I’m excited for it. This is my first head coach that’s going to be on the offensive side instead of the defensive side, so I’m happy.”

Cook brought up how O’Connell was quarterbacks coach at Washington and had Kirk Cousins in 2017 before the quarterback signed with the Vikings in 2018. Cousins, safety Harrison Smith and tackle Brian O’Neill are also representing Minnesota at the Pro Bowl.

“(O’Connell) was with Kirk in Washington, so Kirk has been kind of telling me, ‘Great guy to be around. Full of energy. Going to bring the energy,’’’ Cook told NFL Network. “So I’m just looking forward to it. It’s a new opportunity, new era, new energy, so we got to take advantage of it. … We got a new head man, we got a new GM, so we just got to put the right people around us, and we just got to go get it.”

www.twincities.com

Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook excited about Kevin O’Connell taking over as Vikings coach

Jefferson and Cook are among five Vikings players taking part in Sunday’s Pro Bowl.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Skol Vikes!!
 

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