Well they were coming off a 10-6 season (would have been 11-5 had they not benched their starters) and a playoff win. So they definitely did not suck at the time.
They sucked when their defense got clearly worse in the offseason.
They replaced Linval with a younger Michael Pierce and traded for the DE from the Jags.
Bisi Johnson, Shamar Stephen, David Morgan, Brandon Fusco, Blair Walsh
Perhaps he is tougher on them in the meetings. Doesn't throw them under the bus to the press. I get what you're saying though.
I could be totally wrong on this but I highly doubt they give a ton of thought as to where a guy went to college in regards to whether they want to draft him or not. In otherwords I would be shocked to find that Spielman would pass on the top player on their draft board simply because he was a Gopher or that he would exclude players from their draft board on the basis of them playing at the U of M.
This is an example of the "one of us" obsession that some fans have up here. We see it with the hand wringing that goes on in the recruiting threads about not signing more Minnesota kids.
Love that the writer thinks there can ONLY be 2 reasons the Vikings don't draft Gophers. Spielman doesn't want to be seen as making lazy homer picks OR he is haunted by a draft pick that didn't work out in 2010. Yeah, can't be any other possible reasons....
I didn’t say they didn’t try to fix the o line. They’ve been trying for years.
I have raised and lowered the field goal nets a couple times as a grounds crew volunteer. A TCF stadium grounds worker told me this factoid and OSU played at TCF in 2014. Its true.
He is from Ohio and his brother was a star linebacker at OSU. He is a Buckeye homer.
Now factor in all the Gophers that have had tryouts and were undrafted (Sherels, Leidner) Vikings would be even higher. Im not even a Vikings fan.
Wasn't that the Dilly Bar Dan game?
If you look at the first 3 rounds, that’s 4 in 4 years. First three rounds should get you starters most of the time if you’re evaluating well.
it isn’t. The gophers have to offer them. Maybe they borrowed them from the Vikings but it wasn’t a Spielman deal.
The gophers don't have another set of heated benches. Those systems cost a fortune. Teams either bring their own or rent them. Wisconsin brought their own at a game I worked. Do you have a source in the vikings front office/equipment mgmt? I know multiple TCF grounds and equipment people.
