Friday mailbag: Could everyone in the North go 9-8?

It's summer time and Vikings fans have some interesting angles on the team

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By Matthew Coller

Happy summertime everyone! This is a great time of year for random questions and we’ve got our fair share here so let’s dive right in…

@HoagSmash Vikings should trade JJ before having to pay him. The obscene amount he's sure to command will be a problem for the team. Don't see many teams winning rings built around a WR...

If we do anything by, “HOW MANY RINGZ” we’re never going to get any concrete conclusions. Dan Marino didn’t win a Super Bowl, should we not want a QB like Dan Marino? But I’ll play that game if you’d like. Did the Rams not win the Super Bowl with Cooper Kupp? Did the Bucs not win the Super Bowl with Mike Evans? The Eagles scored 35 points in the Super Bowl with AJ Brown. The Bengals were one drive away from a ring with Ja’Marr Chase. The Falcons were up 28-3 with Julio Jones. Let’s also not pretend Gronk and Travis Kelce are normal tight ends. Did Jerry Rice win anything?

I guess Randy Moss didn’t get a ring, he was only the centerpiece of a 15-1 and 16-0 teams. If we even expand the point to just recently successful teams: The Buffalo Bills have won how many games with Stefon Diggs? Did Davante Adams have anything to do with those Aaron Rodgers back-to-back 13-win seasons and MVPs? Brock Purdy wasn’t assisted by Deebo Samuel, was he? Did Tua became a totally different QB or did Tyreek Hill have something to do with that.

Former intern Haley English — now working with an NFL front office on analytics — studied this a while back and found that Jefferson’s value is around equal to an average quarterback. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah more or less said the same thing at the NFL Combine. This is not a player you give away. Ever.

If you want to win the Super Bowl, you need multiple Hall of Famers. Find me any Super Bowl team that didn’t have them. If you have one, you keep him. You do not trade him for draft picks and pray they don’t become the next Treadwell or Gladney.

Andrew…Whatever one thinks of the Spielman/Zim/KOC/KAM foursome, they were presented as and seem to be very different people.  Yet while 2023 will have a younger roster, the approach/process—squeeze all the juice out of the current season’s orange and refuse to take any kind of material step back, at the cost of long-term planning—is functionally indistinguishable.  Does that mean the actual problem here is the one constant throughout: the Wilfs, and so fans are a word that rhymes with pucked? 

If this comment was written before last season, I would have agreed. The 2022 offseason was functionally indistinguishable from Zimmer-Spielman from 2016-2021. They tried to patch holes with veteran players, kept their in-house stars at inflated prices, hurt themselves long term with the salary cap, drafted for need rather by positional value and extended Kirk Cousins. The 2023 offseason has been largely the opposite of those things.

The players they signed i.e. Marcus Davenport and Byron Murphy Jr. are on the young-ish side and could be long-term answers for them if they work out. The current regime basically cleared out everyone that wasn’t going to be part of the future and will go through 2023 with more than half the 22 starters being unproven. When did Zimmer and Spielman ever do that? Even in 2020 they tried to avoid it via Yannick Ngakoue. The current FO also drafted premium positions in receiver and defensive back rather than trying to find immediate answers to needs. If there’s any Spielman/Zimmer comparison to be made, it’s 2014 to 2015 when they built their roster.

That’s not to say it was a flawless offseason. While they did have to use some void years (something I’m not in favor of) and restructured Kirk to take a hit next year (again, not in favor of) — possibly because they may have misread the room when it came to trading Za’Darius and Dalvin — the dead cap damage is mostly contained to 2024.

It sounds like what you’re getting at is that they did not do a full tank by moving on from Cousins, which means they will continue to be competitive. That is true. But a lot of other stuff was along the lines of a complete roster refresh that was probably needed a few years ago. That’s quite different than the last….lotta years.

Ashwinder_15 Will we ever get to the point in the NFL where we’re handing off like 12 times and RBs became more like fifth WRs?

I might have said yes after the 2020 season when passing games went completely nuts statistically but I think what we saw last year was that defenses starting finding ways to combat some of the schemes that were crushing them. Part of that is playing two deep safeties and daring teams to run, which resulted in a lot of running success — in terms of efficiency, probably the most effective running we’ve ever seen. That’s the history of the NFL. In the 80s after Dan Marino threw for 5,000 yards, I bet people were asking if someday everyone would be throwing for 5,000 yards. Passing is here to stay but running is still going to be a great method for setting up play-action, getting short yards, goal line and punishing soft defenses with extremely low chances of a turnover. The RB/WR thing also had its moments where Marshall Faulk or Christian McCaffrey were thriving and it seemed that was going to be the future but it’s really hard to be a receiver. Most RBs are only capable of swing passes and screens, I’m not sure we’ll ever get to a spot where there’s a ton of RBs who can do the Eric Metcalf or Percy Harvin thing.

@JoeBMTN If you could create a team of 11 offensive starters, 11 defensive starters, a kicker, punter and returners but had to use only players from the history of the Vikings and Bills, what's the lineup?

QB — Fran Tarkenton RB — Thurman Thomas WR — Randy Moss, Cris Carter, Andre Reed TE — Steve Jordan OL — Howard Ballard, Randel McDaniel, Jason Peters, Steve Hutchinson, Mick Tingelhoff

DE — Bruce Smith, Carl Eller DT — Alan Page, Pat Williams LB — Daryl Talley, Cornelius Bennett DB — Nate Odoms, Bobby Bryant, Antoine Winfield, Paul Krause, Harrison Smith

K — Steve Christie P — Mitch Berger KR — Cordarrelle Patterson PR — Percy Harvin

@JasonJEngler Had the Vikings beat the WFT in the 87 championship game. What would have been the most critical/intriguing matchup in SBXXII against the Broncos and would the Vikings had won the game iyo?

That Super Bowl is always known for Doug Williams but forgotten for running back Timmy Smith. He went completely insane in that game running behind massive holes created by that all-time great offensive line. Would the Vikings have been able to run the ball against Denver like that? Darrin Nelson had a good season but I’m not sure they’re dominating the way that The Hogs did. Elway also got sacked five times, which played a big role in how that game went. Doleman was a beast, so maybe something similar happens, though the depth of that pass rush wasn’t yet what it would become for the Vikings in the early 90s. With that said, I’ll argue that ‘87 was a better chance than ‘98 despite the ‘98 team being better because the Broncos weren’t all that impressive in ‘87 but they were a monster in ‘98.

@John2Quick4Me What’s the possibility that no one in the NFC North reigns supreme and we have a 4 team 9-8 division standing?

It’s certainly possible that nobody rises above the others and the division winner ends up with 9 or 10 wins. What are the chances they all end up with that record? Not totally crazy. Last year the NFC South winner went 8-9 and all the other teams went 7-10. In 2021, the AFC North winner had 10 wins and the basement team had eight. I could definitely see that happening. Back in 2011 the AFC West winner went 8-8 and last team was 7-9. So it does happen and all of these teams have a case for being around .500. I’m not sure any of them will be great but I’d bet that at least one of these teams falters. It really rests on the shoulders of Justin Fields and Jordan Love. I’m not sure right now that they can end the season with winning records. Both have the potential to be on the right side of a winning record and likely a ceiling that will keep their clubs from being great.

@ucancallmekobe What current veteran FA do you think the Vikings may target to bring in before the start of the season?

It might depend on Danielle Hunter’s status. If they move Hunter, maybe someone like Kyle Van Noy or Melvin Ingram would make sense. Or if they were not pleased with what they saw from the cornerback group they could look at a veteran like Marcus Peters or Eli Apple. Though it’s probably favorable in their current state to just let it ride and give as many young players as much playing time as they can.

@Zenkid__ If it’s not too late, think that KAM will be get better at being a GM negotiator? Based on deals given to Thielen and other FAs, and trades, one has to wonder if they know Vikings are easy prey. Honestly so surprised they didn’t reassign any of their own players. #culture