Friday mailbag: QB takes, defending against Seattle and offensive line questions
Vikings have a swing game coming but there's still plenty of questions about the future
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Happy Friday everyone. Twitter had an incredible number of good questions so let’s get right to it….
@PalpatinesRobes If the Vikings are 2-6 at the trade deadline, will trader Rick hold a fire sale in honor of Bud Grant's yard sale?
I don’t see any reason that wouldn’t happen. The Vikings have several players who could be pretty valuable on other teams. Cleveland has gotten very poor play out of their safeties this season and they were interesting in Anthony Harris last offseason. Even a third-round pick for Harris would make sense (I’d guess that’s what they’d get for a comp pick if he left in free agency after next year anyway).
Outside of Harris, Riley Reiff has played very well and could help some teams out. If Dallas turns it around and La’el Collins and Tyron Smith are still hurt, I have to think they’ll be desperate for tackle help. Heck, with Rashod Hill (keep your eyes out for a feature on Rashod this weekend BTW), they might not even lose that much by moving Reiff even if they’re mildly in the race.
Kyle Rudolph is one that I’m really interested in seeing what happens. He’s so rooted in the community but he said two years ago that he was OK with being traded if they couldn’t come to an extension agreement. I have to wonder if he’s happy in an offense that only gets him the ball once or twice a game. New England would make so much sense if they’re still in the AFC East race.
But all of this type of talk could change in an instant if they beat Seattle. Suddenly they’ll have winnable games at home the rest of the schedule and could be 3-3 at the bye week. If that happens, they’re not trading anyone and they might look for an upgrade instead.
Seasons can change on a dime. Watch old NFL season recaps and you see it everywhere!
@ATKing53632390 I was convinced Famous Jameis was going to be a hall of famer when he was drafted. Who stands out to you as someone you thought was going to be a stud but was a bust?
Once upon a time — I know this doesn’t sound like me — I was one of those people who felt like potential just meant you hadn’t done anything yet and I didn’t get into the NFL draft. I’ve only really started that in the last few years (and thank goodness because it’s a lot of fun). So I’ll give you my takes on how I felt about recent QBs at the time:
2019
Kyler Murray — Liked but didn’t love. He had so much time to throw in college and I didn’t feel like the Russell Wilson comps were quite fair to Wilson, who played in a pro system at Wisconsin.
Daniel Jones — Wasn’t ever big on him but figured maybe he’d be a game manager. Turns out he’s the opposite and turns the ball over all the time.
Dwayne Haskins — Very concerned that his big stats were smoke and mirrors. Didn’t mind where Washington picked him. Liked a lot that he did last year but getting benched is really concerning.
Drew Lock — I was way down on Lock. Too many reckless throws in college. We’ll see how this one turns out.
Will Grier — Here’s where I was way off. Thought Grier was super interesting as a prospect. Nope!
2018
Baker Mayfield — Loved the accuracy, concerned about the personality. Thought he was high risk but would have picked No. 1.
Lamar Jackson — Watched a ton of him in college, would have fought you in an alley over his throwing ability and leadership. Lost my mind at people suggesting he should be a receiver. Did not expect him to throw the ball at an MVP level last year but wanted the Vikings to pick him.
Josh Allen — Thought he had all the earmarks of a bust. Big arm, bad accuracy, unimpressive processing. Lots to be concerned about. Wouldn’t have graded him a first-round pick. The last two years, that take looks good. This year, not as much. He’s been unbelievable. But they’ve also played Miami, NYJ, Las Vegas… we’ll see how that plays out.
Sam Darnold — If a dude has a ton of picks in college, count me out. Was very low on him.
Josh Rosen — Easily the most wrong I’ve been on a QB. Has great arm talent, looked like a pro in college. Thought he’d be kind of Drew Brees-ish. And whooooops. Never expected the guy to fall into the worst situations ever but I’m not holding out hope because he didn’t even show signs of being able to handle NFL defenses.
My best QB take ever:
When I watched Mahomes tape from college, I yelled from the other room to my wife to come in and watch his throws. His Gruden camp was amazing. Loved everything about him. It was pretty easy to see DeShaun Watson would be good and not Mitch Trubisky.
From years before I hardcore studied the draft: Loved both Manziel and Bridgewater. You win some, you lose some.
@benjackson0812 The offense seems to have found its groove the last two weeks. Can the keep it up the rest of the year? I don’t see many teams with a good defense left on the schedule
I think it can. A few reasons:
— Schedule is 100% a factor. They have some awful defenses coming up. Seattle, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Carolina, Jacksonville. Those teams can’t stop anyone. They’ll probably have typical performances against Green Bay and Chicago and struggle against Tampa. Everyone else is open to a big day for Kirk Cousins.
— Justin Jefferson. What we saw in camp is coming into play now. The dude moves differently and his personality really pops to me. After you do this for awhile, you get a sense for dudes who want it. Zimmer says, “football is important to him.” That’s a big deal. He’s been following around Thielen like a little kid with his bigger brother. Take that athleticism and natural instinct, add it with drive and inquisitiveness about the game and you’ve got something. I know it’s early but I don’t expect him to fall off.
— Gary Kubiak has figured out what his group needs to succeed and what works for the strengths of his players. Seeing Garrett Bradbury pulling out in space, Thielen running double moves, Rudolph in the red zone. It was reasonable to be a little concerned about Kubiak getting back in the saddle after the first two weeks but he’s been super successful for a long time for a reason.
My concern is how much they’re leaning on Cook. He’s on pace for 300 carries. If they need him to lug the offense around on his back each week, it might slow down eventually.
The question is what it might mean big picture if they end up with a top 10 offense. Does that get them into the hunt? At very least it would say good things about the future.
@BIG_dannn With the trade deadline coming at the end of the month. 1) should the Vikings sell? 2) if so which players and what would you ask back to help the team future
On part 1: ask me after this game. The difference between beating Seattle and losing to Seattle is massive. If they win over Seattle, they could get hot in a hurry with Atlanta and then they’re getting jacked up to play Green Bay out of the bye week. If they drop to 1-4, digging out of that hole is going to be really tough.
Since I went through the tradables earlier, players you’d want back rather than moving them would be Harrison Smith, Eric Kendricks, Yannick Ngakoue
@KyeBaxter Two part question. 1 if the Vikings had tried to move Thielen instead of Diggs do you think they would have gotten a 1st round pick? 2 do you think they would be better with a Diggs Jefferson duo compared to Thielen Jefferson?
I’ve asked a handful of people through the years what they thought of Diggs vs. Thielen and everyone felt Diggs was the more dangerous receiver and the film often bared that out with the way defenses guarded Diggs. But that doesn’t take away from how freaking good Thielen is. I think he would have been worth a first-round pick for another team in a trade. You’re talking about a multi-time Pro Bowler. When Vikings QBs have targeted him during his career, they have a 109.6 rating (almost identical to Diggs, BTW).
Are they better? Hm. I’d lean slightly more toward yes than no but only ever so slightly because when Jefferson wasn’t in, the offense was slower. When Thielen was out last year, Diggs was still dominant.
@Cral_Pls Though the Seahawks pass defense is porous, they have a very good run defense. The Vikings may be in trouble if Seattle can slow down Dalvin Cook, because much of Cousins success is on play action. How do you see that playing out? Is this a shootout or a blowout in favor of SEA?
Last question first: I say this is a shootout. I don’t think the Seahawks’ defensive line is good enough to shut down Cook alone, so they’ll still have to dedicate their very good linebackers to stopping him. The other thing about that is: PFF’s studies on play-action have shown that it works even if the run game isn’t dominating. So Seattle is likely to dedicate an eight-man box to Cook, which means downfield looks for Thielen and Jefferson.
That’s one thing about the Seattle defense… everyone copied it after the Legion of Boom (without a ton of success) but Seattle hasn’t been very good against the pass in a while. The last three years they’ve ranked 17th, 24th and 28th in net yards per pass attempt allowed.
@rogerdier What do the Vikings have to do to “win” Sunday night? 1)Compete for four quarters and lose by one score? 2)Play hard but lose by double digits? 3) Win outright?
They have to win outright. No moral victories in a game like this. If they play hard and lose, they fall into a spot in the standings where it would be extremely difficult to even make things interesting for a playoff spot. If they win, they are right back in the race. Plus it would feel like they deserve to be in a race. This wouldn’t be a win against the lowly Texans. It would be earned.
I’m sure some folks who are focused on draft position would select either loss category. We might get there eventually. For now, this is their Super Bowl. The season rests on this one.
@AJ_Schneider Why do you think irv smith jr has been MIA so far this season?
Combination of things. Starts with a bad game against Indy in which he dropped a ball (while being hit hard) and had a penalty on a catch. The last two weeks there’s been some plays where it looked like he was supposed to be the target and the ball just never came but he was open. There were times last week where he was a decoy to make it look like a run and the play turned out to be max protect.
Still, I’ve been as surprised as everyone else that he hasn’t gotten more attention. I think we’ll see something similar to last season where he gets rolling eventually. But if they’re only going to throw the ball 25 times per game, we can’t expect huge target numbers.
@JMike5490 With all the other issues going on no one is really talking about how bad the punting is this year. I think Colquit missed some time in training camp. Do you think he has a lingering injury?
The special teams coordinator Marwan Maalouf was asked about this and he said Colquitt was “trying things” earlier this year. As in, experimenting with some different techniques. I have no idea why he would do that considering he was a top punter last season. Maybe that could be a way to answer the question without admitting there was an injury because Colquitt did miss some time in camp.
The reason nobody’s talking about it is pretty much because if your house is on fire, nobody asks, what about the small shed in the back yard that is also burning. There’s been so many things happening with this team, it hasn’t been a main reason they’ve lost. I love the small corners and crevices of football but even I can’t justify ripping the punter when the cornerbacks are giving up 60-yard touchdowns.
@gunnerviking If you could trade away a star Vikings player (Hunter, Cook, Smith, ...) and get a star player from another team, what’s the trade you’d go for? No QBs, player for player only.
If you factor in age and contract, there aren’t many players you’d trade Hunter for. Probably Aaron Donald, healthy Nick Bosa, maybe Joey Bosa, maybe Khalil Mack. Since he’s on par with most of these guys, it’s tough to say for sure you’d do it one-for-one.
The only guy I’d trade Harrison Smith for is Jamal Adams and that’s because he’s a younger Harrison Smith.
You might do Cook for Kamara but Kamara isn’t a fit for this offense the same way Cook is. But if the plan was to throw more to the RB, it’s Kamara.
If you’re talking trading any of the three for any player, I’d trade any of the three straight up for DeAndre Hopkins or Stephon Gilmore just based on positional value.
@Skol6969 What do you truly believe the Vikings need to be an actual super bowl contender? Obvious answers aside- such as oline and CB. Can Kirk just not do it?
Kirk can do it if Jared Goff and Nick Foles can do it. The thing is, everything has to come together at the exact right time for that to happen. You need good bounces (like the Rams committing interference and getting away with it or a literal bounce for Foles throwing a would-be INT vs. the Falcons that was caught by his receiver in the 2017 playoffs). You need health. You need a bunch of players to all peak at the same time.
Here’s the holdup on Cousins though: Can he win enough regular season games to get home field in the playoffs? That’s been a huge deal in recent years and I don’t think that changes (maybe this year with no fans, but you get my point). You saw how tough it was to beat New Orleans and then go to San Francisco. But since he’s a career roller coaster, you’d need him to buck that trend and have 13 good games instead of 8-10 per year.
We saw it all come together for Case Keenum. As any franchise that doesn’t have a Peyton Manning-level QB, you basically get one shot per decade. If you miss and lose in the NFC Championship game like the Vikings usually do, it takes a long time to get back. Atlanta’s come nowhere close since they went to the Super Bowl, neither has Philly or L.A. and SF probably won’t either.
@MATPhxc Do you think the reason the defense has been so terrible is because it’s more complex? I feel like the first year we get CB it’s always a learning year so it’s rough to be thrown into the fire. Related to that, have you noticed that the defense has improved or was it only because the Texans were that bad?
I think the defense has been bad because they’ve played Aaron Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Ryan Tannehill and DeShaun Watson with inexperienced players in the secondary and their best pass rusher out. I think it has taken Zimmer a few weeks to figure out what his players can handle but I don’t see this as a scheme issue as much as young players making mistakes and letting up big plays. Maybe it sounds silly but outside of the mega bonehead plays where someone’s wide open for 60 yards, they haven’t been that bad on a play-to-play basis and they should improve — just maybe not this week.
I don’t think it was just the Texans being bad but that was some of it. They did good things. On film, Gladney had a legit good game. The red zone and third down stuff is Zimmer knowing how to scheme. That can continue.
They won’t be good as a defense this year. The QB schedule is tough. But they can get better.
Eric via email: Who does Zimmer talk to during a game and what do they talk about? Also, what do the coordinators do when their side of the ball is off the field?
Zimmer is calling defensive plays, so he’s sending those in to whoever’s calling the defense these days. It was Anthony Barr before. So it’s either Kendricks or Wilson now. I would assume he’s communicating with his defensive coordinators on what they see and what type of personnel they’re putting in the game. They’re usually responsible for bringing players in and out.
On the offensive side, he’s listening to the calls that Kubiak is making. I’m not certain how involved he is on play-to-play but they’re going to talk about what they want to do on a fourth down etc. It sounds like he will offer Kubiak a thought like, “don’t be afraid to be aggressive here” and that sort of thing.
Coordinators are reviewing the previous drive and going over the photos on the iPad in between. Communicating with the quarterback or pulling the defense aside to get their messages across. Some old Hard Knocks fans will remember ripping the ever-loving heck out of his defense on the sideline between possessions.
@KyleBueckert If the Vikings has a QB like Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, etc. how many more wins would they have in a year like this?
They’re probably 3-1 with either guy. The 2018 Chiefs defense was horrible and Mahomes had them in the AFC Championship. Wilson’s defense wasn’t good last year and they were darn close. The crazy thing about those guys is that they’re so consistent. I saw a FiveThirtyEight article about how Mahomes has never had a below average game. That’s insanity. That means if the defense is whooping him, he still finds a way to be good enough to win. Both QBs’ mobility probably makes up for the poor OL play against Indy and Tennessee enough to win.
That’s not to say Cousins has played poorly. I think he’s been better than his traditional stats. Those guys are just two of the best QBs to ever play.
@youvikethat1 What made John Randle so damn good?
You may laugh at this but I’ll say it was his heart.
Randle had all sorts of reasons to give up early in his career and never did. He had reasons to believe that his ceiling was a situational player but he kept pushing and forcing the Vikings to give him more opportunity. When he got that chance, he went after it like a complete madman. His relentlessness is only matched by a few other players in history.
There are lots of guys with explosiveness and different moves. But being an undersized interior DL takes a different kind of human being.
That’s my take from experience seeing players make it who were never expected to turn into anything and from watching him on TV like everyone else. I’d love to know what John thinks the answer is.
@akalina08 You’re the commissioner, how do you handle the Titans COVID-19 outbreak?
@CerpinTaxt138 strip the #Titans of next year's draft completely and not let them participate in playoffs if they earn it too severe a punishment?
If I’m the commissioner, I’m fining them their first-round pick and $10 million. I’m putting them on protocol probation, meaning if they have the slightest evidence of breaking the protocols again, their season is over and they forfeit the rest of the season.
What they did by coming to Minnesota when they knew they had the beginnings of an outbreak is horrifying and put many people at risk. And then they had the arrogance to go hideout at local high schools for workouts when that isn’t allowed either. Unbelievable.
If you told me that Roger Goodell decided they were banned from the playoffs for a year, I’d give him a round of applause. The message needs to be sent that one or two more outbreaks can collapse this season that has largely been going great for the NFL. Brazenly breaking the rules and putting people at risk is unacceptable.
@Dinzeo82 If you could pick one former Viking on each side of the ball to help(retired or currently playing). Who would they be?
I mean, Alan Page and Randy Moss are pretty obvious answers here.
But if you want to go to the not-so-obvious category, they could really use a Joe Berger and Jarius Wright. I’m a broken record on Wright but he was so darn effective in big situations and they’ve never replaced him. And Berger wasn’t Will Shields or Alan Faneca but the guy was a solid NFL offensive guard (or center). They’ve dearly missed average play at that position.
On defense, how about old Pat Williams. ESPN had a stat today that Shamar Stephen is second-to-last in the NFL in win-rate against the run. Pat would change that in a hurry.
@benjackson0812 Outside of QB which position in football has the most impact on a game outcome??
Few franchises know better than this one that it’s wide receiver. Randy Moss turns Randall Cunningham into one of the greatest QBs ever for a season, Diggs/Thielen turn Case Keenum into a star for a year.
Most NFL-caliber starting quarterbacks can hit a guy when he’s wide open. If you have dudes running around with coverage blanketed all over them, it’s really tough unless you’re Brett Favre or Patrick Mahomes.
A great game for a receiver might mean four or five big plays (like Jefferson last week). There aren’t too many positions that have that impact outside of QB.
Corner would be next. Bill Belichick gets rid of D-linemen and keeps Ty Law, Stephon Gilmore, whichever McCourty or both etc. together. Shutting down those top receivers is just as valuable.
There’s a backward way to argue left tackle: You cannot be horrible there. You can be OK and win. But if you’re horrible, good luck having a successful offense.
@McKinneyMN Is it more likely that Vikings: 1. End with a record that gets them a top 5 draft pick 2. Play well enough to just miss the playoffs 3. Make the playoffs
I’ll go No.2.
Maybe I’m overrating last week but I still think the offense has too much talent with Thielen/Jefferson/Cook to lose and lose and lose the way it would take for a top five pick. The Jets/Giants/Falcons/Football Team/Lions just seem so much worse at the moment.
With the upcoming schedule, I think they end up with six or seven wins total and draft maybe seventh or eighth. But I’ll change that take if they beat the Seahawks and go No. 3.
@oldmanpbotty What is the way forward to juice up our O-line? Draft, trade, cap considerations, contracts, free agents. How long till this is complete. I’m sure we’re gonna pull a stud from next years draft in the first round. Can we sacrifice anywhere else (other positions)to make this SOLID?
Either draft them high or pay out top dollar. That’s really the way there. I don’t think there’s an easy path to having a great offensive line. The best two guys are a $54M tackle and a second-round pick. Bradbury is coming along, he’s a first-rounder. If Cleveland is a bust, take someone else or pay for the top guy on the market.
The problem is the Vikings will have other needs in the draft and not a lot of cap space to throw at the most expensive guard. Usually the top of the free agent market is good — say a Rodger Saffold or Mitch Morse — but the middle and bottom are generally risky.
The only other way is getting lucky, like they did on Berger or Nick Easton and have someone emerge that they didn’t expect.
If we’re talking positional value, the place to rob Peter to pay Paul money wise is at linebacker. But would they move on from Anthony Barr to sign a guard? Draft wise, they’ll need an interior rusher and probably a safety. Maybe they could go guard instead.
The key is finding a way to be average or better at all five positions. They haven’t come close since 2017.
@DanielVroman2 Last year at Seattle my memory is that Zim sat the safeties deep and dared them to run. Should we expect a similar game plan? If so, does Seattle take the runs again or do they continue to “Let Russ Cook?” Fun to think about Zim making the other team chew clock instead of him.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that’s the strategy. And even though it didn’t work particularly well last year, you still saw how difficult it is to win by running. If Wilson didn’t hit that huge touchdown on a miscommunication last year, the Vikings maybe win that game. And even though that happened, they still had the ball with a chance at the end.
My guess is you’ll see two very different strategies. The Seahawks’ single high safety scheme where they are aggressive and try to force mistakes vs. the Vikings looking to keep everything in front of them. Playing Harrison Smith up at the line of scrimmage would be asking for Wilson to hit 50-yard bombs.
@JeremyTiermini How do "Minnesota Matt" and "Buffalo Matt" communicate about how well Stefon Diggs is doing in the 716?
I’m always a little unsure of how to respond when people ask me about the Buffalo Bills. The 90s Bills — i.e. Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Kent Hull and Bruce Smith — were the team of my childhood and that extended into the Doug Flutie, Antoine Winfield era. But it’s a different mindset when you cover a team as a reporter. I dedicate so much time to the team I’m covering, I’m really not focusing much on anything else.
I have a lot of friends and family in Buffalo who are enjoying Diggs’s excellence and their great start to the season and I’m happy for them. He’s very smart, driven, competitive and great at football, so it’s not a surprise he’s succeeding but it really makes no difference to me whatsoever.
Since the Bills aren’t on the Vikings’ schedule, I haven’t watched a single second of their games. Maybe at some point I’ll do a podcast episode and review the trade and then I’ll watch some tape on Buffalo Diggs.
@Seth_Keymon What player do the Vikings miss the most from last year and Why ?
Xavier Rhodes. They don’t miss the way that he played last year but they definitely miss the version that he’s been in Indianapolis. Through four weeks, he’s PFF’s third highest graded corner. That’s kind of a mystery considering he gave up over 80% completion percentage into his coverage but he looks healthy and fits really well in the Colts’ defense. If he was playing that way this year in Minnesota, the coverage wouldn’t have as many problems.
If we mean the version from 2019, it’s Mackensie Alexander. The Vikings have been shuffling Mike Hughes and Jeff Gladney at nickel. It isn’t super easy to plug anyone into a nickel corner job and Alexander became legitimately good at it by last season.
Josh Kline’s presence has been missed quite a bit as well. It feels weird saying that but his replacement hasn’t been close to average.
There’s a lot of good cases to be made. Everson Griffen was still good last year and faded Linval Joseph was better than Shamar Stephen.
Of course, they expected Danielle Hunter and Michael Pierce to be on the D-line.
@dan_bacon1 Swap the two QBs, what is each team’s record?
I think the Vikings are probably 3-1 with Wilson and the Seahawks are 3-1 with Cousins. You can’t blame Cousins for everything that went wrong, it’s just that Wilson was still brilliant in years that his O-line was brutal. He gives them a better chance in Indy and probably wins the Tennessee game (though Cousins was good). Seattle also hasn’t played the toughest schedule. Maybe he comes up short in the Patriots game where Wilson was outrageously good but the others — Atlanta, Dallas, Miami — he likely wins.
Seattle over the last two years is very similar to the Vikings. They lost all their stars and had to rebuild in a lot of areas. Their quarterback was still able to make them relevant because he’s top three in the NFL but he still wasn’t able to go 12-4 or 13-3 etc. without a great supporting cast.
@PeteESunshine Irv smith breakout week,,, right???
Maybe. The Seahawks are going to be gearing up for Thielen and Jefferson and the Cover-3 does open the door sometimes for those seam routes by tight ends. They might give him a screen or something quick just to get him involved early and show Seattle they’ve got more than just the two receivers.
@SamRoot43 Pick any team in Vikings history to face any team in Seahawks history to go in the time machine and play each other to maximize Matthew Coller's enjoyment of a football game.
I’ll go a little off the board here and go with the 1993 Jim McMahon Vikings because it’s freaking Jim McMahon on the Vikings with gloves and a visor. They also had a good defense (No. 1 in yards allowed that year). I’ll play them against Warren Moon in 1997 with Seattle. Moon was 7 billion years old and had the No. 3 offense in yards that year.
If you want to go the absolute best matchup, the 1998 Vikings vs. 2013 Seattle. If I recall correctly, Football Outsider called the 2013 Seahawks the best team ever, statistically speaking. Moss vs. Sherman would be something.
@tanishkamascara any concern over bisi johnson because it looks like he took a step back. or is jj just that good?
Jefferson’s really that good. As much as we love the Little Engine That Could kinda deal with late picks, we’re talking about the guy who demolished college football and then ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at the Combine. Bisi was always going to be a placeholder unless he did something miraculous. Bisi is a smart player and is capable of executing what the offense calls for but he’s not going to Moss somebody or gain 20 yards after catch like Jefferson. It’s just two different planets of raw skill.
What they really need from either Bisi or Beebe is that one of them becomes the next Jarius Wright, who’s there every time he’s needed.
@AES64 It's a bit inside baseball, but can you please offer some insight into how your business works re: appearances on tv, radio and podcasts? There are some instances where it seems clear someone is paid to do a weekly hit all season, but it would be interesting to know how this works. Thanks.
Sure. It varies. If someone is making one or two appearances on a show as a guest, it’s usually going to be out of the kindness of their heart. I do them all the time. Right before I answered this, I was on 710 ESPN in Seattle. Stations would go broke if they had to pay every phone guest (though sometimes stations go broke anyway). For someone like Jeremiah Sirles on the Purple Insider podcast*, who’s appearing every week, that’s much more of a commitment for him and he brings an extra level of credibility and deserves to get paid. That’s pretty much standard.
*Shameless, but if anyone’s business wants to sponsor Jeremiah’s appearances let me know.
@oldbreedwriter The I-line has been bad since 2015 or longer. Is Zimmer and management just bad at finding adequate players? Or do they prioritize other positions.
You can’t invest in all positions at once, so you have to pick where you believe you can fill in with a cheap player or develop someone. From a broad perspective, I actually agree with the position the Vikings picked. Would you rather try UDFA corners or guard? Receivers or guards? Edge rushers or guards? But you gotta get lucky. A fourth rounder has to click rather than being PFF’s worst graded player in the entire NFL, as Dru Samia is presently.
That’s not to let them off the hook. Cousins needs investment there because of the way he plays and the guys they’ve tried to fill in since 2017 haven’t just been bad, they’ve been unplayable. Think about this: Alex Boone allowed 16 pressures in 2016 and people thought he wasn’t good. Dru Samia has given up 13 in three games. That’s untenable.
@HokNate Reckless speculation. Vikings finish 4-12 and so do the Cowboys. Cowboys offer a second round pick for Zimmer? Do the vikings accept? If so do they finally get an offensive mind HC?
I don’t think the Vikings trade him if they struggle this year. They’ve had so much go wrong that they’ll give him 2021 unless there’s some sort of wild implosion. Someone else asked about GM candidates last week and… we’re just not anywhere close to that right now.
@vikesfan1930 Over/under 6 coaches that the vikings play this year that could get fired? Since they played the Texans and now they don't have a coach?
They could definitely get Atlanta and Detroit’s coach fire but six? Six is too high. Maybe Jacksonville. I suppose that late-season game against Chicago would be a low-key one if they collapse.
Me: Who’s going to win on Sunday?
Thanks me, great question. I’m taking the huge upset 34-31 Vikings. Yes, Seattle is the better team but their defense has been playing with fire and I don’t think there’s any home-field advantage now in Seattle.
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