Personally over the Mike Hughes experiment. I didnt like the pick at the time (personally wanted Will Hernadez make of that what you will - he was available). Hoping that Gladney and Dantzler turn out. Havent completely lost faith in Hill but he's at that point being in his 3rd year things need to start coming together.
Great article. The part that bugs me the most about the Cousins, Spielman and Zimmer extensions is that they were all based on the Vikings beating 1 good team all of last season—the Saints—and that team was injury ravaged. The Vikings were swept and completely outplayed and out coached by the Packers, the Seahawks and Bears dominated them and they beat the cupcake teams to squeak into the playoffs.
My struggle lies in the draft. We have at least 10 picks every year, then we tie an NFL record last year. If you build your team around the run, you have to be good in the trenches. Yet we dedicate few draft picks or cap $ to the OLine. It’s a simple recipe for insanity. We continue to expect an OLine to be something different every year.
Why we don’t package picks to move UP for players is beyond me. This should be THE year for our depth to step forward.....our depth is not reflective of 30+ picks over the last 3 years
Yeah and some of that is luck but some is that late round picks are just really unlikely to work out. Spending decent picks on bit players like Mattison or Gedeon also limits the ceiling of those picks even if the player is decent
It's surprising that Zimmer, Kubiak and Spielman got into this group think to overestimate the team when 2019 presented an easy schedule, and lesses to good teams like Packers 2, Seahawks, KC, and even two to the Bears. Diggs was the canary in the coal mine about Cousin's limitations and was shipped out to solve the problem and then the problem was amplified with the contract extension. It looks unlikely that 7 wins is attainable as the possibility of being 0 and 8 is quite plausible based on the schedule and the current level of play. Zimmer's "we have to get better fast" doesn't work when you are short of talent and play rookies. A healthy devil's advocate in the team leadership may have been useful after the 2019 season.
I appreciate the information and insights here. I think the salary cap played a large role in decisions not to resign some highly-paid veterans this year—and it’s not just Cousins’ salary that’s an issue. In fact his contract extension enabled the Vikings to make a move or two, while creating the longer-term commitment you’ve described. I believe there’s one more factor that’s created significant problems for this season: the lack of preseason games and practices has severely hindered rookies’ development. In his rookie year, Diggs got many more preseason reps than Jefferson had. And I think they signed Dozier, Sharpe, and perhaps other lower-paid veterans because of their familiarity with the system and the grind, not because they had more talent than the draftees.
First paragraph says it all. Then they did the worst thing by signing number 8 to a untradeable extension. Delvin Cook's extension doesn't hamper them like his.
That the Vikings are 0-3 is surprising, but that this is all happening in the surreal existence of a pandemic makes it seem dream-like, or more appropriately, nightmare-like. A few months ago everyone was bashing Green Bay’s draft and the same people were pouring praise on Minnesota’s. Yet, the Packers are 3-0 and our guys are the opposite. The obvious difference is that Green Bay has a quarterback who, when he doesn’t play well, still is pretty good and the Vikings have a quarterback, who, when he doesn’t play well is damn near abhorrent. Why they are in the same neighborhood in salary is on Rick Spielman. He has to answer for the abundance of weak links in both forward lines and for the over abundance of faith he placed in Kirk Cousins. In the Vikings’ last possession, I had no confidence that Cousins could drive us to field goal range, even when the Vikings started, thanks to a roughing the passer penalty, with new downs on the Minnesota 40. With some people you just know from having watched the last two years and three games. If the Wilfs plan to make any changes during the season, find us a football guy who can manage this team because we are where we are because of Rick Spielman.
I am of the opinion that Cousins is good a what he was brought into to do. The problem is we haven’t provided him the necessary tools to succeed. When he receives protection he is the guy we envisioned. He can make plays, precise throws and lead the team. What he is not is a guy who handles pressure, or makes good snap decisions while under pressure. We haven’t seen him with consistent line protection. To date, Vikes have failed to build a OLine to suit his strengths. Easton signed away, Berger is gone. 2 best G’s for Cousins. No QB is successful with pressure up middle.
Cousins is not:
Bobby Douglas. Douglas could run
Sam Bradford. Who stayed in pocket until very end
Cam Newton. Who can extend plays athletically
Matt Ryan. Who can quickly audible readable defenses.
Kirk Cousins is accurate. He’s calculated. He reads the map in front of him. Don’t expect creativity. He can execute the play drawn. He is more likely to throw away The broken play pass over using his legs. We just can’t expect him to be different
I am completely baffled by Spielman’s complete failure to improve the offensive line which has been imploding seasons for the entire Zimmer era. At this point, I can’t even remember what good guard and center play looks like. Spielman consistently does idiotic things like paying Remmers and Reif too much, to be below average tackles and then compounds the mistake by moving Remmers to guard where he was worse. Then this year he clearly needed to come out of free agency and the draft with at least one guard, but instead he released his best guard, Kline, drafted a tackle that he tried to turn into a guard and moved Elflein to his 3rd position in three years. The truth is so asinine you don’t even have to make it up.
It really is something to think about how people were frustrated by Boone/Fusco and Easton/Berger as guards sometimes and now those pairings look far far better. Some is bad luck In the draft and injuries but otherwise it’s a lot of pinning hopes on things that weren’t all that likely to work out. I’m particularly surprised they didn’t get a cheap veteran off the free agent market this year
Personally over the Mike Hughes experiment. I didnt like the pick at the time (personally wanted Will Hernadez make of that what you will - he was available). Hoping that Gladney and Dantzler turn out. Havent completely lost faith in Hill but he's at that point being in his 3rd year things need to start coming together.
Great article. The part that bugs me the most about the Cousins, Spielman and Zimmer extensions is that they were all based on the Vikings beating 1 good team all of last season—the Saints—and that team was injury ravaged. The Vikings were swept and completely outplayed and out coached by the Packers, the Seahawks and Bears dominated them and they beat the cupcake teams to squeak into the playoffs.
My struggle lies in the draft. We have at least 10 picks every year, then we tie an NFL record last year. If you build your team around the run, you have to be good in the trenches. Yet we dedicate few draft picks or cap $ to the OLine. It’s a simple recipe for insanity. We continue to expect an OLine to be something different every year.
Why we don’t package picks to move UP for players is beyond me. This should be THE year for our depth to step forward.....our depth is not reflective of 30+ picks over the last 3 years
Yeah and some of that is luck but some is that late round picks are just really unlikely to work out. Spending decent picks on bit players like Mattison or Gedeon also limits the ceiling of those picks even if the player is decent
Speilman has to answer to the last 3 drafts. The returns have not met the investments.
We are getting pushed around in the trenches on a run first team. When yards are needed, we can’t get a push offensively or a surge defensively.
That has to be addressed in the draft.
It's surprising that Zimmer, Kubiak and Spielman got into this group think to overestimate the team when 2019 presented an easy schedule, and lesses to good teams like Packers 2, Seahawks, KC, and even two to the Bears. Diggs was the canary in the coal mine about Cousin's limitations and was shipped out to solve the problem and then the problem was amplified with the contract extension. It looks unlikely that 7 wins is attainable as the possibility of being 0 and 8 is quite plausible based on the schedule and the current level of play. Zimmer's "we have to get better fast" doesn't work when you are short of talent and play rookies. A healthy devil's advocate in the team leadership may have been useful after the 2019 season.
Agree on 2019 having favorable circumstances. We’re always going to wonder if they got beat in New Orleans how different it might be now
I appreciate the information and insights here. I think the salary cap played a large role in decisions not to resign some highly-paid veterans this year—and it’s not just Cousins’ salary that’s an issue. In fact his contract extension enabled the Vikings to make a move or two, while creating the longer-term commitment you’ve described. I believe there’s one more factor that’s created significant problems for this season: the lack of preseason games and practices has severely hindered rookies’ development. In his rookie year, Diggs got many more preseason reps than Jefferson had. And I think they signed Dozier, Sharpe, and perhaps other lower-paid veterans because of their familiarity with the system and the grind, not because they had more talent than the draftees.
Agree the offseason put them behind. Having to rely on rookies cuz of cap space compounds the problem
First paragraph says it all. Then they did the worst thing by signing number 8 to a untradeable extension. Delvin Cook's extension doesn't hamper them like his.
That the Vikings are 0-3 is surprising, but that this is all happening in the surreal existence of a pandemic makes it seem dream-like, or more appropriately, nightmare-like. A few months ago everyone was bashing Green Bay’s draft and the same people were pouring praise on Minnesota’s. Yet, the Packers are 3-0 and our guys are the opposite. The obvious difference is that Green Bay has a quarterback who, when he doesn’t play well, still is pretty good and the Vikings have a quarterback, who, when he doesn’t play well is damn near abhorrent. Why they are in the same neighborhood in salary is on Rick Spielman. He has to answer for the abundance of weak links in both forward lines and for the over abundance of faith he placed in Kirk Cousins. In the Vikings’ last possession, I had no confidence that Cousins could drive us to field goal range, even when the Vikings started, thanks to a roughing the passer penalty, with new downs on the Minnesota 40. With some people you just know from having watched the last two years and three games. If the Wilfs plan to make any changes during the season, find us a football guy who can manage this team because we are where we are because of Rick Spielman.
I am of the opinion that Cousins is good a what he was brought into to do. The problem is we haven’t provided him the necessary tools to succeed. When he receives protection he is the guy we envisioned. He can make plays, precise throws and lead the team. What he is not is a guy who handles pressure, or makes good snap decisions while under pressure. We haven’t seen him with consistent line protection. To date, Vikes have failed to build a OLine to suit his strengths. Easton signed away, Berger is gone. 2 best G’s for Cousins. No QB is successful with pressure up middle.
Cousins is not:
Bobby Douglas. Douglas could run
Sam Bradford. Who stayed in pocket until very end
Cam Newton. Who can extend plays athletically
Matt Ryan. Who can quickly audible readable defenses.
Kirk Cousins is accurate. He’s calculated. He reads the map in front of him. Don’t expect creativity. He can execute the play drawn. He is more likely to throw away The broken play pass over using his legs. We just can’t expect him to be different
Landonjust now
I am completely baffled by Spielman’s complete failure to improve the offensive line which has been imploding seasons for the entire Zimmer era. At this point, I can’t even remember what good guard and center play looks like. Spielman consistently does idiotic things like paying Remmers and Reif too much, to be below average tackles and then compounds the mistake by moving Remmers to guard where he was worse. Then this year he clearly needed to come out of free agency and the draft with at least one guard, but instead he released his best guard, Kline, drafted a tackle that he tried to turn into a guard and moved Elflein to his 3rd position in three years. The truth is so asinine you don’t even have to make it up.
It really is something to think about how people were frustrated by Boone/Fusco and Easton/Berger as guards sometimes and now those pairings look far far better. Some is bad luck In the draft and injuries but otherwise it’s a lot of pinning hopes on things that weren’t all that likely to work out. I’m particularly surprised they didn’t get a cheap veteran off the free agent market this year