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Vikings Discussion and Random Thoughts
Some dude at PFF thinks the Javon Hargrave signing was the worst of the first wave of free agency. I looked at the contract at Spotrac, and I don’t agree with the writer. Once you look into it, they actually structured the contract so it’s safe for the team. It’s backloaded with a sizeable dead cap hit next year, but is structured in a way where they can cut Hargrave with a minimal dead cap hit in 2026 with proper timing. If he blows up in 2025, the Vikings can pay him the big amount in 2026, as the play would justify the cap hit. If 2025 is a dud, they can cut or trade him after 6/1 next year with a dead cap hit of a little over $6 million. I dunno, the signing looks pretty good to me. They bring in a talented player filling a major position of need on a two-year deal,a small payday in 2025 with a way out of the deal prior to paying him the big money next year.
Vikings News
From MSN, someone at PFF isn’t fond of the Javon Hargrave signing of Javon Hargrave. See the discussion above.
More rumblings linking Ryan Tannehill to the Vikings, from CBS Sports. I mentioned this over the weekend, I’d be very satisfied with Tannehill backing up and mentoring JJ McCarthy.
Yahoo Sports reports that Theo Jackson is expected to step up big in 2025.
NFL News
Trey Lance might have played his last down in the NFL, as he still hasn’t been signed, story from SI.com.
NBC Sports says it’s a ‘safe bet’ that Aaron Rodgers will land with the Steelers. We’ve all been saying that around here for weeks.
Mac Jones has signed with the 49ers, and is excited for the change of scenery, from NFL.com.
NFL.com has a story that points to Shadeur Sanders as the 2025 NFL draft’s top QB. Then you have some talking heads saying he’ll fall out of the first round.
Media Selection
This Larry Bird story is hilarious, I watched it twice yesterday. Enjoy!
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Happy Tuesday.
Kirko trying to play hardball by saying he will refuse any trade before the draft.
I thought he wanted to retire a Falcon??????
Payback is a b**ch isn’t it Kirko?
Checking to see if i’m suspicious. I’m dangerous. Warning.
You should be good for 4 years.
But you do live in a state run by Jazz Hands.
I guess me logging into this site is suspicious. Good knowing you boys. SKOL!
What’s this about?
Have no clue. Login the same always. Some shit with this site boggles my mind. They sent me a email saying so. No fucking clue.
Walz said his comments about Tesla stock he was joking. I guess when someone tapped him on the shoulder and explained MN pension funds has millions of shares in it. Guy is a idiot and pathological liar.
Yeah, how in the world did anyone see him as the Vice President of the United States?
Well he keeps getting elected governor
Minny is progressive as it gets. We have no term limit on a governor. He’s out campaigning like he can run for president in 2028. My guess he runs for governor in 2026 and wins. Spending surplus to buy votes. Hate the POS. Can you tell?
I thought he already turned the surplus into a deficit?
yes, from 17-18 billion. Tampons i guess.
I approve this message.
I feel for the good people in Minn (I still have lots of family up there).
We have been spoiled with our great Governor here in Florida. I hope to see him in the White House, in the future.
I met DeSantis a while back at a meeting about the military bases in Florida. He was very genuine, and we had some very good, direct, and frank discussions. I’m a fan.
After JDs 8 years maybe.
Well it was Cackles that picked him as her VP option.
If that guy ever wins a national election I’ll buy everyone on this site a case of beer and throw in a bottle of Buffalo Trace. What a joke.
What about those of us who don’t drink beer?
That has to be Racist against non-drinkers.
#grin
Trump is apparently holding another cabinet meeting live on TV. I’m not watching it, but I can’t remember ever seeing such a thing in my lifetime.
@so sniffer and word salad like@
He should have Melania run it so the left can freak out and ignore the fact they were cool with Jill running em.
Laughing… indeed.
Hyundai plans to invest $20 billion in the United States, including into a new steel plant in Louisiana, adding to the list of major foreign businesses set to move more of its operations to America in order to avoid tariffs.
Trump – Winning – MAGA
How many trillion of dollars in investment has Trump gotten to move in the US since he took over.
And by ‘took over’ I mean in Dec when FJB stopped pretending he was in charge.
I think the current tally is around $3.7T in new business investments since Trump announced his Tariffs plan.
Media selection is great, Larry Bird was truly a legend. I argue with my kid all the time about how great Larry was. He, unfortunately never got to watch him in his prime. He just sees an old white dude.
Birds greatest hits videos are pretty stunning. Some of it looks like CGI or AI and not real life.
Part 1
Part 2
Definite Top 10 all time. No need to even discuss.
I would say talk 5 and I didn’t even like the guy since I was a Laker fan.
But when you get to the Top 10 you are splitting hairs, all those guys are great so you can pick your flavor.
He was awesome! It was so much fun to watch the NBA during his time. The Lakers – Celtics matchups were incredible. I do miss those days of the NBA.
My golfer to watch at the Masters is Collin Morikawa. He leads the tour this year in birdies to bogies ratio. He is also in good shape with driving stats, leading the tour in “rough avoidance” off the tee.
Rory leads in total driving, but his wedge game is very sketchy. Sometimes he’s knocking flags down, and other times he’s missing greens from 100 yards. At Augusta a strong wedge game is required. Actually, to win the Masters, you need to hit the ball off the tee well, hit your approaches well, and putt well. Rory is strong driving the ball, but he’s just a bit inconsistent with the other two.
I want a 6 way tie after 72 and sudden death.
Laughing… that would be historic!
Scheffler seems off his game this year. Think he had a hand issue, not sure if he’s ailing.
Yeah, last Christmas he was making ravioli from scratch, and didn’t have a regular implement to cut dough with. He decided to use a wine glass turned upside down to cut the dough.
“I had my hand on top and it broke,” he said. “I’ve heard nothing but horror stories since this happened about wine glasses, so be careful. … It broke and the stem kind of got me in the hand.
Puncture wound from the stem. He’s healed up now, but so far has not been sharp in competition. Might just be rust though, and he could definitely win the Masters in two weeks.
Dude can’t win tournaments.
He’ll be around the top, but come up short.
You mean like most top golfers every week…
I suspect someone ranked in the top 10 world rankings will win the masters.
My point is, Morikawa hasn’t won a tournament in 3 years.
Lately, he can’t win. Doesn’t mean he won’t win, but I won’t be putting money on him to win.
Didn’t he win the ZOZO in 2023? Maybe my mind is getting old.
I think Morikawa is coming around. That’s all. He’s doing well in some things I think are important at Augusta. He is hitting the ball straighter off the tee than he has in the last three years for sure, and coupled with the other parts of his game, I think he’ll be competitive. That’s all.
Ball location always important, fairways and greens. Don’t forget Amen corner.
I agree, knowing where to miss at Augusta, and having a salient strategy to manage Amen corner are really important. Depending on the weather (April showers bring May flowers) if the course is hard and fast, there are places around the greens that are impossible to get up and down from. Course knowledge, discipline, and solid shotmaking will be needed. Remember when Zach Johnson won and he didn’t go for a single par 5 in two all week? Laid up off the tee, laid up on his approaches, and hit solid wedges to the pin placements on the greens. Those par 5’s have disaster waiting on all of them (except #8 probably). Manage the course, and manage your game, and with a little good fortune, you can be there on the back 9 on Sunday.
Think he’s got two problems. He’s a fader and the course favors a drawer of the ball. Second, no one wins at Augusta who doesn’t roll the ball well and his putting is shakey to average.
Jack Nicklaus was a fader, Tiger Woods is a fader.
Morikawa is first in strokes gained approach to the green. He is 67th in strokes gained putting, but he isn’t a terrible putter.
Who are you watching to make a move at the Masters?
And both Jack and Tiger worked for two weeks prior to the Masters hitting draws off the tee. And both Jack and Tiger were great putters, especially on fast greens.
Rory has the game to win, but he always blows it here. Scottie, although he’s not been playing well. I’d probably watch because we know the talent is there.
So you’re saying a fader can hit a draw, but Morikawa can’t win because he’s a fader? Laughing. Sorry JR, my point was two of the greatest Masters Champions in history are faders, so just because Morikawa is a fader, it doesn’t mean he can’t win the Masters.
Morikawa can putt. Every single pro on the tour can putt. Tiger? Yeah, he is off the charts when it comes to making impossible putts. Jack? He was supremely consistent over the years, but he did change putters a few times later in his career.
So I think Morikawa might surprise at the Masters this year. That’s just my view.
Well all pro golfers can hit fades and draws but they can’t always due that under pressure. Jack and Tiger are the two best golfer of all time, and played their best in pressure situations. None of these guys out there are in their class.
Take Rory with all his talent – a natural drawer of the ball. But put him on a tee in a major under the gun on a hols that requires a fade, 50/50 he hits the fairway and it can get ugly.
By the way, Jack won 14 of his majors using the same putter.
Now all pros can putt, but Scottie would have won 20 tournaments last year if he could putt half as good as Jack or Tiger
I followed Morikawa at Bay Hill. If he putts like he did there, he has no chance, in my opinion.
Correct JR.
Trying to claim someone is going to win a golf tournament two weeks out based on various stats is such a reach.
Nobody can predict the mental side.
Will a personal issue come into play that nobody even knows about?
Whats the weather going to be?
Top 20 all have the game to win it.
But way too many things besides swing stats determines the outcome of any one player.
I didn’t predict he was going to win DE. I said he was my guy to watch. Meaning, I think he’ll be in contention on Sunday. WTF is up here? I start an innocent little golf thread, talking about the Masters, and folks get into a lather and want to turn it it into a big deal? Chill out.
Well, I wasn’t in a lather. I thought we were talking a little golf. And I was merely pointing out why I thought Marikawa would have trouble at Augusta.
Just think it is nice to talk about a subject in a little detail and I thought our conversation was good.
Lots of discussions going on why it is that members of the Democrat party are not denouncing the violence in the firebombing of Tesla dealerships. The answer is quite simple: they embrace and condone this violence and will always justify it because that is the only way leftists advance their ideological agenda.
That said, they will then turn around and be the ones who will always display righteous indignation and proclaim some absurd sense of aggrieved status when someone challenges them. They will denigrate everyone else as white supremacists, domestic terrorists (like parents who protest DEI/CRT at school board meetings), and insurrectionists. I’m none of the above, in case you were wondering, BTW.
It’s a bullying complex, that we just have to call out for what it is. Lawlessness. Then we have to arrest, and actively prosecute the perpetrators. Violence is not allowed under our laws. Time to go to jail… do not pass go… do not collect $200.
Testing X/twitter embed by just dropping in the copy share link and not changing it from ‘x.com’ to ‘twitter.com’…
It works… no one needs to change the X/tweet share links from x.com to twitter.com anymore.
thanks for the help, cyber guy
They prefer Skynet
…or Hal…
Yay!
Up vote! Thanks for the help
Speed kills. I could see him, JJ and Addison split wide right with stellar play from O-line.
I suspect if JJ does well this year. heck, even mediocre, there will be lots of interest in Josh Mccown around the league…
I’d love for the team to figure out how to keep some of these young, upcoming coordinators….
I would like to see McCown become the OC and let Wes go. Let Josh call the plays and KOC can head coach.
I agree with this and i HOPE they do this. gotta keep some of the young talent.
that is if he doesn’t get head coaching offers next year.
Seen lots of clickbait saying we trade out of the 1st. Maybe we have 1 or 2 players targeted if on board at 24. If not highly possible.
Well certainly we have to have a trade partner to trade down with, but it’s not a bad idea in my opinion.
i’d be surprised if we don’t trade down, but like you said, someone has to want to make that trade with us.
drafts with kwesi always make me a little nervous
If I were Kwesi, I would not look for a trade, but if someone came to me looking to trade, I would do my best to fleece them.
Hopefully a blue chip falls to us, otherwise a trade back makes sense.
So, we have lots of rhetoric being thrown around by the left, about how bad our country is, how bad our President is, and how they are better suited to run the country than anyone else. With this said, other than brute military force, the only way to overthrow a country is by convincing the populace that the status quo is not serving their needs adequately.
If you’re looking to understand the various types of government, here are the key categories:
It’s very important that Americans understand these different types of Government, because most make no sense for the populace of a country.
All the left has left is to be loud, misrepresentation and hope that the American Voting Public is stupid.
Payed woke Judges can only slow things down for so long.
Where does fascism fit? Or is there a synonym for it there?
MAGA, that’s your synonym.
Fascism is an ideology, not a form of Government. Fascism is labeled by political scholars as a far-right, authoritarian, and ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Most folks label conservative politicians or voters who espouse American values as fascists because they interpret the definition of fascism (if they even know it) in a very limited manner. Mostly if you’re right on the political spectrum, you’re a fascist.
Communism is Socialism in a hurry.
Democracy is Socialism taking it’s time.
All 3 forms are bad for individual rights.
I disagree with the conclusion, especially if you have a Constitution that features a strong bill of rights. Our core tenet in our Democratic Republic is liberty and justice for all. That is backed up by our Bill of Rights. That is not bad for individuals, as far as I’m concerned.
Pure Democracy is not good, mob rule.
I have no problem with Surly’s post.
We have none of the forms of government that it mentioned.
We actually do SoCal. Our current form of Government is as a Republic. A form of democracy where representatives are elected to make decisions on behalf of the citizens.
The argument that no form of Government is “good” is kind of misleading. Of the 10 types of Government listed, most take away rights and freedoms at their core.
Democracy being labeled as mob rule, eliminates the actual structure of a Government from the equation.
Masters 2 weeks from Thursday NVF. Just a reminder, sure you are unaware of it.
Laughing… oh yeah… I’m totally unaware! Grin.
Thank you Norseman… should be a fun watch.
My favorite. Nice bridge till the draft.
I think we are currently living in a judicial republic.
Yeah, we have judicial appointees who are unelected, currently wanting to run the country, and destroy their political opponents.
And they are the ones who get to decide if they are overstepping their authority. Makes total sense. There is no way the Supreme Court is going to take power from themselves.
Congress can impeach a judge. Balance of power among the three branches.
Which would take 60 votes and no Dem senator is going to vote to impeach a liberal judge that is standing in Trump’s way.
Partisan politics is destroying this country. If it’s the right thing to do vote against it because i don’t identify to your party.
I do think it is important that if a judge is going to be impeached, Congress should be more or less united on the issue. I would want Democrats to stand up for what is right, and just, not be partisans who are only acting politically.
I know this is completely idealistic though.
A Democratic Republic is not a Pure Democracy.
Pure Democracy is less good.
Nice statement. Why is “pure democracy” less good?
If we had pure democracy that would eliminate the electoral collage. How would that have worked out over the past.
Vote buying would be the norm, and it would encourage ‘popular’ over smart.
Flyover states would have no representation nationally.
I’d say that is “impure democracy” though.
It’s also somewhat impractical democracy with over 140 million voters spread out over our 50 states. Electing our representatives must have practicality applied. We still have majority rule across our states, and it is also present in the House and the Senate do we not?
‘Electing our representatives must have practicality applied. We still have majority rule across our states, and is also present in the House and the Senate do we not?’
And that is the Republic part of Democratic Republic, all that would be eliminated in a Pure Democracy.
It’s not that a pure democracy is “less good” it’s that it is impractical for a Nation State of our size. That’s what I was trying to say, and I guess I mucked it up.
‘Impractical’ is part of the reason it is ‘less good’. There are other reasons like those ‘representatives’ would not be present in a Pure Democracy.
Pure or Direct Democracy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy
Do I need to read this? I mean I’m 70 years old with a lot of education…
I would not think so but you keep saying that a Pure Democracy is good (but maybe impractical) so maybe you do.
Well, I just asked about your statement, on why a pure democracy is “less good”. A pure democracy works fine, if practical limits are not exceeded.
I was just wondering what your perspective was.
A Pure Democracy only ‘works fine’ if you prefer what is popular vs what is smart or if you have enough money to buy enough votes to get your way.
In a Pure Democracy we would be ruled by the coasts, ie Calif and New York.
Well smart and popular are not mutually exclusive, so your first point is moot. Also, once you contaminate the purity of democracy with outside forces such as buying votes, it’s no longer pure. Wouldn’t you agree?
Also, to your last point, Trump won the popular vote across the country, so no, in a pure democracy we wouldn’t necessarily be ruled by the coasts… but likely.
Looks like we have to agree to disagree.
Cool
My point by my response, is that we are not technically a Democracy.
Democracy <> Representative Republic.
Either way, does not matter. Since over 100 years ago individual rights are being methodically stomped in the name of progress.
Country is doomed, and I am ready for the Lizard People overlords to take over or just hit reset on the whole thing.
Bring on the rapture! My father in law told me the end of the world will be obvious Easter 2026.
First time in a number of years where I haven’t been out of the March Madness Office Pool after the first weekend.
I still have all my Elite Eight.
Lots of people doing pretty well, though. Did not seem like a ton of upsets through these first rounds.
I can win if Auburn, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee go to the Final Four, the championship is between Auburn and Alabama and Auburn wins…
Yeah, if you stuck with the higher seeds, you’re probably doing well. I think the NIL thing is going to really hurt the mid major conferences. As soon as the stars from mid major teams get noticed in the tournament, power 5 teams will start poaching.
If the Refs keep favoring the 1 seeds like the UConn Coach says that they are you should have a decent chance.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/uconn-coach-dan-hurley-gives-explicit-warning-baylor-about-refs-following-loss-florida
How about that Gable Stevenson match this weekend? First time allowing a take down all year. Bummer for him but congrats to the other guy and props to his after match actions.
Looking at the list of unsigned QBs, Trey Lance, Joe Flacco, Carson Wentz, Drew Lock, C.J. Beathard, Case Keenum, Easton Stick, Tannehill. The Douche, and R. Wilson.
The Douche and R. Wilson are too pricy even if they were a decent fit, and they aren’t. In order, Flacco, Tannehill and Keenum are older and could possibly work out as mentors/insurance (Keenum barely).
Lance, Wentz, Lock, Beathard, and Stick I don’t know much (some almost nothing) about but if they are all still unsigned and KOC doesn’t seem interested in trying to sign and fix them they must really be bad.
I think Flacco is probably the best of the bunch, but that’s just my personal opinion. One thing Flacco can do very well is hit the deep routes.
Agreed.
Lance and Wentz seem like Sam clones, high draft choices that have physical tools but due to injuries, slow processor, trauma, whatever could not make it work. If KOC doesn’t believe he can ‘fix’ them they must be very broken.
i think our goal should be get the best mentor for JJMac we can. That means our list is down to 2 guys: Flacci and Tannehill
Likely.
I just looked at our cap hits on Over The Cap, and the top 5 players from a cap hit perspective total $92,535,832. That works out to 33.1% of the total cap amount of $279.2M.
i’m trying to figure out how to say this. at 92,535,832, i bet that we are top 5 in the league for least amount of cap on their top 5 cap hits….
if that makes sense?
Maybe. Dunno. Not gonna research it though… grin.
What was the point of your original post? just a purely factual statement? do you think that’s ALOT for 5 players? not alot? etc etc…
one player we will need to really be watching this year is Hock, his next 2 years cap hits are insanely high for someone who isn’t playing up to their contract amount…
granted, i think he’ll be a very good safety blanket for baby goat
Oh, I was just curious about what the top of the salary cap looked like for the Vikings. I decided to share what I found. Your comment that maybe that’s not a big number compared to other teams, may be correct. Several teams have high priced QB’s and a few other high priced players. Might be a norm. Dunno.
I just pushed it out there to see what others thought really.
i know alot of people are complaining that we are over the cap for next year.
but 2026 has harrison smith at 26mill cap hit which obviously will not happen and also aaron jones at 12 mill which won’t happen and brian oneil at 23 mill (i have to think he will get re-signed) and hock at 21 mill which i can’t see being a possibility if he doesn’t go off this year
Oh the Vikings have a lot of paths to fiscal solvency next year for sure.
yep 100%. why people act like they have no idea what they are doing, or as if they will head into next year in the red is beyond me.
Here?
I have not seem anyone panic here, it was brought up and discussed briefly. I didn’t even see any complaining.
Some people here still think Kwesi is a horrible GM and the Vikings should have hired Harbaugh.
Harbaugh was considered for GM?
Doubt Kwesi had that in mind. Coach. They overlapped with 9ers.
Happy Monday Skolios,
I would not be upset if the Vikings went and got Tannehill. If he had to step in he could win a few games. He also would not be in competition with JJ for the starting spot.
I think this is a salient take. Same with Flacco. Two guys who McCarthy could lean on and learn from. Other than RGIII I don’t see much else out there.
It is pretty sparse at this point. I’d like to see someone somewhat usable. JJ is still a rookie who wrecked his knee falling down until he proves otherwise.
McCarthy is maybe the best “setup” young QB in the league. He’s in an offense with great players at the skill positions, and the offense is in its 4th year now. It’s fully mature, and the players around him can actually help him on the field. They know their sets, they know their route combinations, they know their assignments. They aren’t learning another new system. That helps McCarthy. All he has to worry about is where to throw the ball.
GM!
FTP!
SKOL!
Rec for being first Surly!
FTP
SKOL
Fuck the Dems
FTP Auto Rec.
Good morning, SKOL!
FTP!