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Vikings Discussion & Random Thoughts
The combine is over, now it’s time for teams to complete the harvest once the draft arrives.
The franchise tag deadline arrives at 3 pm central time tomorrow. Until then, expect clickbait headline after clickbait headline. I’ve seen rumors all over the spectrum of possibilities for the Vikings when it comes to Sam Darnold & the Vikings quarterback position.
The most believable rumor I’ve seen is that the Raiders are to be a dance partner with the Vikings in a tag and trade for Sam Darnold. Vegas seems like the most likely landing spot to me. Darnold and Carroll have the USC connection, the Raiders have an abundance of picks to use, and Darnold is a west coast guy so I see a team in that area being more attractive to him. With the Rams out of the picture, the other teams most likely interested in Darnold are the Titans and Giants. The Titans have the number one pick, which they can use on Sanders if they want to go QB. I don’t see the Giants as an attractive spot for Sam, as he’s likely had his fill of New York after his horrible experience with the Jets.
In a bit of personal news, kiddo and I made a batch of seafood gumbo last night, & it was friggin’ amazing. We’re gonna make a batch of this for one night of our annual NFL draft party this year. Here are a couple pics
Vikings News
The Purple FTW podcast looks at the Darnold/Raiders tag & trade rumor.
The Strib thinks the Vikings may target a RB in the first round. I certainly hope not, unless they fill their other major needs via FA prior to the draft.
NFL News
NFL key upcoming dates for offseason moves, courtesy of Fox Sports.
From the Strib, Gophers CB Walley (not walleye) showed off his wheels (not his fins) at the combine.
Yahoo Sports provides updates and a recap from the NFL combine.
CBS Sports looks at one thing they learned from every team at the NFL Scouting Combine.
The Jets are expected to release Davante Adams if they can’t work out a trade, per NFL.com. That team has made some really dumb moves over the past couple/few years. Spend big one year, dump everyone the next year, a vicious recurring cycle for them.
The 49ers traded Deebo Samuel to the Commanders for a fifth-round pick, per NFL.com. The trade will become official when the new league year starts on March 12.
Media Selection
This is a really interesting interview, enjoy!
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The Vikings should have a third round compensatory pick coming, according to OTC.
Thank you KC.
Thank you Falcons….again.
A more accurate take.
Minny House has rejected a bill that would have banned trans from women’s sports. Walz and this radical left sicken me. Fuckem.
Senate Democruds blocked the same thing today.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-bid-prevent-boys-from-playing-girls-sports-gets-stuck-filibuster
You might have to move over here to North Dakota
Poopeaters are letting CB Darius Slay go.
6 time Pro Bowler is 34 and wants to play one more season with a contender.
Match him up with The Hitman and Stephon Gilmore and we could have the oldest defensive backfield in history.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/eagles-releasing-6-time-pro-bowl-corner-darius-slay-create-cap-space-report
Saw some conflicting reports about Darnold today, so knew I could come here to understand the truth. Looks like Vikings are doing him a solid to go see if he can get starter money somewhere.
Hi Kathy… I’d say the Vikings aren’t doing him a solid. This is just business. They simply don’t want to pay him the market rate. They’re cutting him loose. Maybe no one picks him up, and KAM offers him a lowball contract. Dunno.
Thanks for the response. It certainly does seem Vikings don’t want to give him a mega, fully guaranteed deal.
Yes, letting him hit the free market is doing him a big favor. He’ll get paid big time, and he gets to choose whatever team he wants to go to.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
My guess is Raiders, either via trade or free agency.
Blast from the past
Trump will be meeting with the media to announce a $100B chip manufacturing deal with Taiwan. I doubt he will make the announcement and then walk away, like Biden did. Likely he will take a lot of questions. Seems he is having a press conference every single day.
He has a lot of energy, for sure. Maybe there’s something to the no alcohol thing.
And McDonald’s.
Oh yeah! Damnit, no McDonald’s within 50 miles of me.
Surely Gougers can afford the Door Dash for that distance.
Heck send a drone.
I’m sure I’ve grumbled about it before, I cannot understand the existence of either DoorDash or the concierge shopping at the big box stores. I also favor self checkout in the grocery store.
My daughter gave me a gift card from Door Dash. I have never used it.
Only deliveries I have gotten are gifts sent from friends and family. I don’t need to worry about an upset driver playing with me food because I didn’t tip them as much as they felt they deserve.
That is the silliest thing I have ever heard, I have 2 or 3 drinks a day and I have way more energy than Donald Trump!
I don’t drink at all and I don’t have Trumps energy.
I also have no idea what that fact adds to the discussion.
Peaceful drive today
Empty road. Nice.
Watch for speed traps.
Why did they build a road in the middle of nowhere?
I assume it gets to somewhere eventually.
A lot of the west is like that.
To get away
This^^^
Southwest ND??
or
Northwest ND?
Does the “no texting” rule apply on a road like that?
Slightly southwest of central.
No
From the NY Post Tim Walz says he may run for president in 2028.
Tim Walz says he may run for president in 2028
LOL. Not to be disrespectful but is there something in the water up in the NorthStar state?
That would be fun to watch.
Doubt even the Ds are dumb enough to nominate him.
Tampon Tim has no chance. He sealed his fate with his woke politics. America would laugh him off the stage.
As the article says, they love him in the land of 10,000 lakes, longest serving executive in state history.
But that won’t get him elected nationally.
Just like Commifornia won’t get NewScum elected.
Much more is needed.
I think someone said that when a Minnesotan is the VP on the presidential ticket, they have a flawless record. Maybe the same will hold true for a presidential candidate, just look at Mondale – oh.
As the article says, they love him in the Metro/Duluth area
land of 10,000 lakes, longest serving executive in state history.FIFY
Yes there is.
Minnesota nice loves democruds.
Always have. Always will.
in our local water (ice) there are dead geese…
The new heart for the Riviera is almost ready. Just needs a fuel pump and pulleys and it’s engine swap time.
Is that a 6 or an 8?
8. It’s a buick 455 bored out to 464.
Nice.
The gas this thing will use and the emissions it will put out will be epic.
Edelbrock Hi-Rise manifold, obviously a high lift cam with those valve covers, and a big carburetor. Gonna be one powerful power plant there.
Going in a car the size of a Riviera the goal was more torque than HP. Should be over 400 HP and close to 550 ft lbs.
Great. Love that! When I was in my early 20’s I built out a Z-28 with an LT1 350, to garner over 700 HP. Used to say it would pass anything but a gas station… grin.
That sounds like a sweet engine and car. Cam selection was tricky for me. As one guy told me, “with that displacement you can easily pick a cam to get 600 HP at 6000 rpm, but in a car that size it will take half a mile to get there because you sacrifice low end torque for high end HP.”
Yep. Sound reasoning. I had a 513 rear, it would get me going quick.
Wow. I bet. Rivieras have an odd ball rear and they don’t make aftermarket gears for them so I’m stuck with the 3.24 gears.
I was going to say, wouldn’t it be easier to change gears, but I guess not. Sweet engine.
It is 9:30 a.m., and I am eating mashed potatoes, beans and ribs.
Life is good.
Nice. Had scrambled eggs and pancakes with sausage patties this morning.
In a perfect world, I’d eat two meals a day. One around 10 a.m. and the other around 5 p.m. (Snacking allowed, though).
I eat one meal per day.
Snacks in the evening.
If I eat more than one meal per day, I gain weight rapidly.
I had bran flakes with a little bit of frosted flakes sprinkled on the top.
I eat Grape Nuts pretty often. I must admit, I sweeten them with Splenda though.
Eww X2.
9th circuit just struck down the Arizona law requiring proof of U.S. Citizenship to vote they passed in 2022. The court insists this is “voter suppression”. Supreme Court here we come. I’m 70 years old, and the other day I was carded at the grocery store, buying wine. If I have to show an ID to buy wine, why is it voter suppression to require an ID to vote?
Same here in St Pete. I’m 69 and it’s Walgreens policy to card everybody. If you can produce an id to buy booze don’t think it too much to ask to provide id to vote. Sheesh!
Woke Logic is not logical.
Ridiculous. Need to find a way to get rid of these lefty judges. 100 lawsuits already trying to slow down Trump.
Sam will not be tagged and traded.
KOC at the combine:
“Sam has earned the right to test free agency”
One would think the Vikings have explored the potential for tagging and trading him, and determined he has no trade value.
I wouldn’t say he has NO trade value.
I would say that if you can’t get better than a 3rd round pick, there is no benefit to trade.
I kinda think with just four picks, if we could get anything at all for Darnold, I would do it.
Yeah. I can see that logic.
But I assume with the loss of a FA, the Vikings could add a net comp pick in 2026.
Makes sense. Hope so.
If they find a dance partner, they’ll get a deal done
For those of you who want some method of determining what values are assigned to any draft pick trades, here is a chart I found.
https://www.drafttek.com/nfl-trade-value-chart.asp
I think if the Rams were looking for someone in particular, we could possibly move back 2 spots and get there 100 pick, which wouldn’t be bad.
Yes, that would be a good deal.
The way the Jets run their team makes me think that their ownership and management spend all day reading comments on football blogs.
I honestly thought that Saleh was a great hire, and he would get the Jets back to being a contender.
He was a good hire, that’s just a really shittily run team
Here we go again. Zelensky says he’s ready to sign the rare earth minerals deal now, for the fourth time. Trump is meeting with advisors to discuss stopping aid to Ukraine. Zelensky is trying to keep the American dollars flowing, so he holds the carrot out there once again. Trump is holding all the cards though. Zelensky has manipulated our Congress and the former President to keep giving him money, even though he can’t say where it’s all going.
Luckily our current President knows what he’s doing.
Yes. There is a new leader in the White House who is not feeble minded and doesn’t shit his pants. Zelensky hasn’t figured that out yet.
Even Joe Biden had an angry meeting with Zelensky because he wasn’t thankful. The media conveniently ignores that.
Back to …Russia, Russia, Russia !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zelensky knows the jig is up, the US will no longer be finding “accounting errors” in order to keep funneling money to Ukraine.
trump won’t play games anymore. and i love that
No, no, no, Trump is a Putin puppet.
Zelenski has always been for signing the mineral deal, that I can find, he just wants security guarantees to go with it.
The Euros have put together a deal where they put boots on the ground in Ukraine for security but that would make it harder to get a deal with the Russians as that makes it a Russia/NATO issue.
Still working it all out, it’s going to be interesting.
Zelensky has been trying to use the agreement to garner our support politically to get into NATO, get Europe and the U.S. to defend Ukraine against foreign aggression, and other demands. He wants the world to feel sorry for Ukraine as the “good guy” victim here, when in fact, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. They have been denied entry into NATO for decades, for a reason. Now Zelensky is beating this victim drum, to try and get the world to actually facilitate this immense corruption.
All of that does not make Russia the good guy.
They attacked and are trying to get the Soviet Russia back.
Of course Ukraine is trying to get the best deal that they can, and they are corrupt, both are true.
Nobody said Russia was the good guy. That is what the left is trying to say about Trump. That he supports the “bad guy” Russians. My point is that Ukraine is NOT a good guy, and there were reasons beyond just Putin wanting to re-establish the Soviet Union, that caused the war. Most Americans are completely ignorant of this.
There were lots of reasons that Russia attacked. That was part of it, there are always lots of parts.
Russia was at negative population growth, this war certainly didn’t help with that either.
Can Ukraine outlast Russia of The Euros and US keep propping them up? How long before Ukraine falls if they stop? What does Europe look like after all of this??
Russia can, and will ultimately prevail in Ukraine, unless the U.S. and NATO intervene militarily. Zelensky knows this, which is why he is trying to draw the U.S. and Europe into the fray “for their own good”. Ukraine has always been a buffer Nation, separating Russia from Europe. That is the card Zelensky has. Europe wants Ukraine to be that buffer country, and it’s in their best interests to get Russia out of Ukraine. Zelensky wants NATO and the U.S. to come into the war, and defeat Russia. That’s where Trump’s WWIII commentary comes from. Zelensky doesn’t want peace. He wants war on Russia.
‘He wants war on Russia’
Of course he does.
Russia will always be a threat to Ukraine and Eastern Europe always has been.
Yep, he wants WWIII.
Amen.
Finally, it is Mock Draft season!
Do the Vikings trade out of the first round to garner a couple more picks? What is the #24 pick worth?
Maybe get a later first and a third and a future…possibly two seconds?
I am borderline draft illiterate, which is why I enjoy mock drafts. I don’t know college players, so I like to see where my picks eventually end up.
Like I always took Karlaftis as my first pick the year he came out. He seems to be doing pretty well on the Chiefs.
Meanwhile, Vikes to Cine that year.
Ergo, I am a superior drafter than Kwesi!
Well, there’s always a potential for a guy falling in the draft, and one of the 8 teams below us, decide to move up a few spots to get him. You never know.
That didn’t stop Slick from acquiring 7th rounders.
I can’t believe he was GM for like infinity years.
Wilfs are a bit too loyal…or lazy, maybe, when it comes to change.
Hey GF, share the recipe!
Good morning, SKOL!
FTP!
Hey GF, the seafood gumbo looks great!
According to this list, the Vikings have 25 free agents to sign or release by 10 March, if I’m not mistaken.
yeah, it’s going to be fun the next week or so, seeing what all we do…
Ahhh, remember the days when Rick was in control and we did nothing the first round of free agency, but waited and waited until too late?
i wish there was a way to know you’re in the good ol days before you’ve actually left them
The great “quantity over quality” era.
Happy Monday,
First.
FTP
FTL
FTS
FT*
Hurry up and tag and trade Darnold, Kwesi!
First auto-Rec!
GM!
FTP!
SKOL!
my guess is we get a good idea by tomorrow afternoon. If they tag Sam, I think it means they have something in the works, and fairly firm. If they don’t tag him, it will confirm everything was just rumor