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Vikings Discussion & Random Thoughts
We’re halfway through the week, and this week is going WAY too fast. Time needs to slow down, I’m not ready to leave Florida, and our tickets say we have to leave on Friday. I’d rather stay until May or so. Dang it.
I’m not a fan of trading Jonathan Greenard, as he was the Vikings’ best defensive player last year. I understand the move, as it’s a position where the Vikings are deep, with Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner both on the roster. Le sigh, I guess it’s the business side of the game. It’s a crappy time to sell, there are a LOT of free agent edge rushers and the draft is deep at the position. That’s how it usually goes with the Vikings: when we’re deep at a position, so is every other team. When we’re desperate at a position, no players are available.
Vikings and NFL News
USA Today looks at potential destinations for Jonathan Greenard, should the Vikings decide to trade him.
Yahoo Sports chimes in with three potential landing spots for Greenard.
Vikings.com looks at standout performances from the combine, and a ranked list of free agent quarterbacks.
The NY Times has quarterback predictions for every NFL team.
Von Miller does not plan to retire yet, per NFL.com.
Media Selection
Great conversation between A.J. Gentile (of the Why Files) and Shawn Ryan.
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Nice night
Lou Holtz dead at 89
RIP
I know this isn’t exact, but I love his saying:
He was fun back in the day.
Except when he got out of his contract in Minn to go to Notre Dame.
To the question “why would a team trade for someone, they know is going to get cut?” If you trade for them you do not have to take the chance of another team offering a better deal.
Correct.
They pay a higher price to make the trade to preempt the bidding for a higher contract.
We’re seeing trades and movement on NFL rosters as teams start shaping things up for the start of the new year. There is one week left for the Vikings to get into compliance with the cap. Some folks think they will eschew restructuring players in favor of simply shedding contracts. The strategy will be getting clearer very soon.
They’ll restructure Hock, extend the potato, cut Kelly, restructure Jefferson, cut Jones and hargrave, and probably trade greenard, doing so would result in around 30 mill in cap space to play with, but leave them with a couple holes to fill, they have players ready to take over for hargrave, greenard, and jones but will need to acquire depth at those positions to back fill for Redmond, turner, and Mason.
They’ll straight up need to find a starting center though, there are some good FAs available, namely Linderbaum, McGovern, biadasz but they won’t come cheap.
They’ll also most likely need to replace Harrison Smith, or allocate a decent amount of cap space should he come back, I don’t think they have anyone on the roster capable of replacing him, the defense was completely different without him early in the season, so I’m guessing they’d look FA to replace him and draft someone as well.
They could also use another CB, most likely that’ll come through the draft.
They’ll also need a WR3 as Nailor is all but gone with reports of him likely getting 12-15 mil per season. They drafted Felton in the 3nd round last year but he is a question mark as he couldn’t get on the field, maybe he has a KJ Osborn type breakout but I doubt it. Speaking of which, I bet they could bring back Osborn cheap.
Impressive take there Ben.
Pervs
Hookers put in a drive-thru?
Yep, a system based on efficiency.
I skipped all of the underwear Olympics / NFL combine.
I did watch 1 hockey game after the winter Olympics since that looked fun.
Other than that, I am watching Survivor (Wife and I have never missed that show) and waiting for March Madness.
Not watching the draft this year either. I will read about all the Vikings mistakes the next day.
Apathetic Viking is my new moniker until this team improves.
I have watched every draft since middle school. I will probably not be watching this year. Very apathetic toward all sports but hockey right now. It’s a weird feeling.
The Wild game last night was pretty good. Next up I think they play the Stars and Avs which should be a couple good games.
Hate how much they gave up in their trade last night though.
Hopefully BG can get a top C but not throw away the farm.
Did seem a lot for McCarron, a fourth line center, he wins faceoffs and is gritty but offers little in the way of offense, but big dick bill just put together the first Olympic team since 1980 to win gold so maybe he knows better than us armchair GMs. Hughes was obviously a big move that so far is a win, so long as he signs an extension it will stay that way. Also, the playoff format is total ass and the owners need to change it because bettman won’t, he sucks.
Amen. BG says he’s not done yet, so we’ll see.
The playoffs will be a dog fight. Need goaltending to get hot again at the right time.
Yeah, Gus has been steady and good recently, that Jasper guy has been more erratic and leaky recently.
Having the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the conference play in the first round is just dumb, though the wild would eventually face the avs or stars at some point anyway. Also, fuck norm green.
For sure
We’re entering an “up” year on the bi-annual up and down cycle, things should go better than expected…..until the end, of course.
How do the Rams do this?
Couple years back, they wanted a QB so got Stafford. They wanted a LB so got Von Miller. A defensive back, went and got Ramsey.
They seem to have figured something out right.
And I believe I read on this site they haven’t had a number one draft pick in five years. If so, they’ve got their act together.
they know how to draft well so they can fill the team with good players, and then go get a great player when they need.
McVay is pretty good. He’ll squeeze everything out of Stafford and then get Burrow is my theory.
Well, we’ve got a bunch of good players, but no QB.
Rams had a QB that took them to the SB – a very good one. Still, they go out and get an even better one.
Us, we got no QB and are looking over the cast offs to find one.
Maybe we should shoot a little higher and go get Burrow.
I could live with that.
It helps to start with a QB that took your team to the SB, so you can trade him for a crap ton of picks and a “washed” aging QB that can’t do anything with the team he is on.
Dang this will effect my Mock Drafts as I often trade back to the Lambs at #29 and pick up an extra pick, #61 usually.
Will have to see how the site changes the offers I get, they already show the Chefs at #29.
I don’t remember if I mentioned this…
I bantered with a Seahawks fan a bit for a couple years on X. His constant refrain during that time was that they MUST move on from Geno to compete for a Super Bowl again. They moved on. Instant Super Bowl.
I told him the Vikes were maybe looking at Geno.
His response: “LOL”
Geno sucks, always has
Yep.
Waste of time.
I have seen a number of pundits with “Geno is the perfect fit for the Vikings” articles, and all I can think of is my Seahawks X contact screaming into the void for years about moving on from him.
^this^
I would die inside. Darnold for Geno. FML.
That’s worse than watching Old Yeller.
I’ve never seen it but I’ve heard it has a killer ending
Yeah, Gino Smith to Seahawks fans is Kirko to Vikings/ATL/Redskins fans,
At least they are the same to people that value championships over stats.
One name is not on the list….
Pickett, Garoppolo, and Minshew seem like half decent low end options that we have not heard much about. Probably because those names don’t generate enough ‘clicks’.
Hopefully the New, Temporary, Braintrust is doing it’s due diligence.
It’s funny because Kirk is almost certainly better than most of those people on the list. Wilson, Murray, Garropolo, Flacco, Z. Wilson, Mariotta, Pickett, and Trubisky to name them, and Minshew and Willis are ?’s.
Agree Kirko is better than a lot of those guys.
I would take a flyer on someone young with exp just to have a viable backup for when JJ gets injured again.
Other than that, bleh.
I guess I would see Willis and Z.Wilson as backup options, and you are not getting willis.
I hope they have a ‘strong interest’ is staying away from him if all the reports on him are true.
I realize that they might not be but all that smoke is generally an indication a good sized fire.
He would be a terrible fit for KOC’s offense.
The US is going to end up dropping a bomb from a biplane just to flex on Iran by the end of the week.
Ugh. Faces of death. War porn.
I hope they find a way to keep Wilson.
He was pretty good.
Wilson would be a good ‘keep’.
Bring him back
Why didn’t they keep him the first time he played for them?
He wasn’t as good then?
Or they didn’t think he was or wasn’t given the chance to show he was as good??
I remember him playing well, then them letting him leave in FA, I could be wrong though
They believed at the time that the ‘juice wasn’t worth the squeeze’??
We couldn’t afford him due to a QB who shall only be named on Tuesday.
Yeah, we are paying Jefferson $39 million this year, why aren’t we blaming him for these retention issues? Guy barely put up 1,000 yards last year and only 2 TD’s. Not worth it when we don’t have a QB (though we can’t blame the QB, Kirk wasn’t allowed O-line excuses).
It’s always someone getting paid. You can keep blaming it on one player or another, but they’re always going to pay a couple players the big bucks.
What does everyone think of Malik Willis? Small sample size, but has played well filling in the last couple years. Long-term option if he’s figured out QB play in the NFL?
My concern is the market will have his price way too high, given his play the last couple years. Is he a Matt Flynn, or just a young guy who hasn’t been given a big enough chance to prove himself as a starter now that he’s had a couple years under his belt?
I’ve been seeing the internet trolls claim $35 million per year.
I wouldn’t spend that amount on him.
He is unproven.
Yikes. I would do 20, but that ($35 million) is a big gamble.
I even think $20 million is too steep for an unproven QB.
Agree, but there’s a lot of ‘needy’ teams and someone will.
Yeah, you gotta pay him something. Can’t give him a low-ball offer if you truly want him on your team. $20 million for a year or two to see what you have (like a prove-it Darnold deal, though more competition now) wouldn’t break the bank with JJ on his rookie deal.
I don’t think he is worth the money he will probably get.
And probably just me, but because a guy fills in OK may have little to do with performance as a full time starter.
I lean slightly positive toward Malik. The only part I don’t like is that one has to overpay to see, and then one is kind of stuck with him.
But I actually like him better than, say, Geno Smith or something.
I think he’d do great on the Packers.
I like how he has played.
I do not like the contract he will demand.
I’d rather have KOC pick a QB in the third round, pick up a cheap cast off emergency QB, say goodbye to Brosmer.
JJ/Vet/draftee
He played ok starting a couple games with the packers, he sucked ass when he played for Tennessee. No way he’s worth what is being reported, hard pass.
He was a rookie/2nd year player with Tennessee, right? Don’t you think he might have gotten better? I think he’s the organization’s best chance at a reclamation project like Darnold (for long-term potential if he’s actually good now).
something like that, I would not pay over 10 mil for a completely unproven player at the most important position with all of like 100 pass attempts in his career. If looking for a reclamation project, I would prefer Richardson, much higher ceiling and much cheaper.
This will be my last Hump day collage for a while. I am having neck surgery next Tuesday. So, if you don’t hear from me by July, I either didn’t make it out of surgery or the doctor cut something he was not supposed to and I am a quadrapeligic.
Good Luck, remember modern medicine is a marvel, we will pray for you.
There’s always speech to text.
Suck it up buttercup
I hope the procedure goes well.
Good luck and hope you have a great doctor.
Prayers for the procedure!
I will miss the collage and wait eagerly for your return.
I’m not sending any good or bad wishes your way as of the last 20 or so scans I have read at least half have had badness…some very bad badness. So I don’t want my dark cloud to spread over you.
No wonder you’ve been so grumpy lately.
I read about 50 cross sectional scans a day so this is a today thing. I’m grumpy because the Vikings coaches and management completely f’d up the QB situation and now to save their jobs we’re going to see them set up the team to fail for years to come, instead of ripping off the bandaid now to take it down to the studs.
Accurate post.
Well said.
JJ will be fine. If they panic and move on now, then we’ll just get to see another former Vikings win a SB. Patience.
The more bumper stickers it has, the deeper the camouflage.
The CoExist bumper sticker alone would do that.
I wonder if they have COEXIST bumper stickers?
Hock likely back at reduced rate but we’ll see
I’m fine with him staying as long as they reduce his cap hit.
Reduce rate or just pushed into the future?
At least he appears willing to at least discuss it.
He is not great. Cut him IMO.
That’s how I lean.
CUT HIM!
The only ones on this blog that I have met in person are Brad and his son Eli. Therefore, going forward, until proven otherwise, I will just assume that the rest of you are poorly programed AI.
I assume you are poorly programmed AI since you can’t spell programmed correctly.
Definitely a Russian bot. Probably going to start sharing posts about Iran sinking US ships or the crappy video game footage the Chinese showed of a US carpet being “sunk”.
Yeah, he’ll probably post previously unseen footage of the sinking of the Lusitania by the Germans from over 100 years ago
Spell checker was ok with 1 m. Maybe I’m poorly programmed English AI
This is objectively hilarious.
All your base are belong to us.
Now I want to go play an 8-bit game…
Not AI. Johnny 5 is alive!!
I am not AI.
However, this is how I feel most days.
GM!
FTP!
SKOL!
Happy Hump Day!
FTP Auto Rec.
I thought I read Greenard wants a marketed adjusted rate of $19 million, and that is why the Vikes are moving on.
Went for a nice 5 am run today. Always feel so good after. Starting kind of sucks, though…
Eli and I ran a few miles on the beach a couple mornings ago, it was awesome. Went for a nice long walk last night, we’ll probably run again today, but we might lift weights instead.
Running on sand is a workout, I forgot how much harder it is to run on sand (it’s actually softer, which makes it harder).
Sand is harder because it’s softer. Make sense now? Pavement is harder than sand, therefore sand is harder than pavement.
Exactly
Stated correctly and every runner understands.
The beach is particularly nice when it’s hot and the cool ocean mist from the wave breaks is hitting you.
I love the sound of the ocean, plus running on sand is much easier on the joints.
I tried a route in town this morning. I should probably do it more often. It is a six mile route and two miles are uphill at a fairly steep grade. I reckon doing that route regularly would benefit me quickly.
Training in hills is a huge benefit when it comes to improving your time. Also do intervals occasionally (jog 100 yards, run 100 yards, sprint 100 yards- repeat this over and over for 2 miles). When I ran a lot, I did intervals at least twice a month, great way to increase your race pace.
I will start grinding a bit harder as the weather warms up. I want to set a new 5K PR this year. I missed it last year.
But I did set a new 10K PR, so that made up for it.
Yeah he makes 19 mil next year in cash, he wants a raise
Can’t be true. Kirk Cousins is the only person in the NFL that is greedy and wants more money.
Nobody has every said that.
Greenard can only dream about being the 4th, likely the 3rd highest paid NFL player of ALL TIME.
Haha I get it, I am just stirring the pot on a slow day. But honestly, everyone here would want as much money as possible, so I can’t blame anyone for negotiating what they get.
I agree.
It’s just that Kirko says publically that,
“It’s not about the money”
He is snake oil.
I would respect him a little more if he just said,
“I want my bag”, like Justin Jefferson did.
Yea, it’s called capitalism and free market pricing.
I wish Kirko would just say,
“I don’t plan to really retire here. I want the most money possible”
I would respect him for at least being honest.
You want someone that tows the line when it comes to media though – while you and others might respect him more if he says that, that’s a negative for teams that might want his services. Sometimes you have to have the “politically correct” answer, even if it’s not true.
Also, he may have wanted to truly retire in MN, but only if he gets the right price. “I’d like to retire here, but I also want to be compensated fairly for my services” might be more along the lines of what I might have said. That would have been an acceptable answer to me.
Kyler Murray’s contract. Yeah, they’ll have to cut him, ain’t nobody taking on that mess of a contract.
$13.9 mil of the $17 mil already guaranteed last year. AZ is going to pay for this one, yikes.
Even for the league minimum, I do not want a midget that refuses to study and learn.
I do not care how mobile he used to be.
He does not put in the effort to improve.
No thanks
Agree 100%.
Yeah, I am not excited about Murray either. I’m not excited about any retread. Could just as well play JJM and see if he gets it. If he really sucks, hopefully we have a high draft pick and can try again.
Agreed. The whole Murray or Geno Smith talk is stupid IMO – they aren’t going to move the needle to get where the Vikings want to go. I would much rather have Rodgers or Cousins for a year or two for a legit QB competition if we know it’s just temporary or we want to be fairly competitive right now (they are both better than Murray or Smith), even being ancient.
I can see the logic, valid options.
I’m honestly not against Malik Willis, if he is cheap enough. Small sample size, but the last couple years he played well when he needed to. Could be a long-term option if he’s figured it out.
Unfortunately, I agree with you on Rodgers/Cousins over Murray/Smith.
Murray and Smith don’t seem to be good fits for out style of offense.
Yeah.
And he might need a highchair to see the playbook.
Maybe that’s been his problem?
Making fun of the vertically challenged; how, er, um, heightist of you. Next you’ll be making jokes about taking a phone book out onto the field to stand on. Hey that might be a good idea!
Murray is short enough it’s actually an advantage. He can just run between guys’ legs.