2021 Off-Season Thread

[Vanimal46]

I wanted to take the salary cap hit last year and move on from Kirk. Way before all of this extra info about him came out. It definitely won’t happen this year while Zimmer and Spielman are on the hot seat. 

[TheLeviathan]

14 hours ago, Danchat said:

I suppose, though Kirk is likely going to be the 3rd best QB on the trade market after Rodgers and Watson (assuming his situation clears up, I think he gets moved over the 2022 offseason). 

The Colts have 4 years of Wentz, and they have him at roughly $26M a year through 2024, though the guarantees mostly protect him in his 2022, but moving him would be possible. It'd just be weird for them to move on so quickly. Teams like the Giants, Steelers, and Broncos would make sense.

Denver and Washington are ideal but neither are going to happen.  Maybe Pitt makes sense.

Again....alas...wishful thinking.

[cHawk]

47 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Denver and Washington are ideal but neither are going to happen.  Maybe Pitt makes sense.

Again....alas...wishful thinking.

Pitt does make sense. They have plenty of egos.

[nicksaviking]

22 hours ago, cHawk said:

Pitt does make sense. They have plenty of egos.

The Steelers have been proud of and promoting their vaccination rates and Tomlin is a pretty blunt guy. I might suspect he'd want nothing to do with Cousins based on the same things we've been saying about him in this thread.

[cHawk]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

The Steelers have been proud of and promoting their vaccination rates and Tomlin is a pretty blunt guy. I might suspect he'd want nothing to do with Cousins based on the same things we've been saying about him in this thread.

I stand corrected. No way does he go to Pitt. He’s literally the state poster child for “Avoid the vaccine.”

[Danchat]

Here is a 53 man roster projection I've made, have a look:

(ratings are derived from PFF)

[Vanimal46]

Can’t disagree with that given what we know now. The RG battle will be interesting. I’m cool with easing Darrisaw and Davis into the starting 5 after a game or two. Hill is what he is, a decent spot starter. I’m not sure what the plan ever was with Udoh. If he can’t beat out Dozier I don’t know why we keep him on the roster. 

I guess we’re going with a total unknown at kicker. Not sure why we haven’t brought in someone like Zane Gonzalez for a tryout. 

Man, we’re really banking that Conklin’s positive contribution in limited action is for real…

Also, calling it now. Dantzler has a break out year and enters the conversation for best CB in the league. 

[Danchat]

15 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’m not sure what the plan ever was with Udoh. If he can’t beat out Dozier I don’t know why we keep him on the roster. 

Udoh was seen as a tackle-only in his first two years, and the Vikings have waited until training camp to move him to guard (instead of, y'know, let him know in January/minicamps/OTAs). As usual, the plan for the O-line doesn't make a ton of sense and I have a hard time faulting Udoh - he's still learning how to play the position. 

16 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Also, calling it now. Dantzler has a break out year and enters the conversation for best CB in the league. 

I'd love to believe that, but some think Breeland is going to start over Dantzler, which IMO would be egregious, but not a huge surprise with Zimmer's love of veterans. 

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, Danchat said:

. 

I'd love to believe that, but some think Breeland is going to start over Dantzler, which IMO would be egregious, but not a huge surprise with Zimmer's love of veterans. 

Yikes, wouldn’t that be a shame. It’s rare when rookie CBs look good in Zimmer’s system. Dantzler was one of the lone bright spots on the defense last year, progressing well while taking on more responsibility throughout the season. Let’s hope Breeland only threatens Peterson or Mack’s role on the team. 

[cHawk]

Dozier will not start. Udoh has been doing all of the first team snaps and has looked REALLY good. No way in hell he doesn’t win the job.

[Vanimal46]

Amazing. I had no idea Beavers is still in the league. Whatever the over/under win total is for Atlanta right now, I’m hammering the under. 

[Mike Sixel]

3 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Amazing. I had no idea Beavers is still in the league. Whatever the over/under win total is for Atlanta right now, I’m hammering the under. 

Speechless......

[Danchat]

Holy cow, Beavers hasn’t been on an active roster since 2016 (he was on practice squads from 2017-2020). Wow.  Though it does look like he’s only there because Kaleb McGary is hurt. 

[TheLeviathan]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the total lack of quality offensive linemen in the NFL is a massive (no pun intended) problem.

[cHawk]

It sickens me seeing all of these people in other forums defending Cousins.

*How many QBs turn in Pro Bowl performances behind Bottom 5 Offensive Lines?*

*Cousins was crazy to sign an extension here*

*If Cousins could go to a team who prioritizes Pass Protection maybe he could win a Super Bowl*

*Fire these Clowns (Zimmer and Spielman)*

If he’s getting lauded for doing his “best” to elevate the team with his performance, why isn’t he being roundly criticized for voluntarily putting his entire team at risk? It makes no sense to me. Some are so oblivious to reality.

It’s sickening and it’s why I stay away from lots of other forums.

[Danchat]

14 hours ago, cHawk said:

It sickens me seeing all of these people in other forums defending Cousins.

*How many QBs turn in Pro Bowl performances behind Bottom 5 Offensive Lines?*

*Cousins was crazy to sign an extension here*

*If Cousins could go to a team who prioritizes Pass Protection maybe he could win a Super Bowl*

*Fire these Clowns (Zimmer and Spielman)*

If he’s getting lauded for doing his “best” to elevate the team with his performance, why isn’t he being roundly criticized for voluntarily putting his entire team at risk? It makes no sense to me. Some are so oblivious to reality.

It’s sickening and it’s why I stay away from lots of other forums.

There are many criticizing him for that, but I think you can make a simple argument without involving anything vaccine-related. We were thought to be SB bound and he was supposed to be the final piece, yet we've gone 25-23-1 with him and one playoff berth in three seasons. 

Also, I've never seen anyone criticize Cousins for taking the extension... it was a complete no-brainer for him. It guaranteed another $66M over a 2 year stretch. He'd be foolish not to take that money. His agent deserves an award for managing to get 5 fully guaranteed years for his client in the NFL, which is notorious for not fully guaranteeing deals.

[cHawk]

1 minute ago, Danchat said:

There are many criticizing him for that, but I think you can make a simple argument without involving anything vaccine-related. We were thought to be SB bound and he was supposed to be the final piece, yet we've gone 25-23-1 with him and one playoff berth in three seasons. 

Also, I've never seen anyone criticize Cousins for taking the extension... it was a complete no-brainer for him. It guaranteed another $66M over a 2 year stretch. He'd be foolish not to take that money. His agent deserves an award for managing to get 5 fully guaranteed years for his client in the NFL, which is notorious for not fully guaranteeing deals.

I saw someone make the argument that he’s risking his health by playing for Zimmer, and playing behind that OL.

[Mike Sixel]

Darrisaw out until week 1....meaning he won't see the field for weeks into the season. Cursed. 

[nicksaviking]

11 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Darrisaw out until week 1....meaning he won't see the field for weeks into the season. Cursed. 

I've seen this show before. It usually ends up being months.

And then it's only on special teams and as a back up.

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I've seen this show before. It usually ends up being months.

And then it's only on special teams and as a back up.

he's a rookie.....sigh. I doubt we'll see a future LT on special teams!

[cHawk]

I find it hilarious that some are actually mad at the playcalling for this game.

Sure, run your best plays in the Preseason with your 2’s and 3’s to win a meaningless game and the rest of the league can watch and figure them out.

[Vanimal46]

The Vikings waived kicker Riley Patterson before he got any experience in a preseason game. We’re really rolling into the season with, checks notes, something called Greg Joseph?

[Mike Sixel]

And no real punter either.....

[Mike Sixel]

12 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

The Vikings waived kicker Riley Patterson before he got any experience in a preseason game. We’re really rolling into the season with, checks notes, something called Greg Joseph?

I do think the kicker is injured....

[TheLeviathan]

This team isn't good enough to have crappy special teams.

[Danchat]

After crunching Saturday's tape, Zimmer likely realized that the guys behind Hunter are not going to get it done. Griffen was very effective as a rotational rusher last year and would be an upgrade over Weatherly and the others. Ideally our top 4 DEs would be Hunter, Griffen, Wonnum, and Jones II.

[Vanimal46]

9 hours ago, Danchat said:

After crunching Saturday's tape, Zimmer likely realized that the guys behind Hunter are not going to get it done. Griffen was very effective as a rotational rusher last year and would be an upgrade over Weatherly and the others. Ideally our top 4 DEs would be Hunter, Griffen, Wonnum, and Jones II.

Goes to show in the NFL you can burn bridges by calling the current QB ass on Twitter and still get a job. What a world we live in! 

[TheLeviathan]

Bringing back Weatherly never made a damn bit of sense to me.

[Craig Arko]

Cam Smith retires at 24.

[nicksaviking]

On 8/18/2021 at 7:46 AM, Vanimal46 said:

Goes to show in the NFL you can burn bridges by calling the current QB ass on Twitter and still get a job. What a world we live in! 

Yeah no kidding.

I hope he calls him an ass to his face in front of a locker room full of media next time.