2021 Vikings Season Thread

[TheLeviathan]

21 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Yeah being $10 million in the red is not insurmountable. IIRC the Eagles were around $80 million over the cap heading into the 2021 season. The Saints are going to be $70 million over the cap next year and still dedicating cap space for Drew Brees’ deferred money. 

Instead of continuing to restructure and kick future guaranteed money down the road, I’d rather take a step back next year. Make some difficult decisions with veterans (Pierce, Tomlinson, Theilen, Kendricks) to either cut them or trade them while they’re still quite valuable. I also know a quick way to free up $35 million… But the new coach should make that decision whether they want Kirk or look for a new QB. 

I'm 100% on board with a reboot too.  I'm just not confident it happens.

[Danchat]

14 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

The Twins can't count past 5 digits unless decimals are involved.

In all seriousness the Vikings should be able to trim that down fairly easily and tweak this team.  Anthony Barr gone and a few restructures and they're at least able to do some things to add.

We owe Barr $9.89M of dead money in 2022 despite him not being under contract… part of the ‘void years’ accounting trick to get our 2021 salary back above water.

I know teams can get out of bad salary situations like the Saints have, but it damages your team’s ability to sign FAs and leads to having depth issues and bring top heavy… like the Saints currently are.

[Mike Sixel]

I can see more than a few vets that can be dealt/ cut......

Not sure why anyone thinks they can get rid of Cousins easily.....a team would need to be nearly complete except QB to want him. Not sure who that might be. Also, unless you are punting the next two-three years (which might be a good idea, not sure), I'm not sure why you would. 

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, Danchat said:

We owe Barr $9.89M of dead money in 2022 despite him not being under contract… part of the ‘void years’ accounting trick to get our 2021 salary back above water.

I know teams can get out of bad salary situations like the Saints have, but it damages your team’s ability to sign FAs and leads to having depth issues and bring top heavy… like the Saints currently are.

Well crap...I read that void differently.  Dammit.

[Danchat]

7 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

Not sure why anyone thinks they can get rid of Cousins easily.....a team would need to be nearly complete except QB to want him. Not sure who that might be. Also, unless you are punting the next two-three years (which might be a good idea, not sure), I'm not sure why you would. 

There is plenty of debate going on about this - QB play has been down this year and there will be many QB hungry team this offseason - I could see the Panthers, Steelers, Giants, maybe even the Saints enquiring. I think we will see the top of the market move first - Rodgers, Wilson, Watson are the main guys, who could be traded depending on their circumstances - and then Kirk will come next. I think they could get a high 2nd / late 1st, and the team acquiring him would have an extension in place.

6 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Well crap...I read that void differently.  Dammit.

The void years are a tricky subject, but it's basically allocating a signing bonus over fake years. They basically moved $9M from 2021 to 2022, and I believe the only way to alleviate it is to extend Barr, which would then make $4.94M hit 2022 and $4.94M hit 2023 on top of whatever the extension is paying him.

[Vanimal46]

[Mike Sixel]

Wow

[gunnarthor]

Man, that Saints win yesterday seems to be pretty bad for the Vikes. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, gunnarthor said:

Man, that Saints win yesterday seems to be pretty bad for the Vikes. 

Yes. Their playoff odds plummeted. 

[Vanimal46]

This game is so sloppy. 

[cHawk]

The Bears are absolutely horrible.

[gunnarthor]

Nice of the defense to do that thing where they let the other team back into it

[gunnarthor]

How did concussion protocol not get Fields looked at?

[cHawk]

The Bears offense is an abomination.

[Vanimal46]

31 minutes ago, cHawk said:

The Bears are absolutely horrible.

I’ll be amazed if Nagy is their coach when we play them again in the season finale. 

[cHawk]

3 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I’ll be amazed if Nagy is their coach when we play them again in the season finale. 

If I’m the Bears, this is as embarrassing as ****.

[Vanimal46]

2 minutes ago, cHawk said:

If I’m the Bears, this is as embarrassing as ****.

I don’t think either fan base feels good about this game. We were putrid on offense as well. That was peak Zimmerball. 

[Mike Sixel]

I'd rather they had not won another game starting last week. Oh well. Just going to miss out on an elite player... .

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Easy to defend the Bears going for it on those 4th downs, but funny to think if they had kicked a couple field goals, that last drive and score would have been for the tie. 

[gunnarthor]

43 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Easy to defend the Bears going for it on those 4th downs, but funny to think if they had kicked a couple field goals, that last drive and score would have been for the tie. 

Nagy is a really bad coach. Say what you will about Zimmer but not kicking those field goals was utter desperation. 

[Vanimal46]

26 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

Nagy is a really bad coach. Say what you will about Zimmer but not kicking those field goals was utter desperation. 

He knows he’s gone by the end of the season, if not sooner. It’ll be interesting to see if Nagy and Zimmer are both on the sidelines for the season finale. 

[Vanimal46]

PFF has an article about hypothetical offseason trades for a number of QBs. One hypothetical is trading Kirk Cousins to Pittsburgh for their 2022 1st round pick and 2023 2nd. Pittsburgh ironically has $35 million in cap space to fit Kirk’s existing contract. If this is realistic at all, I hope we do it and start the rebuild. 
 

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-realistic-trade-value-landing-spots-quarterbacks-aaron-rodgers-russell-wilson-derek-carr

[Mike Sixel]

32 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

PFF has an article about hypothetical offseason trades for a number of QBs. One hypothetical is trading Kirk Cousins to Pittsburgh for their 2022 1st round pick and 2023 2nd. Pittsburgh ironically has $35 million in cap space to fit Kirk’s existing contract. If this is realistic at all, I hope we do it and start the rebuild. 
 

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-realistic-trade-value-landing-spots-quarterbacks-aaron-rodgers-russell-wilson-derek-carr

I'd do that. I'd also deal Cook if they can get a pick in the top fifty. Hence my wish they'd lose rather than pick 15th. 

[gunnarthor]

I'm not going to worry about the offseason yet. I'd like them to win out and make the playoffs. I have no expectation that they will do that and, if they do, I'm sure we'd just get another gut punch playoff loss. But I'd rather make the playoffs then be the Bears or Lions.

[Mike Sixel]

37 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

I'm not going to worry about the offseason yet. I'd like them to win out and make the playoffs. I have no expectation that they will do that and, if they do, I'm sure we'd just get another gut punch playoff loss. But I'd rather make the playoffs then be the Bears or Lions.

Fair. 

[Danchat]

Regarding our earlier conversation on Kirk's trade value, here is PFF's take on it:

Yeah, I'd do that in an instant.

[TheLeviathan]

Our problem dealing Cousins is he won't be the top QB on the market.  Hell, he might not even be top 3.

[Vanimal46]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Our problem dealing Cousins is he won't be the top QB on the market.  Hell, he might not even be top 3.

No doubt. Out of the names mentioned in the PFF article, he’s 4th on the list. I think most of them won’t get moved though. Seattle can resolve the Russ Wilson issue by firing Pete Carroll. They would be crazy to choose a 70 year old coach over him.

I’d love to see Rodgers outside of the NFC, but I think Green Bay will hold onto him for dear life… If Jordan Love’s debut is any indication they will not go 3 for 3 on HOF QBs. 

Houston would love to trade Watson, but who’s going to take on that baggage? Tua is starting to progress very nicely in Miami so are they still in the mix for him?

[Mike Sixel]

Watson is never playing again. 

[gunnarthor]

I wonder if Cousins is a bit hurt? He got wacked in the head a few times in the last few weeks. Maybe he's dealing with a concussion? But he hasn't looked great for several weeks. Almost unrecognizable at some points.