2022 Vikings Off-Season Thread

[Vanimal46]

47 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

I don't like the combination of a brand new, inexperienced GM and Jim Harbaugh.  That seems like a road paved for Harbaugh to steamroll.

That’s a good point. Also, Harbaugh is most likely a 3-4 year solution at most. Which would indicate to me that the roster won’t get torn down. I can’t imagine the first year he’d be good with trading long time veterans. 

[Mike Sixel]

I have zero interest in harbaugh. Zero. None. Negative.

[yeahyabetcha]

15 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

That’s a good point. Also, Harbaugh is most likely a 3-4 year solution at most. Which would indicate to me that the roster won’t get torn down. I can’t imagine the first year he’d be good with trading long time veterans. 

Are you saying the roster should be “torn down”?  As a season ticket holder, I would not like to see something like that happen.  Also, if the GM can not work with a coach with a strong personality (which seems to be most of them) he should not have been hired.

[Danchat]

If they're going to go with a veteran hire, I would approve of Harbaugh. He groomed Luck at Stanford, saved Alex Smith's career, and developed Kaepernick as a very good QB. I'm not sure if he'd roll with Kirk, but if the goal is a quick turnaround, he's the guy.

Looks like O'Connell and Ryans are getting second interviews. I don't love either of those guys due to their inexperience, but if they are headed towards a soft reboot, it makes sense to go younger. 

In other NFL teams, the Raiders are hiring a Patriots guy as GM and Josh McDaniels as HC. Can't wait to see that go down in flames real fast. I don't get the obsession over McDaniels, he's accomplished little without Brady. Meanwhile, Jacksonville was thought to be going with Leftwich at HC, but it seems they hit a bump in the road. It sounds like Leftwich wants his own GM hired over Trent Baalke, who is a known buffoon. Leftwich may be better off waiting for a better HC job since Jacksonville is so dysfunctional - I'd take Byron in an instant.

[TheLeviathan]

6 hours ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Are you saying the roster should be “torn down”?  As a season ticket holder, I would not like to see something like that happen.  Also, if the GM can not work with a coach with a strong personality (which seems to be most of them) he should not have been hired.

The roster needs a serious reboot regardless of who the coach is.  With the cap and the age of the defense....there isn't much of an alternative.  

[TheLeviathan]

3 hours ago, Danchat said:

If they're going to go with a veteran hire, I would approve of Harbaugh. He groomed Luck at Stanford, saved Alex Smith's career, and developed Kaepernick as a very good QB. I'm not sure if he'd roll with Kirk, but if the goal is a quick turnaround, he's the guy.

Looks like O'Connell and Ryans are getting second interviews. I don't love either of those guys due to their inexperience, but if they are headed towards a soft reboot, it makes sense to go younger. 

In other NFL teams, the Raiders are hiring a Patriots guy as GM and Josh McDaniels as HC. Can't wait to see that go down in flames real fast. I don't get the obsession over McDaniels, he's accomplished little without Brady. Meanwhile, Jacksonville was thought to be going with Leftwich at HC, but it seems they hit a bump in the road. It sounds like Leftwich wants his own GM hired over Trent Baalke, who is a known buffoon. Leftwich may be better off waiting for a better HC job since Jacksonville is so dysfunctional - I'd take Byron in an instant.

I would suggest that Leftwich hasn't accomplished much without Brady.  Especially if you subtract all the excessive garbage time yardage with Winston.

What he did with Rosen was less than impressive.  I'd pass on him personally.

[yeahyabetcha]

1 hour ago, TheLeviathan said:

The roster needs a serious reboot regardless of who the coach is.  With the cap and the age of the defense....there isn't much of an alternative.  

The defense will need a rebuild.  Everson, Sheldon, Barr, Vigil, PP, Breeland, Woods are either gone or could be gone .  That is a big chunk of minutes played to have to replace.  Add to that the Hunter contract situation that will need to be addressed and a new defensive coordinator, and yes it will look different.  But even with all that the i prefer the Vikings going into the offseason that the attitude that they will in playoff contention next year.

[TheLeviathan]

1 minute ago, yeahyabetcha said:

The defense will need a rebuild.  Everson, Sheldon, Barr, Vigil, PP, Breeland, Woods are either gone or could be gone .  That is a big chunk of minutes played to have to replace.  Add to that the Hunter contract situation that will need to be addressed and a new defensive coordinator, and yes it will look different.  But even with all that the i prefer the Vikings going into the offseason that the attitude that they will in playoff contention next year.

In the NFL you can tear a roster down and compete in a year.  Those aren't mutually exclusive.

[Vanimal46]

9 hours ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Are you saying the roster should be “torn down”?  As a season ticket holder, I would not like to see something like that happen.  Also, if the GM can not work with a coach with a strong personality (which seems to be most of them) he should not have been hired.

I think it’s an impossible task to replace all of the defensive starters you mentioned, plus center and guard with the current financial position we’re in. Difficult decisions with long time veterans is needed. We need to clear $20 million of cap space to simply comply with being under the cap and sign our draft class. And another 20(?) million to sign any decent free agents. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I want to go into this Vikings reboot with an open mind. I don’t want to get invested in an early ‘take’ and then end up trying to defend the take after it turns out wrong. That said, the combo of Adofo-Mensah and Jim Harbaugh seems like it has zero chance of working out. (but Vikes could still get to the playoffs, sure, esp if Rogers leaves GB.)

[nicksaviking]

23 hours ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Are you saying the roster should be “torn down”?  As a season ticket holder, I would not like to see something like that happen.  Also, if the GM can not work with a coach with a strong personality (which seems to be most of them) he should not have been hired.

As a season ticket holder, I absolutely want the roster to be torn down. At least the pricey aging vets like Theilen, Smith and Cousins. 

I could see arguments for keeping or trading Hunter and Kendricks. In any case, this team needs a significant facelift. I'm not sure Harbaugh is the face I want though. 

[yeahyabetcha]

1 hour ago, nicksaviking said:

As a season ticket holder, I absolutely want the roster to be torn down. At least the pricey aging vets like Theilen, Smith and Cousins. 

I could see arguments for keeping or trading Hunter and Kendricks. In any case, this team needs a significant facelift. I'm not sure Harbaugh is the face I want though. 

Are you advocating just cutting Theilen, Smith and Cousins and taking the cap hits that would entail?

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Are you advocating just cutting Theilen, Smith and Cousins and taking the cap hits that would entail?

Well obviously I'd first look to trade them and get some equity back if that's possible.

But if no other team wanted them, then yes, I'd cut them and start focusing on what comes next.

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Are you advocating just cutting Theilen, Smith and Cousins and taking the cap hits that would entail?

I think you can get something of value for all three of those players.  You wouldn't have to cut them.  Either way you're going to pay the price on your cap for a few years, but it's worth it to move on IMO.

Anything you get of value is a bonus.

[yeahyabetcha]

5 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Well obviously I'd first look to trade them and get some equity back if that's possible.

But if no other team wanted them, then yes, I'd cut them and start focusing on what comes next.

Thankfully, I don’t think there is a GM or head coach candidate in existence that would think cutting Kirk, eating his $45 cap hit and starting Mond next year would be a good idea.

[TheLeviathan]

43 minutes ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Thankfully, I don’t think there is a GM or head coach candidate in existence that would think cutting Kirk, eating his $45 cap hit and starting Mond next year would be a good idea.

Would you be opposed to starting, just as an example, Kenny Pickett?

[Vanimal46]

Harbaugh is interviewing on Wednesday on National Signing Day for college football. He certainly looks like he wants out of college football, but I’m still very conflicted about him being the coach of the Vikings. 
 

 

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Harbaugh is interviewing on Wednesday on National Signing Day for college football. He certainly looks like he wants out of college football, but I’m still very conflicted about him being the coach of the Vikings. 
 

 

My thoughts exactly. National signing day? Wow. 

[Danchat]

I really like the idea of getting Harbaugh in here. Yes, I do think the roster needs to hit the reset button, but Harbaugh is by far the best retread option out there. I think he'll work well with a GM like KAM as opposed to a veteran GM who'd have control over the 53 man roster - not to mention that I believe Baalke was the source of problems in SF (and he's currently giving the Jags a ton of problems hiring a HC!). This has the potential to go down in flames, but hey - the Vikings have never hired a retread coach before - why not gamble on a guy with success at the QB position and whose first three years resulted in Championship games at the worst?

Also, sounds like DeMeco Ryans declined a 2nd interview for our HC job. I wonder why... meanwhile, O'Connell and Morris are interviewing today as the main competition to Harbaugh. Giants DC Graham is technically in the mix too, but I just don't see him standing up to the other 3 and he doesn't have a 2nd interview scheduled.

[Vanimal46]

I did not know DeMeco Ryans declined the 2nd interview. That’s disappointing. I think he has the “it” factor to be a great HC one day. 

[Vanimal46]

37 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

My thoughts exactly. National signing day? Wow. 

He’s basically torpedoing his incoming recruiting class because who’s going to commit to a coach and program that’s in flux? Whelp, I guess the clock starts now for the Vikings (or Dolphins?) to figure their s*** out in the next 4 years before it all blows up. Dude is a ticking time bomb. 

[cHawk]

I think Harbaugh would work really well with Kellen Mond. The 49ers were a very run-heavy team when he was coaching in 2011-2013.

[TheLeviathan]

DeMeco Ryans (who I liked a lot as a candidate) bowing out tells me Harbaugh is inevitable.

I'm with Dan, I think Trent Baalke was the real source of the problems in SF.  Harbaugh is a weird, intense dude....but he was also innovative as hell and a very modern coach.  He squeezed every ounce of talent out of those SF teams.

[yeahyabetcha]

10 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Would you be opposed to starting, just as an example, Kenny Pickett?

I don’t know enough about Pickett or of any of the potential upcoming draft candidates.  I do know starting rookie Qb’s seldom bring a playoff team, especially when the roster is gutted also.  But having said that, if the new regime identifies a draft pick or finds a draft partner that brings in a new Qb that they are very high on, they should do it.  But I would not like to see Cousins “cut” or whatever, without a valid replacement plan in place.  I am also open to extending Kirk to reduce his cap hit, if the new regime believes in him.

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, yeahyabetcha said:

I don’t know enough about Pickett or of any of the potential upcoming draft candidates.  I do know starting rookie Qb’s seldom bring a playoff team, especially when the roster is gutted also.  But having said that, if the new regime identifies a draft pick or finds a draft partner that brings in a new Qb that they are very high on, they should do it.  But I would not like to see Cousins “cut” or whatever, without a valid replacement plan in place.  I am also open to extending Kirk to reduce his cap hit, if the new regime believes in him.

That's fair.  You're right that rookie QBs aren't taking teams to Super Bowls....but a helluva lot of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year guys do!

My personal opinion is that this team could do a semi-rebuild and be a serious contender next year.

[nicksaviking]

2 hours ago, yeahyabetcha said:

I don’t know enough about Pickett or of any of the potential upcoming draft candidates.  I do know starting rookie Qb’s seldom bring a playoff team, especially when the roster is gutted also.  But having said that, if the new regime identifies a draft pick or finds a draft partner that brings in a new Qb that they are very high on, they should do it.  But I would not like to see Cousins “cut” or whatever, without a valid replacement plan in place.  I am also open to extending Kirk to reduce his cap hit, if the new regime believes in him.

I think the rest of us just want to build a sustainable top end team and aren't focusing on the playoffs next year. If it happens, great, if it doesn't, that's just part of the process.

Being a lower tier playoff team is just putting the franchise in purgatory. I only care about winning the Super Bowl, empty playoff appearances mean nothing to me. If the team isn't at that top level, then I could care less if they win 10 games or 2 games.

[nicksaviking]

I didn't/don't really want Harbaugh.

BUT, the one positive is that if it doesn't work out, it will be a short experiment. There's no way the organization keeps that personality on payroll if he can't turn around the team.

[yeahyabetcha]

3 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I think the rest of us just want to build a sustainable top end team and aren't focusing on the playoffs next year. If it happens, great, if it doesn't, that's just part of the process.

Being a lower tier playoff team is just putting the franchise in purgatory. I only care about winning the Super Bowl, empty playoff appearances mean nothing to me. If the team isn't at that top level, then I could care less if they win 10 games or 2 games.

What is your definition of a “lower tier playoff team”.  Looks like two 4 seeds made it this year.

[Danchat]

13 minutes ago, yeahyabetcha said:

What is your definition of a “lower tier playoff team”.  Looks like two 4 seeds made it this year.

The past 55 Super Bowls had a #1 seed or #2 seed every single game until this year broke that stretch. Also, the Rams are the #3 seed.

[yeahyabetcha]

2 minutes ago, Danchat said:

The past 59 Super Bowls had a #1 seed or #2 seed every single game until this year broke that stretch. Also, the Rams are the #3 seed.

Weren’t the Cowboys the 3 seed??  Not that it really matters….