2023 Vikings Off Season Thread

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, wabene said:

Couldn't he have gotten that money with the Vikes with a better chance to win? He picked a rebuilding team where he is the number one receiver. I don't know how many other offers he had though.

No chance the Vikings pay that much, none. I guarantee that was the most money any team offered, or he'd have gone elsewhere.

[Musk21]

On the Pat McAfee show today, Thielen indicated he also had interest from Dallas and Denver.  Clearly he prioritized guaranteed money and being the #1 WR rather than chasing a ring.

[nicksaviking]

On 3/20/2023 at 12:43 AM, wabene said:

I guess Thielen wants the ball more than he wants to win. 

Where winning teams knocking at his door? I never heard any reports of teams interested other than Carolina.

[wabene]

Look above ^^^ young master @nicksaviking

[nicksaviking]

5 minutes ago, wabene said:

Look above ^^^ young master @nicksaviking

You're not talking about the Vikings? I don't think they made an offer, but either way, the Vikings chance of winning a Super Bowl is also next to zero. At least Carolina has started their rebuild. The odds that Thielen makes it to year three of his contract and that Carolina is good in year three is probably slim. But it's still higher than the odds that this group of old washed up Vikings will bring home a championship.

[wabene]

3 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

You're not talking about the Vikings? I don't think they made an offer, but either way, the Vikings chance or winning a Super Bowl is also next to zero. At least Carolina has started their rebuild. The odds that Thielen makes it to year three of his contract and that Carolina is good in year three is probably slim. But it's still higher than the odds that this group of old washed up Vikings will bring home a championship.

It has to be as clear to Adam as it is to me that Carolina is not winning anything in the two years that he has guaranteed. That is my only point. If it is true as Mr Musk pointed out that he had interest from two teams with a much better chance of winning, that furthers my statement.

Adam was a great player for the Vikings. At the end here he and his wife seemed to take the way things went for him personally. It must not be clear to them that this business they are in is a full on meritocracy. 

I don't agree that the Panthers have a better chance at a championship than the Vikes in the next 2 years. Vikings 5%, Panthers 3.5%, lol. 

[nicksaviking]

4 minutes ago, wabene said:

It has to be as clear to Adam as it is to me that Carolina is not winning anything in the two years that he has guaranteed. That is my only point. If it is true as Mr Musk pointed out that he had interest from two teams with a much better chance of winning, that furthers my statement.

Adam was a great player for the Vikings. At the end here he and his wife seemed to take the way things went for him personally. It must not be clear to them that this business they are in is a full on meritocracy. 

I don't agree that the Panthers have a better chance at a championship than the Vikes in the next 2 years. Vikings 5%, Panthers 3.5%, lol. 

The Vikings odds are closer to 0% than they are to 5%.

Either way, I didn't want him back. KJ Osborn is better than him at this point, but keeping Thielen on the roster will still put him in the starting lineup and Cousins will still look his way too often because he defers to his comfort blankets.

We can't keep these aging expensive players forever, even if it's a local guy.

[Mike Sixel]

CAR is a lot more likely to win their division the next three years than MNN is. Plus, it is about the money. I don't get how that's hard to understand.

[Vanimal46]

We’re #1! We’re #1! 

[nicksaviking]

55 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

We’re #1! We’re #1! 

Angry about what?!?! Losing a 50-year-old receiver and basically nothing else?

Or are they angry in the same way I'm annoyed, they wanted to just get the tear down over with and didn't want to drag out a lame duck season?

Pretty sure I'm in the minority, so it must be the first one.

[Danchat]

6 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Were winning teams knocking at his door? I never heard any reports of teams interested other than Carolina.

Dallas and Denver had offers on the table, reportedly. Looks like the Cowboys pulled the trigger on Cooks right after Thielen didn’t sign with them.

[Vanimal46]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Angry about what?!?! Losing a 50-year-old receiver and basically nothing else?

Or are they angry in the same way I'm annoyed, they wanted to just get the tear down over with and didn't want to drag out a lame duck season?

Pretty sure I'm in the minority, so it must be the first one.

From my perspective it’s more of the latter situation. Then again, I don’t dive into the depths of hell known as #VikingsTwitter. I stay close to the surface reading the beat writers’ tweets. 

With my friend group at least, there is more frustration with running it back the last couple of years. Even during a season where we saw some of the luckiest circumstances go in favor of the Vikings, we still couldn’t muster a playoff win. I don’t know why we’re not making a bigger effort to rebuild for something better. 

[nicksaviking]

21 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

From my perspective it’s more of the latter situation. Then again, I don’t dive into the depths of hell known as #VikingsTwitter. I stay close to the surface reading the beat writers’ tweets. 

With my friend group at least, there is more frustration with running it back the last couple of years. Even during a season where we saw some of the luckiest circumstances go in favor of the Vikings, we still couldn’t muster a playoff win. I don’t know why we’re not making a bigger effort to rebuild for something better. 

Only reason I see is to try to sell more tickets for a .500 club.

But you know what's worse than purposefully trying to rebuild and ending up 5-12? Throwing away equity and the prime years of your young players by pushing back the rebuild and going balls out yet finishing 7-10 instead.

[Mike Sixel]

Ham is back....so they have a blocking TE and a FB....going to run power I?

[Vanimal46]

Ringing endorsement from Pete Bercich 

[wabene]

This post in the Player's Tribune is good and funny!

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/eric-kendricks-minnesota-vikings-nfl-football

[nicksaviking]

Kendricks had been my favorite Viking for quite a while now. Glad to see he felt the same about Minnesota.

And great shout out to the downtown Minneapolis restaurants! 

[Vanimal46]

2 weeks until the draft. What are your spicy draft takes?

- If Bryce Young falls to 3rd overall, I would trade the farm to move up from 23. 

- I think RB Bijon Robinson will be selected within the first 16 picks of the 1st round. 

- I don’t buy for a second that Hendon Hooker is a 1st round pick 

- At least one of Dalvin Cook and Z Smith will be traded during the draft. 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

2 weeks until the draft. What are your spicy draft takes?

- If Bryce Young falls to 3rd overall, I would trade the farm to move up from 23. 

- I think RB Bijon Robinson will be selected within the first 16 picks of the 1st round. 

- I don’t buy for a second that Hendon Hooker is a 1st round pick 

- At least one of Dalvin Cook and Z Smith will be traded during the draft. 

I'd be up for trading for Bryce Young. And it would be crazy to see a RB go that high again; at this point, the position is being way undervalued so someone should take Robinson high.

I'm not sure what to make of Hooker, but I like him more than Will Levis, who looks as talented as Justin Herbert, but as indecisive and as easily rattled as Christian Ponder. CJ Stroud is a better QB than Hooker, but considering I want a QB who can and WILL run when needed, I don't want him (or frankly any OSU QB) either. Richardson is still a wild card, but you could dream on him. If I were forced to rank the QBs, Hooker would actually be 2nd or 3rd on my list. But, I'm well aware that my tastes don't match those in the industry. Anyway, I guess that's probably a spicy take.

I'm up for trading just about anyone other than our star WR and the OTs.

I don't like the idea of trading down, particularly because I don't yet trust this front office to evaluate the non-elite prospects. I get this team needs more picks, but they should have thought about that long before now.

[Vanimal46]

2 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

I'd be up for trading for Bryce Young. And it would be crazy to see a RB go that high again; at this point, the position is being way undervalued so someone should take Robinson high.

I'm not sure what to make of Hooker, but I like him more than Will Levis, who looks as talented as Justin Herbert, but as indecisive and as easily rattled as Christian Ponder. CJ Stroud is a better QB than Hooker, but considering I want a QB who can and WILL run when needed, I don't want him (or frankly any OSU QB) either. Richardson is still a wild card, but you could dream on him. If I were forced to rank the QBs, Hooker would actually be 2nd or 3rd on my list. But, I'm well aware that my tastes don't match those in the industry. Anyway, I guess that's probably a spicy take.

I'm up for trading just about anyone other than our star WR and the OTs.

I don't like the idea of trading down, particularly because I don't yet trust this front office to evaluate the non-elite prospects. I get this team needs more picks, but they should have thought about that long before now.

The things I can’t get past when evaluating Hooker… His breakout happened at 25 years old playing in a gimmick offense. The Tennessee coach made it so easy for him to succeed. All he had to do was look at his first option and throw it to him. I saw a PFF stat that he only made 15 total passes to his 2nd read on the field. He’ll have to do that at least 15 times a game in the NFL. 

There’s not a lot of blue chip prospects in the draft, similarly to last year. Bijon Robinson is one of the blue chippers IMO. When the choice boils down to taking a decent OL, or someone who will be a bell cow feature back, I’d take the back. 

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

The things I can’t get past when evaluating Hooker… His breakout happened at 25 years old playing in a gimmick offense. The Tennessee coach made it so easy for him to succeed. All he had to do was look at his first option and throw it to him. I saw a PFF stat that he only made 15 total passes to his 2nd read on the field. He’ll have to do that at least 15 times a game in the NFL. 

There’s not a lot of blue chip prospects in the draft, similarly to last year. Bijon Robinson is one of the blue chippers IMO. When the choice boils down to taking a decent OL, or someone who will be a bell cow feature back, I’d take the back. 

Yeah, for sure, the Tennessee offense makes a QB look good. His ability to process a progression is in question, but only because he wasn't asked to. But sounds like he's got great mechanics a quick release and great arm strength. Those things probably weren't at the top of my wish list five years ago, but they do seem to be a fairly reliable evaluation tools right now. And he can scramble. QBs play forever these days though, so his age doesn't bother me.

I'd also take the back over the OL. If Robinson fell, I'd be interested. Likely not my top choice, but he'd be exciting.

[nicksaviking]

Assuming it's not a QB, my top choices are front seven players. I see Myles Murphy all over the board, but he's probably my top choice. I'd bet he's more likely to go top ten than bottom ten though.

I want some beef upfront, but Bryan Breese is probably the only true interior guy I want in the first round, and I only assume he could fit our system. Maybe he doesn't. I'd LIKE to like Calijah Kancey more, but I have a tough time getting over his size. I suppose if the Vikings picked him everyone would make John Randle comparisons and he'd end up being my new favorite player despite my feelings now. Nolan Smith and BJ Ojulari are my other favorite edge guys. I suppose I should also like Lukas Van Ness since the Big 10 has actually been pretty good at producing DE's lately. Not sure if he's a fit for our system though either. 270 is a bit light for a 3-4 DE.

I'm not looking at WRs but if they were to get one with a 1st round pick, I think Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the only one I'd want at this time.

They blow another top pick on a DB and I'll probably break my TV. This is the only organization that seems to think your backfield needs to be made exclusively of 1st and 2nd round picks. Every other team has 3rd, 4th, 6th UDFA guys making up their backfield, but not this one. Two front offices in a row too. Those guys are the RBs of the defense, they're mostly a product of the system.

[Mike Sixel]

I prefer a trade down, and getting more draft capital next year. Same with Cook and Zadarius.... Get more picks next year. Go get your QB next year.

My fourth QB , after the top two and Richardson, this year is the guy from UCLA.... And I'd take him in mid to late round two or later. 

[nicksaviking]

16 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

I prefer a trade down, and getting more draft capital next year. Same with Cook and Zadarius.... Get more picks next year. Go get your QB next year.

My fourth QB , after the top two and Richardson, this year is the guy from UCLA.... And I'd take him in mid to late round two or later. 

Dorian-Thompson does look interesting. Though I never know what to make of QBs whose stock drops with the draft wonks after the season ends. I do want an athlete at QB though. Assuming Young is un-gettable and Richardson is unlikely, a QB next year is a good idea, except for the fact that this organization is internationally putting a team together that should still finish in the second half of the draft. 

[Danchat]

Hey all, I've been working on my very own Mock Draft Simulator and it's currently up and running if you want to check it out. You can click here to go straight to it, or if you want to read up on the explanation of how it works, click here.

I whipped it up in the past month and a half, so it's pretty bare bones (no trading draft picks), but it uses my draft board (which you can find here). Here's a haul I just made:

 

[Vanimal46]

FWIW Ben Leber said on KFAN this morning he’s heard from multiple people in the organization that Will Levis is off their board entirely. There’s some truth behind the rumors that Levis has been bombing interviews around the NFL. Said that Levis does not have the attitude they’re looking for to lead the Vikings in the post-Kirk era. 

[Mike Sixel]

The Vikings have agreed to terms with CB Joejuan Williams 

He was the Pats' 2nd rd pick in 2019, but never was able to crack the starting lineup and was on IR last year after getting injured in camp.

I want a trade down into round 2, and then to pick the UCLA QB.....I just have a feeling he's good. (possibly not elite, though, so a bit of a risk)

[Danchat]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

The Vikings have agreed to terms with CB Joejuan Williams 

He was the Pats' 2nd rd pick in 2019, but never was able to crack the starting lineup and was on IR last year after getting injured in camp.

I want a trade down into round 2, and then to pick the UCLA QB.....I just have a feeling he's good. (possibly not elite, though, so a bit of a risk)

Take DRT in the 2nd round? Uh… I’d take him in the 5th, probably no higher. I get why people like him, but he profiles as a Day 3 prospect. Hooker is probably the guy if they take a QB in the 2nd round.

[nicksaviking]

5 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

FWIW Ben Leber said on KFAN this morning he’s heard from multiple people in the organization that Will Levis is off their board entirely. There’s some truth behind the rumors that Levis has been bombing interviews around the NFL. Said that Levis does not have the attitude they’re looking for to lead the Vikings in the post-Kirk era. 

That's a relief to me.

I'm still a bit worried that they may like Tanner McGee though. O'Connell won a Super Bowl with Stafford and has been fine with Cousins, so I do have concerns that he doesn't view the need for a mobile QB the same way I do. I really don't want another pocket statue though. 

[Mike Sixel]

11 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Take DRT in the 2nd round? Uh… I’d take him in the 5th, probably no higher. I get why people like him, but he profiles as a Day 3 prospect. Hooker is probably the guy if they take a QB in the 2nd round.

I get most disagree with me!

I got nothing to go on here but a feeling.