NFL Playoffs/Early Offseason

[nicksaviking]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

6 vacancies.  4 are absolute trash jobs.  Falcons situation is riding Penix and his wobbly knees.  And the Giants and the concussion bros.

Good luck.

The Giants are a stable organization though. And if Dart is above average, that could be a good team. If I was the top coach on the market, that's where I'd go.

Probably a good thing after all that the Jets didn't fire Glen. Them, Cleveland AND Arizona trying to hire coaches? Man, talk about throwing your career away. I'd throw LV into that group too, but it will have some attraction since Brady is there. Him not doing anything will wear thin real fast though.

[nicksaviking]

2 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Ya. I wouldn't hate it. I'm just not sure I'd love it? Like I said, if I'm trading that much, I want to feel much more sure. 

If Jackson is traded, I could very well see a defiant bounce back year. Not sure that bounce back would last more than a year though. Particularly if he can't run like he used to.

[gunnarthor]

I love Jackson but I didn't see a lot of ravens games this year so might just being imaging what was instead of what is, if that makes sense. 

[Vanimal46]

29 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

If Jackson is traded, I could very well see a defiant bounce back year. Not sure that bounce back would last more than a year though. Particularly if he can't run like he used to.

It's not like Lamar Jackson is gonna go from a freak athlete to 44 year old Philip Rivers. He's always going to be a running threat his entire career like Mike Vick. Lamar is already a great pocket passing QB too. I'd trade the farm for Lamar or Burrow if either one is realistically available to trade for. 3 1sts, McCarthy and/or Turner/Redmond. The upgrade at QB play alone would be massive. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

5 hours ago, gunnarthor said:

https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/top_news/vikings-qb-trade-ideas-2026

Viking page suggests trading for Burrow, Jackson, or Murray and the associated costs. Of the three, I think Jackson would be the best fit but both he and Burrow have massive salary hits so there would have to be massive restructuring to make any of those trades work. Depending on the duration, it may or may not end McCarthy's tenure. Realistically, I don't think any of them are realistic - the Vikings are going to go with McCarthy and a veteran backup. But I love the idea of Jackson running the Vikings offense. 

In the AFC, it’s been a generation since it’s been wide open. Think about it. Brady, Manning, Mahomes, others like Big Ben. So I was really pulling for Baltimore last night to give Jackson a real chance. I’ll pull for Buffalo this time but no confident in that. 

[Vanimal46]

3 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

6 vacancies.  4 are absolute trash jobs.  Falcons situation is riding Penix and his wobbly knees.  And the Giants and the concussion bros.

Good luck.

What are you hearing about the Cardinals job? They don't make any sense given the rebuild they already went through. Murray will be gone... Maybe to the Vikings if KOC wants a week 1 starter over McCarthy. 

Edit: Nevermind. I just need to read the thread to see what you typed before

[Vanimal46]

1 minute ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

In the AFC, it’s been a generation since it’s been wide open. Think about it. Brady, Manning, Mahomes, others like Big Ben. So I was really pulling for Baltimore last night to give Jackson a real chance. I’ll pull for Buffalo this time but no confident in that. 

I'm circling the wagons for the Bills as well. Been rooting for them the last 3-4 years but they kept on running against the buzzsaw Chiefs. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

9 hours ago, The Great Hambino said:

Some team with a seemingly fatal flaw is going to have to win the Super Bowl.

Thought experiment- I would be curious what you think the Vikings fatal flaw would be, had they signed Rodgers, and Rodgers played efficiently in 2025, and the Vikings squeaked out a few extra wins and made a wild card. Hypothetical of course. But this Vikings team with a dependable QB would have a punters chance this year? 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

5 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

I'm circling the wagons for the Bills as well. Been rooting for them the last 3-4 years but they kept on running against the buzzsaw Chiefs. 

Same. That divisional loss to the Chiefs in 2021 was crazy but crushing.

[Vanimal46]

I'm also rooting for Seattle because of Darnold. I appreciate what he did in his lone season with the Vikings and will root for him wherever he goes... Except whenever he plays the Vikings. 

[gunnarthor]

15 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Thought experiment- I would be curious what you think the Vikings fatal flaw would be, had they signed Rodgers, and Rodgers played efficiently in 2025, and the Vikings squeaked out a few extra wins and made a wild card. Hypothetical of course. But this Vikings team with a dependable QB would have a punters chance this year? 

Healthy Rodgers, the Vikings probably won the North. As it was, if we had won the second Bears game, both teams would have finished 10-7 and we'd win the tie-breaker (as I understand it). Healthy Rodgers wins the Steelers game as well. Maybe the Philly game. Anyway, we're at home but the fatal flaw would be how well does old man Rodgers deal with pass rushes? He likes to get rid of the ball right now, KOC calls pass plays that take a bit to develop. They would've figured things out during the season but that would be the big issue in the playoffs.

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, Vanimal46 said:

It's not like Lamar Jackson is gonna go from a freak athlete to 44 year old Philip Rivers. He's always going to be a running threat his entire career like Mike Vick. Lamar is already a great pocket passing QB too. I'd trade the farm for Lamar or Burrow if either one is realistically available to trade for. 3 1sts, McCarthy and/or Turner/Redmond. The upgrade at QB play alone would be massive. 

Vick had a great comeback year after the dog fighting stuff, but then fell off a cliff. He didn’t move like he used to. Not sure if that happened to Jackson this year, but I do agree, he’s a way better passer than most of the scrambling QBs. Hell, most of the pocket QBs too. 
 

I do wonder what he would have (could be) like in a wide open passing attack. Baltimore's Greg Roman/Todd Monkin offenses have mostly been super generic and archaic 1980’s run heavy schemes. One can only imagine if in his prime Jackson was on an offense that ran three or four wide sets making the other team run spread out nickel and dime defenses. Instead the Ravens stubbornly ran 12 formation with two TEs, and fullback and jumbo sets that let the other team flood the box with their best tacklers. 
 

The Ravens didn’t lose in the playoffs because of Jackson, they lost because Harbaugh stubbornly tried to recreate his very unlikely Joe Flacco/Ray Rice offense that won a fluke Super Bowl.

[TheLeviathan]

2 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Thought experiment- I would be curious what you think the Vikings fatal flaw would be, had they signed Rodgers, and Rodgers played efficiently in 2025, and the Vikings squeaked out a few extra wins and made a wild card. Hypothetical of course. But this Vikings team with a dependable QB would have a punters chance this year? 

Honestly?  Rodgers likely would have afforded KOC the luxury of continuing to call pass at an over 60% clip.

Teams that can't run the ball, control the clock, and give their D an edge lose in the playoffs.

I don't think it's a coincidence our defense found another gear at the same time KOC dusted off the run call portion of his playsheet.  I hope it's an enduring lesson.

[nicksaviking]

9 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

Honestly?  Rodgers likely would have afforded KOC the luxury of continuing to call pass at an over 60% clip.

Teams that can't run the ball, control the clock, and give their D an edge lose in the playoffs.

I don't think it's a coincidence our defense found another gear at the same time KOC dusted off the run call portion of his playsheet.  I hope it's an enduring lesson.

Despite how quickly Rodgers gets rid of the ball, I don't think he would have lasted long behind the Vikings OL. The guy looks and moves like an old man, I can't imagine he could take the beating McCarthy and Wentz took.

[The Great Hambino]

12 hours ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Thought experiment- I would be curious what you think the Vikings fatal flaw would be, had they signed Rodgers, and Rodgers played efficiently in 2025, and the Vikings squeaked out a few extra wins and made a wild card. Hypothetical of course. But this Vikings team with a dependable QB would have a punters chance this year? 

Rodgers wouldn't have survived the year behind this offensive line with how it played out.  Even with all the investment, it still had terrible depth.  And they had to lean on that depth a ton.

[The Great Hambino]

10 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

Vick had a great comeback year after the dog fighting stuff, but then fell off a cliff. He didn’t move like he used to. Not sure if that happened to Jackson this year, but I do agree, he’s a way better passer than most of the scrambling QBs. Hell, most of the pocket QBs too. 
 

I do wonder what he would have (could be) like in a wide open passing attack. Baltimore's Greg Roman/Todd Monkin offenses have mostly been super generic and archaic 1980’s run heavy schemes. One can only imagine if in his prime Jackson was on an offense that ran three or four wide sets making the other team run spread out nickel and dime defenses. Instead the Ravens stubbornly ran 12 formation with two TEs, and fullback and jumbo sets that let the other team flood the box with their best tacklers. 
 

The Ravens didn’t lose in the playoffs because of Jackson, they lost because Harbaugh stubbornly tried to recreate his very unlikely Joe Flacco/Ray Rice offense that won a fluke Super Bowl.

Yeah, imagine trying to contain Jackson while spread thin trying to defend a wide-open passing attack.  If he stayed healthy, it could be like a video game

[nicksaviking]

So oddsmakers have Flores the favorite for the Vegas job. It's probably a good take too as the Davis family has never had a problem thumbing their noses at the rest of the owners, owners who want to largely blacklist Flores because Flores refused to tank for the Dolphins so the Dolphins could fire Flores and better justify tampering with Sean Peyton.

On the bright side, the Titans have announce six interviews and none of them are Flores.

 

[The Great Hambino]

2 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

So oddsmakers have Flores the favorite for the Vegas job. It's probably a good take too as the Davis family has never had a problem thumbing their noses at the rest of the owners, owners who want to largely blacklist Flores because Flores refused to tank for the Dolphins and throw away his reputation by doing so.

On the bright side, the Titans have announce six interviews and none of them are Flores.

 

I heard something somewhere that brought up a good point I hadn't thought of before: as sort of a supplement to the Rooney Rule, teams can now get compensatory third-round picks if they have a minority coach/exec hired to be a head coach or general manager elsewhere.  For example, the Lions have an additional 3rd this year because Aaron Glenn got the Jets head job.

With Flores, it would seem that the Vikes could be in line for a similar pick (technically a pick each of the next two years, I believe).  However, his contract technically expired.  From what I heard, the rules aren't clear how this situation would be handled.  Could be an interesting development down the road

[gunnarthor]

I think losing Flores will be a big blow to the defense. Not sure how many people can run his type of defense. I hope he gets a head coaching job - he deserves one - but, selfishly, I wish the Wilfs would just make him the highest paid coordinator and he would stay. 

[nicksaviking]

32 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

I heard something somewhere that brought up a good point I hadn't thought of before: as sort of a supplement to the Rooney Rule, teams can now get compensatory third-round picks if they have a minority coach/exec hired to be a head coach or general manager elsewhere.  For example, the Lions have an additional 3rd this year because Aaron Glenn got the Jets head job.

With Flores, it would seem that the Vikes could be in line for a similar pick (technically a pick each of the next two years, I believe).  However, his contract technically expired.  From what I heard, the rules aren't clear how this situation would be handled.  Could be an interesting development down the road

That is interesting and could be what all the weird hold up on the contract talks are all about. The Vikings want to extend him so they get a pick if/when he leaves.

[nicksaviking]

23 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

I think losing Flores will be a big blow to the defense. Not sure how many people can run his type of defense. I hope he gets a head coaching job - he deserves one - but, selfishly, I wish the Wilfs would just make him the highest paid coordinator and he would stay. 

Possible we as Viking fans look back and wish they'd have kept Flores over KOC. Like we do with Tomlin and Childress.

Though, KOC is infinitely more likable than Childress. 

[Vanimal46]

36 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

I think losing Flores will be a big blow to the defense. Not sure how many people can run his type of defense. I hope he gets a head coaching job - he deserves one - but, selfishly, I wish the Wilfs would just make him the highest paid coordinator and he would stay. 

I imagine the backup plan is promoting Daronte Jones to DC, but I am concerned that the student won't be able to replicate the teacher's chaos scheme if he leaves. We're gonna have competition either way. Dallas will no doubt give him a ton of money as well to be their DC if he doesn't find a HC job this cycle. Flores might be ready for his next turnaround challenge. 

[gunnarthor]

So, apparently the Jets were the first team in history to not get an interception all season, but they were also the first team to lose it's last five games by 23 or more points each. I'm really surprised they didn't fire Glenn.

[Vanimal46]

3 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

So, apparently the Jets were the first team in history to not get an interception all season, but they were also the first team to lose it's last five games by 23 or more points each. I'm really surprised they didn't fire Glenn.

And their leading WR was Garrett Wilson with 395 yards. He was put on IR week 6... 

[gunnarthor]

18 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

And their leading WR was Garrett Wilson with 395 yards. He was put on IR week 6... 

How did they win 3 games?

[gunnarthor]

Interesting article from Dallas bloggers about how unrealistic it is that Flores' leaves Minnesota to come to Dallas. I basically agree. If he gets a HC job, he's gone. Otherwise, we will make him the highest paid coordinator and he will stay. 

https://www.bloggingtheboys.com/dallas-cowboys-coaching-staff/193468/brian-flores-defensive-coordinator-matt-eberflus-brian-schottenheimer-jerry-jones

[The Great Hambino]

32 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

So, apparently the Jets were the first team in history to not get an interception all season, but they were also the first team to lose it's last five games by 23 or more points each. I'm really surprised they didn't fire Glenn.

I'm not.  They made a horrible choice at QB in free agency, their best offensive player got hurt early in the season (and there's a steep drop-off to #2), and they traded their two best defensive players during the season.  I don't know of any coach - in particular a first-time head coach - that could succeed even a little bit under those conditions.  He deserves at least another year

[Mike Sixel]

19 minutes ago, The Great Hambino said:

I'm not.  They made a horrible choice at QB in free agency, their best offensive player got hurt early in the season (and there's a steep drop-off to #2), and they traded their two best defensive players during the season.  I don't know of any coach - in particular a first-time head coach - that could succeed even a little bit under those conditions.  He deserves at least another year

I kind of agree here. If you thought Glenn was a good choice, and he didn't lose the locker room, and was otherwise a good person, or whatever, I think you give him another year.

[Mike Sixel]

Cousins contact restructured. Will almost certainly be a free agent before the draft now. 

[The Great Hambino]

Fun fact: the Vikings ranked 27th in cap salary lost to reserve lists in 2025.  Every team lower than them made the playoffs