TheLeviathan

I hate that the Giants basically rolled up Daboll without any serious competition. Hines Ward is coaching? I had no idea. Dude is one of my all-time non-Vikings favorites.

I'm confused why Polanco moving to shortstop magically makes him a crappier hitter? People are aware he was so good at SS just a few years ago he garnered MVP votes right?

If nothing else....it's a bold choice. It might fail spectacularly, but I'm in favor of big, bold swings.

It's cute you think 800 people will get a piece.

They agreed that coffee is good and donuts are an acceptable breakfast food for in-person meetings. High level CBA terms are inevitable now.

Couldn't agree more. With our "do nothing" approach this offseason we need to utilize this season to gamble on some upside. Another "plays defense, but can't hit" old guy is the last thing we need. I'm a believer that defense matters, but I'm an even bigger believer that an offense that kicks ass every night is the best tool to win. The Twins run differential (4th best in the league) in 2019 is a testament to that. A relatively poor defense that year and they still won 101 games. The idea that you HAVE to play defense to win is demonstrably false. That said...go get Story.

I'll add to what the Nicks said: if we're not willing to sign a Trevor Story or some other big time bat who can field, I'd be totally fine with a Polanco/Arraez middle infield. What they can do offensively is a major boon and we saw that in our lineup not that long ago. Meanwhile, a no-glove husk like Andrelton Simmons was a black hole in our lineup day in and day out. I don't care if he was the Jesus of Shortstops....it ain't worth that black hole. This isn't your Terry Ryan "Everyone throw a SINKER!" pitching staff any more. The emphasis on infield defense can take a step back in priority. Ideally, sign a guy that can do both and keep Jorge at 2B. If you can't or won't do that, I won't complain about a MIF that can hit instead of the crap-fest we rolled out at SS last year in the name of defense.

What DeMeco Ryans did to Rodgers is one hell of an interview talking point today!

It's Kirby, Radke, Johan, and Knobby. Probably in that order and pretty close together.

Rhys Darby is hilarious.

Yup, I said it earlier, I think Spielman's biggest mistake was hitching his wagon to Zimmer and giving him so much deference.

Baseball is waning rapidly among kids. And those that do care about baseball don't care about MLB. Baseball's fandom is literally dying off with no one to replace them. A strike and lost games, with no pandemic to blame, are going to be another body blow to the future of this league.

Excellent news. I like this candidate a lot.

It looks like Oscar Isaac is totally throwing himself into the role. It could be bonkers. Marvel is setting up a supernatural/scary wing of their universe with Dane Whitman, Blade, Moon Knight, etc. That could lead to some seriously good stuff.

Looking forward to hearing anything you think is interesting!

I'd deal Cousins straight up for Hurts. However, Philly is looking to go bigger than Cousins with the capital they have.

The problem with the Saints is money and there is a good chance Seattle is restarting if Wilson is dealt. Cousins needs a ready-made roster with available cap room and the only spots I can think of that fit that are Denver and Cleveland.

Tomlin is one of the three best coaches in football.

With you on Kirk. I think Jimmy G is the guy who ends up in Pitt.

Those are reasonable amendments. My thought with Cook is Miami is desperate, hometown star, depleted depth chart, lots of draft picks. Trying to find the right spots for the best payoffs.

I struggled with that....are they lopsided or just speaking to the heart? I honestly didn't know what to conclude, hence my caveat.

That Dallas game should effectively end the idea Moore is ready for that promotion. Brian Daboll literally did nothing short of coordinate the perfect offensive game. They didn't punt, kick a field goal, or have a turnover. They scored touchdowns or victory formation'd. Hire the man!

I'm betting on the Broncos losing out on the QB carousel. I think Wilson ends up in Philly, Rodgers stays in GB, Watson doesn't go anywhere. In that case, they may be willing to take that gamble. But I'm good with the Cousins option too. I hope you're wrong about Ridder. I think people aren't seeing the talent there. He's so fluid in the pocket. At this point, I'd be cool taking him at 12. My only concern with him is that he's a little short on some of his deep balls.

Let's have some fun! How do we get our Vikings on the right track? I'm using Spotrac to do some roster management and I'm going full aggressive rebuild here: Hire Bills OC Brian Daboll as head coach. We saw him run circles around Belichek on Saturday night. He has turned Josh Allen into a running and throwing nightmare for defenses. Let him hire some smart, savvy coaches and let's get to work: Resigning Free Agents: I'm cutting everyone but two. That means Barr, Peterson, Conklin, Cole, Richardson, Hill, Vigil, Griffin, etc. They are all gone. I am resigning these guys: K Greg Joseph - 3 years 4.5M I like what I saw, I'll invest in keeping the kid around. P Jordan Berry - 1 year 1.2M Solid enough guy to keep That means we enter the offseason over the cap with dead money from Barr and all sorts of other moves. Here comes some more dead money but we do it for the children. By which I mean....future Vikings teams. Trades If you watched the finale of the NFL season you know this team can't stop the run: DT Michael Pierce to the Chargers for Pick 79 - This moves saves about 6M in cap room with 4M in dead cap and 2M the following year. Guy can't stay healthy and I prefer to just let Tomlinson go back to NT. Three team deal: QB Kirk Cousins to Cleveland, Baker Mayfield to the Denver Broncos, Picks 40 and 78 to the Vikings- The Browns are all-in and Baker isn't getting it done. Stefanski gets his man, the Vikings hit reset, and the Broncos get an upside play at QB for a 2nd rounder. This will save the Vikings 35M on this season but it allows the team to hit reset. SS Harrison Smith to the Bengals for Pick 57. This one is going to hurt, but at this point I'm gutting "Zimmer's Guys" from the roster. We eat dead cap hits of 7M, 5M, 3M, and 1.5M to do this but it saves 6M, 12M, 14M, 19M over the next four years. Worth it. Finally....and people will hate it but screw it.....RB Dalvin Cook to Miami for CB Nelson Igbinoghene and Pick 22. This will dead cap the Vikings 9M, 6M, and 3M so there are almost no savings this year but 12M and 13M are saved the following two years. We're out of cap hell and we're no longer relying on a back that simply can't stay on the field. (Tried to be realistic, maybe I was too generous with trade returns. Always hard to say) Free Agents (Projected available space 35M) 1. We need a veteran QB that can hold the fort while we develop the next guy. Daboll brings in a guy he knows (and we do too, you won't like it): 2 year deal for QB Mitch Trubisky for 6M. 2. DT Tim Settle from the WFT - young DT with 5 sacks this year. He can push the pocket and shown flashes, I want to invest in guys on the young side of free agency. 3 years 21M 3. S Terrell Edmunds - a talented safety from one of the league's best defenses. A ton of experience but still really young, 3 years 24M 4. CB Donte Jackson - another young player with upside and a glut at his position on Carolina. 3 years 24M. We may need to sign some cheap options for filler but there is room for that. Draft: Current picks are 12, 22 40, 46, 57, 77, 78, 79. 154, 184, 192, 207, 228 (using https://www.nflmockdraftdatabase.com/mock-draft-simulator ) Pick 12: DT DeMarvin Leal - a pass rushing dynamo. Who else is sick of seeing zero pocket push from our DTs? *Raises hand* Well. We just ended that. With Settle and Tomlinson we can ease the kid in. It wasn't the plan he'd be available, but since he is....we'll take the next Chris Jones. Pick 22: CB Kair Elam - a big, physical corner. 6'2 and feisty. Pick 40: QB Desmond Ridder - gutty, athletic, competitive player. Yeah, he didn't look great against 'Bama, but that was a low end D1 team against an NFL team. He played with guts and I'll take that with the talent he shows. Let Daboll work his magic. Pick 46: CB Daxton Hill - another tough, physical corner Pick 57: RB Isaiah Spiller - his shiftiness and vision as a runner are ridiculous. This kid is going to fit great. 77, 78, 79 - Vikings trade up to land EDGE Ebiketie and LB Brandon Smith from Penn State. First they deal 78 and 79 for pick 59 and 92. Then deal 79 and 92 to move back up to pick 61 to land the two players. The rest of the picks are roster filler. Roster: QB - Trubisky, Ridder, Mond RB - Mattison, Spiller, Nwangwu FB - Ham WR - Jefferson, Thielen, Osborn, Johnson, Smith-Marsete, Chisena TE - Irv, Ellefson, Davidson OL - Darrisaw-Cleveland-Bradbury-Davis-O'Neill basically unchanged (but poised for future cap room to change that) DL - Settle, Tomlinson, Watts, Leal, Robinson, Wonnom, Hunter, Lynch, Jones, Ebiketie LB - Dye, Surrat, Bradon Smith, Kendricks, Connelly, Lynch CB - Elam, Hill, Igbinoghene, Dantzler, Jackson, Boyd S - Edmunds, Bynum, Metellus, Hand Is this team going to make anyone super thrilled? Maybe not. I didn't take any OL so that's going to bug some people. (hated the options in the draft frankly) But we're younger, tougher, and more physical in the secondary. We got a LOT more athletic and havoc-wreaking caliber talents in our front seven (Leal, Smith, Ebiketie). We have a young, cheap RB. A future franchise QB (I hope) And....wait for it.....a team that might have upwards of 60-70M in cap space to build around an ascending QB.

My personal opinion is they had a cake schedule made even cakier by Covid and some well-timed matchups.