The Great Hambino

Someone once said that when a headline of an article or a news story asks a question, the answer is almost always "no". Oftentimes it's used to make baseless claims or accusations under the guise of "just asking questions". Sometimes it's used to manufacture a positive spin on a rudderless baseball franchise

Twins have shown interest* in Dominguez * - briefly, a month ago The fact that this even registers as reportable information tells you everything you need to know about the state of this organization's offseason. Get rid of Duran and replace him with an older, worse, likely more expensive version of Duran - I can't understand why anyone would ever doubt their stated intention to compete in 2026

He'd have been better off just staying in Carolina if we're going down that route

It's disappointing to me that everyone just defaults to 4-team divisions. They already have issues of imbalanced playoffs caused by weak division champions with 3 divisions per league; bumping that up to 4 only exacerbates the issue. You can justify it in football since the small number of games means you can't play everyone, so rewarding the champ of a smaller group that plays each other a bunch makes sense. With a bigger season and more balanced schedules, there's no need. If you want to have 4-team pods within an 8-team division for administrative purposes or identifying rivals that play each other a little more often, cool. But it can be like the NBA where the divisions technically exist but don't really mean anything

Which is why, for me, any "think of what the Vikes coulda done with Rodgers this year" argument falls flat. They would've had to ship him back from Europe in multiple pieces playing behind that empty husk of an o-line they were rolling out at that point in the season

I'd argue that 11/22/2012 was peak Jets

I wonder if he'd pair well with Kliff Kingsbury as OC. With the modest success he had with Kyler, I'd imagine he'd love to work with Lamar.

Wow, I really didn't think they'd do it

It's possible that at this stage of his career and after the Brinks truck he received from Atlanta, Kirk might be willing to trade off the guarantee of Day 1 starter status for a more realistic shot at a ring. If he limits himself strictly to places that will guarantee he's the starter, he's going to retire ringless. Personally, I don't think he has that mindset. But it's possible. I don't think being a bridge starter would be much of a limiting factor since he's definitely year-to-year at this point of his career. His days of multi-year guarantees are likely over

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

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

The signing of Arcia in and of itself is not a problem. It is a no-risk, low-reward proposition. That's perfectly fine. The problem is where the signing of Arcia slots in the sum total of moves the Twins have made this offseason in order of importance given that a) they have so many areas in need of an upgrade b) their stated intention to not use any of their most valuable assets to find upgrades at those areas of need via trade and c) their stated intention to compete next year. It also looks sorta comically bad that the Twins have now invested in cast-offs that the Rockies (Arcia), Marlins (Wagaman) and Pirates (Kriedler) have deemed unworthy of a roster spot. Be on the lookout for who the White Sox DFA next!

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

There's a nonzero chance they thought they were hiring Ozzie and are now too embarrassed to go back on it. Seriously though, if this is an attempt by them to address why they've been so bad at developing their own international free agents (seriously, it's been Arraez, Emma, and basically zilch else since their 2009 class), then I'm all for it

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

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.

If Flores does end up moving on, Gannon should be on the list of DC replacements. Maybe even Nick Rallis, Gannon's own DC that has been a very fast riser in the coaching ranks. Became a coordinator at the age of 29. Spent some time with the Vikes under Zimmer. Plus, HE'S FROM HERE!!!1!!

I would hate just about every step of this (other than the Texans going on a run), so this is probably what will happen

Maybe when you add them all up together you get one full measure. His statement makes a lot more sense if you think about it that way One quarter measure (Bell) plus two eighth measures (Orze/Jackson) plus eight sixteenth measures (Wagaman/Arcia/Kriedler/five other "value" bets TBD) equals one full measure! And no half measures either! I hope the turnstiles will be able to handle all the excitement

Some team with a seemingly fatal flaw is going to have to win the Super Bowl. This is as wide open as I can ever remember it being coming into the playoffs. Or maybe the Patriots buzzsaw their way through the playoffs because Drake Maye's lack of experience is a nonfactor and we're at the dawn of another insufferable dynasty. I'm going to hope that's not the case. Anyway, let's embarrass ourselves by trying to prognosticate this thing. I'll go first. NFC: Packers over Bears Niners over Eagles (for my own sake, I need the Eagles to get bounced ASAP. Jeffrey Lebowski was right about them) Rams over Panthers (yes, that's all three wild card teams. Like I said, I don't feel good about this) Seahawks over Packers Rams over Niners Rams over Seahawks (Darnold sees dead people) AFC: Patriots over Chargers Bills over Jaguars Texans over Steelers (Rodgers and pass rushes with a pulse don't mix) Bills over Broncos (Nix can't keep getting away with this) Patriots over Texans Bills over Patriots Super Bowl: Rams over Bills (I think the Patriots beat the Rams if they get here) I'm going to Vegas for the first time as an adult this week (once stopped briefly there on a youth group road trip in high school. It was ... weird). Hopefully my kids still have a college fund when I get back. They should probably start working on their jump shots just in case

Bah Gawd, that's Brent Rooker's music (I get your point, it's very rare)

No Mahomes, no Burrow, no Lamar in the AFC playoffs Josh Allen, your time is now

For starters, I'd keep the putrid screen game off the goal-to-go play sheet

I don't know if I've ever seen a designed run lose 19 yards without a fumble. I think the Vikes might have an insurmountable lead here

Happy for him. He coulda handled this turd of a season much worse than he has. I like getting to root for him