nicksaviking

Absolutely not. In no way should it be a surprise. A 35-year-old reliever who's spent most of his career in the minors and had one good MLB season? Gabriel Gonzalez was always the only thing interesting about the Jorge Polanco trade. We can cut ties here and not worry about the optics.

As a late Gen X kid who grew up constantly being told by the previous generation that my 80's-90's music, TV, movies, books and athletes all stunk and paled in comparison to THEIR music, TV, movies, books and athletes, I feel pretty immune to defensive posturing about these kinds of lists. Go, Buck, go. Hope you keep climbing that list. No sacred idols for me.

Even in his down season, he still had the fourth highest OPS on the team last year. So yeah, he does give pretty good production. And if he gets that on-base percentage back up in the .370 range like it was 2023-24, he's a really good player to have in the middle of the lineup. Also lost in last year, he hit left handed pitching really well. He actually had a 20% K rate against left handed pitching vs a 30% K rate vs right handers. Baldelli shouldn't have been platooning this guy ever.

Pablo has been great, and it was a good trade. But even if he's healthy, he'll a free agent at 32-years-old. Probably better to start looking for the next Pablo Lopez. Someone who's in their mid to late 20s.

Outside of agents, I don't think the QB hype machine is going to find suckers this year. At this point I'm guessing Ty Simpson doesn't even go in the 1st. There's no Sheduer Sanders for people to have widely differing opinions on either. After Mendoza at 1, I think QB stuff will end up being background chatter. Which is great as far as I'm concerned. Otherwise they cause the most manufactured shock and indignation for the network wonks to tie themselves in knots over trying to get views and clicks. Frankly, I'm tired of the NFL trying to turn the draft into a soap opera.

He’s very interesting, but I just don’t think a TE can meet his full potential in this offense.

I’m thinking at this point, my preference is to trade the 1st for a 2027 1st +. Next years class looks to have potential for multiple franchise defining players.

He’ll fall pretty far in the draft now. Maybe to the point where’s he’s a fun lotto ticket pick.

Hopefully 5D chess.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/report-vikings-anthony-richardson-have-mutual-interest Um what? Anthony Richardson? So JJ McCarthy's 'competition' is the league's previous version of JJ McCarthy? I don't buy it. Either this is a leak from the Richardson side, or the Vikings are sending a message to the team's with QBs they REALLY want. Also, as much as I'd like a shift in offensive philosophy, KOC's offense isn't any more suited to a scrambling QB then McVey's or Shanahan's is.

I agree, something changed. There's no way they drafted him unless KOC liked him. He really does seem like a kid playing with adults though. Maybe KOC incorrectly assumed maturity would develop more quickly? And I feel bad saying that stuff because I don't think he's a bad guy, he just sounds and carries himself like a guy without enough life experience and common sense. Which is extremely common for most men his age. Just not most professional QBs his age.

Yeah, all their interviews really have an underlying tone of they are moving on from him. I've seen enough to think he's on the Mayfield/Darnold path at best so I think it's inevitable, but unless they know they can land one of the big fish in a trade, they really should stop saying these things.

IF AZ releases him instead of trading him, I could see it, but I think it's a pretty different offense. I also forgot about Cousins. That's feeling more likely every day too.

But he's also a third underwhelming option in the corner outfield!

I have also been thinking that I'm not sure the Vikings brass should be talking so much about the QB position. They keep staying stuff like 'Everything's on the table', 'We're exploring all options' and 'Bring in someone to compete'. I'm ready to move on from McCarthy, but if he's legitimately still an option to start next year, they can't keep throwing this much shade on him publicly. Probably shut up about it for now until you figure out what you're going to do.

Ha, sorry, but I'm BARELY a Zach Wilson guy. Mostly only because this approach has worked with similar QBs before. I actually never liked him during the draft or any time since, but I'd be happy to try him over the has-been vets that can't throw it deep. My guess is Brissett gets traded. AZ went 1-11 when he started last year. They have the Rams OC there now, so I think they'll want to start fresh. That's where I'm predicting Garoppolo goes.

If we're doing the Jimmy G tier, I'd honestly rather have Wentz back. At least he can and will chuck it all over the field. And Jefferson averaged 7 catches on 10 targets and 95 yards with him. Those numbers actually were tracking better than they did the previous year with Darnold. And four of those five games were against Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philly and the Chargers, four killer defenses. Anyway, seems Jefferson would get fed enough. Probably can't do Wentz though as it would be a big PR hit. They all but said they want better, before it became clear that better isn't realistic. I'd guess Jacoby Brissett won't be released but it's possible. His stats were almost entirely garbage time last year and his teams don't look very competitive when he starts, but he certainly could get Jefferson the ball. But if we're just playing in this tier maybe I roll the dice on Trubisky or Zach Wilson to see if they have some late career juice that was never previously realized? Russell Wilson could would be a cancer. I don't want to be cute and try Flacco for the human interest story. I don't want Mariota any more than I want Garappolo. I don't want Tyrod Taylor; poor accuracy and can't push the ball down the field. No Gardner Minshew, no Kenny Pickett, no Teddy Bridgwater. Man, it's just a sea of noodle-armed indecisive has-beens. No offense Teddy, you're an actual great human being we should all look up to. Yeah, it's ugly as far as 'veteran competition' goes. That's why I was annoyed when the Vikings started talking about such things. Did they not look and see that there weren't any good options? As far as drafting one late, I guess the Vikings could carry three QBs but I'd prefer they didn't again.

So there are questions about Rueben Bain's arm length. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48033088/rueben-bain-jr-says-nfl-teams-focused-play-not-arm-length Last time I remember that being a big talker for a defensive player was when Sharrif Floyd was expected to be a top ten pick then fell to the Vikings at 23.

I'd say they are deeply unserious about improving the offense if they give Clemens regular at bats.

Great work Levi. Not a big fan of Garoppolo, he's just got such a weak arm. Also, if they're looking for a 'leader' type, he has a pretty bad rep of being aloof and un-engaged. While I'm all for beefing up the defense through the draft, I'm not sure I go defense with the first four picks. At this point I feel pretty confident that Flores doesn't trust rookies or any young players actually. After all of those years of bad drafts, I'm not sure about the top four picks this year being off the field more than they are on the field. I do like Hunter, Smith and Genesis though. Also your next three picks, Slaughter, Lance and Klubnik would be great. Though in this scenario, I'd presume Klubnik would need to pass through waivers to get to the practice squad. That might be tough.

Considering last year caused a huge player sell off, the firing of a manager and ultimately the resignation of the POBO, I'd say last season was much more important. We won't see dramatic changes like that again any time soon.

Hard no for me, that's what's been frustrating all off season.

Sure, like Kaelen Culpepper? There was only six hitters in free agency I had any interest in this team signing at any price, so I'm more than finished with a waiver add of any kind. Roll with what we have and start cutting the chaff as soon and as often as possible. Don't add more chaff.

I think you need to give percentages to E-Rod, Culpepper and Jenkins. Not because it would be prudent, or because they should. Not because the manager or GM wants them, but ownership clearly is trying to bring the fans back and top prospects are always an easy boost for tickets, jersey sales and viewers. No clue to what degree, but exponentially more than Outman, Arcia and Wageman.

The problem is he didn't cap it with the no hitter. He basically destroyed his shoulder in the effort to do so, but tried to hang on for another half season. The guy came back after missing a full season of being injured. He had a 2.31 ERA after the no-hitter and would have probably been the front runner for another CY Young at that time. But then lost 5 MPH on his fastball and got shelled in those last ten starts making the rest of his season forgetable. If after the game he'd have been placed on the IR and he never pitched again, ending his career on that no-hitter would have been one of the game's most memorable moments and he'd have gotten the Koufax/Puckett treatment into Cooperstown. Ten games made the difference between a first ballot pass and first ballot exit.