nicksaviking

The Eagles hired former Vikings OL coach Chris Kuper for the same job?!?!? Wow, please let us be right that Kuper was in over his head and was huge reason for the disappointing line play the last four years. The Eagles having a terrible O Line would be beautiful to behold. Seriously, every time I think of the Vikings trying a tush push, I still picture Garrett Bradbury getting zero leverage and tossed backwards into the QBs lap. Every time I picture the Vikings running a screen, I picture three blockers standing around looking clueless and unsure who to block. It really feels like the worst person for the job, got the job. Of course if he keeps the Eagles line performing well, there's going to be a big glaring question for the current offensive mastermind of the Vikings. Who obviously doubles as the head coach.

Culpepper isn’t a SS now? This is overblown and happens with BA all the time. If a player isn’t upper 90% defensively, they say he can’t cut it at SS. Brooks Lee isn’t good defensively, but he’s not going to kill the season with his glove. He was better than Correa last year. We’re talking about giving up an extra run once every two or three weeks, this team needs to be concerned with his bat leaving runners on base once every two or three games.

Yeah, too many of the gatekeepers seem to enjoy the power they wield over these players. I agree that Eli isn't deserving, or at least he's much less deserving than countless other players, but I'm not dying on a hill to keep him out. But here is the utter hypocrisy of the voters. A QB with two Super Bowls used to be mean automatic entrance. I'm more than fine not letting Eli in despite his two, but then how they hell didn't they vote Ken Anderson in this year? He was a better QB than Ken Stabler, Terry Bradshaw, Bob Griese and Joe Namath, who is ONLY in the HOF because he 'predicted' his Jets would win the Super Bowl. I remember growing up and people talking about how legendary Joe Namath was for calling that win. What was everybody smoking, when asked if they think they can win a game, what self-respecting pro athlete would say no?!?! The guy had a career 50% completion rate and threw 50 more interceptions than TDs. Yeah, different era back then, but he just threw the ball a lot more than the other QBs, he didn't throw the ball better than the other QBs.

I'm sure they'll give him another shot to bankrupt a radio station.

Seems about right. The new owners immediate goal is certainly to reverse the revenue decline. I'll bet marketing to get people to the stadium and to watch on TV will be different this year. And yeah, new jersey's equal something new for fans to buy so while merch in the form of jersey's probably isn't a giant revenue stream, it will be a revenue stream. It's also why I think the top prospects are going to debut sooner than we expect, and sooner than usual. No one's buying a Kody Clemens or Austin Martin jersey, but they'll sell some Walker Jenkins and Kaelen Culpepper jerseys, and of course of most importance, if they can hit on an exciting prospect or two, that will put more eyes on the product.

I'll bet arbitration will be completely different, if not gone all together after the next CBA. This system has always been unfair to the players in largely their most productive years. Now after the Skubal case, the owners are going to be the ones crying foul after decades of suppressed salaries.

Brees and Fitz were the only 1st timers. Kuechly was on the ballot last year. I remember last year thinking he was good but not great, then looked at his stats and realized how utterly dominant he was in his short career. How can they only put FOUR modern day players in? It's ridiculous when there are so many guys deserving.

It was going to be hard with two 1st ballot locks. The NFL HOF is just the worst though. There shouldn’t be this many players waiting to get in that everyone knows will someday get in. And the politicking and back scratching reeks of corruption. Scrap the whole process, and design it closer to MLB. Where voters can pick up to ten players instead of only five they all try to negotiate about. Shouldn’t need explaining how the significant difference in roster sizes doesn’t make sense. Wow, did I just claim the MLB is doing something better than the NFL?!?

The Jones/McCarthy thought came to me when I was looking at dynasty fantasy trades and it occurred to me that that one actually seemed like something the real life Vikings might consider. And obviously I agree with you. And the if they give it more than a minutes though, they'll realize the Vikings are optically the WORST fit for Jones. If you have Jones as a starter on a one year deal, you're going to be getting Sam Darnold comps all season long. So then to correct that Darnold decision, they'd likely feel compelled to extend Jones, which.... I can't even continue. As for Burrow, I can all but guarantee that I am more than comfortable meeting the Bengals asking price. I hope there is a price. But just for fun, my QB roulette predictions are as follows: Daniel Jones re-signs with Indy. Cousins to Pittsburgh after Atlanta drops him and his 67M salary. Obviously only if Rodgers doesn't come back. They're going to try pretty hard for one of the very few competent available QBs. They didn't bring in a 62-year-old coach to rebuild. Mac Jones would be my second guess. Kyler Murray traded to the Jets for a latish round pick. Sorry Jets. Wait, no, sorry Kyler. Jimmy Garoppolo follows his OC to Arizona. I'd rather have Brissett, but LaFleur is a LaFleur so I'm guessing he's stubborn and is going to want his guy who knows his system. And LaFleur will probably whine a lot on the sidelines and make his mom roll her eyes every time she sees him do it on TV. Or maybe little brother was verbally assaulted so much by his big brother that he's actually built up some compassion and empathy and is a good guy. Brissett then gets traded to Atlanta to start the season while Penix is rehabbing (and then starting again at the end of the season when Penix is re-injured or ineffective.) Mac Jones gets traded to Miami where Bobby Slowik is running a Shanahan offense. And finally, like it or not, Tua Tagovailoa signs with the Vikings to 'compete' with McCarthy. I had Cleveland locked in for a new starting QB, but now I'm thinking they'll role with their stacked QB room of Sanders, Gabriel and Watson. They shouldn't but Cleveland only does what they shouldn't. Also, any of these guys already listed would probably try to avoid Cleveland at all costs anyway.

I've voiced my opinion that Mac Jones isn't anywhere close to a top end QB so I'm not interested. But I wonder, which side says no to a Mac Jones for JJ McCarthy trade? I mean besides me, because I'm irrational and want a fancy QB. SF would be losing a higher floor backup but getting a cheaper QB with an additional year of control and significantly more upside.

I completely endorse it. Of all the players brought back last year, Mendez was one of the least talked about, yet he was also one of the only prospects who played better after joining the organization. I'm not sure about the analytically inclined stats, but outside of hoping for more power, the back of his baseball card stats are pretty exciting. The hit tool showed up last year, the on base skills were great, he doesn't strike out and he even stole 10 bases. And the guy is listed as 6'3" 175lbs, so sure seems like there's room for a 22-year-old to add power. And a hitter trying a new position isn't like a starter moving to the bullpen. If he can't cut it at 1B, you can put him back in the OF anytime they'd like.

Update from ESPN. Stoutland indeed is looking to continue coaching. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/47832174/eagles-ol-coach-stoutland-says-return-next-season But unfortunately there's this too: Mannion is slated to install a new scheme that will pull from the Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan systems. Given that Stoutland doesn't have a history with that offense, he would have needed someone to bring him up to speed on the new system, a source noted.

Yeah, the entirety of his post sounded like he loved the Eagles and he was retiring. But noticeable absent from his quote was the word 'retire'. And then this line..... “I’ve decided my time coaching with the Eagles has come to an end. I wonder if he's still under contract though as the Eagles likely wouldn't allow him to make a lateral move if he is. Not sure why he'd leave Philly unless he DID want to retire, or at least take a year off, so it's possible he just didn't form his goodbye properly. I did find this nugget in a local Philly paper though: Stoutland is expected to maintain some involvement with the organization despite bowing out as offensive line coach, although other teams are reportedly interested in hiring him. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-15529595/philadelphia-eagles-coach-jeff-stoutland-jason-kelce.html Edit; Well, after that line, you find this one: New Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion will be bringing in his own staff this offseason after a poor year for the team in 2025, which cost predecessor Kevin Patullo his job. Stoutland was also the run game coordinator for the Eagles since 2018. If Mannion is bringing in his own staff, that probably means he has say in the run game coordinator. So if he wanted to name a new one, that could certainly be an impetus for Stoutland to want to leave. I doubt anyone would be opposed to the Vikings having a new run game coordinator. Wow, in the ten minutes it took to write and research this post I went from this is cute but never going to happen, to hey, this legitimately could happen!

Joe Flacco is sounding like he may be at a point where he'll only continue playing if he has a starting job. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/joe-flacco-well-see-whats-out-there-dont-want-to-sign-with-someone-for-the-sake-of-it “At this point, I don’t want to just sign up with anybody, I don’t want to just play football or be on the sideline for the sake of being out there,” In fact this quote almost makes it sound like he also no longer wants to play for a garbage team, which has pretty much what he has been doing since he left the Ravens. This all seems to be a departure from his last half decade or so in the league. Maybe it finally could be the end of the road if a non-dumpster fire team doesn't come calling this year.

Ha, Cole Irvin, the presumptive savior of the sinking 2024 season when the Twins left handed bullpen options had an average ERA of what seemed like 20.00. I'll bet few guys who only played four games with the Twins ever get to be the center of such a contentious topic as this memorable gem!

The Vikings lost Passing Game Coordinator Brian Angelichio to Pittsburgh, as he has been hired as their OC. If the Falcons release Kirk Cousins, he's going to Pittsburgh. I've seen reports that Atlanta may try to restructure Cousins contract, then cut him to save money then re-sign him. But I don't know why Cousins would want to go back to Atlanta. Not just because of the Penix stuff, but because they hired Stefanski. It's going to be an Arthur Smith run-heavy approach. I think everyone forgot that Stefon Diggs wanted out the year Stefanski was the Vikings OC. No idea if Cousins had any issue with him too, but it was easily the most conservative offense the Vikings have deployed since the Christian Ponder era. The team barely had 450 pass attempts all year. Normally they throw 550-650. Also, I guess that's my warning against drafting Drake London in fantasy next year.

The Pohlads haven't bothered to create a long-range plan for this team since they were threatening relocation trying to get a new stadium. Since then, clearly they've been winging it year to year. Maybe even month to month. Obviously that's not how you operate a business you care too much about. So, yeah, I agree the rug was pulled out from under Falvey. Pulled out from all of us; front office, fans and players. But I also agree it was time for a change. The Pohlads did briefly open up their wallets and resemble an upper-middle class team, but they wouldn't have had to sign those big contracts if the team could actually develop their own hitters. Fielding a talented homegrown offense is pretty much a requirement for every team that doesn't play in NY or LA.

Still 10 years later, I'm not sure who supposedly promised a pitching pipeline. Falvey came from Cleveland, they didn't develop a bunch of pitchers, it was like Danny Salazar and that was pretty much it. Just about all of their pitchers of note were traded for either when they were knocking at the door in AAA or already at the MLB level. And the Twins did some of that with Joe Ryan and now Abel, Bradley and Rojas, but then one upped Cleveland by not just trading for cheap young pitchers, but more expensive excellent starters like Lopez, Gray, Maeda and Odorizzi. Falvey got a lot wrong, there's obviously something systematically damaged with the offensive evaluation and development. But he did well on the pitching end, and with how unpredictable pitching prospects are, (TNSTASAP) yeah, this method works fine by me.

This always happens this time of year between the end of the season and then through the various exhibition bowls and up to the combine. Hunter was basically crowned king of the Senior Bowl and I'd guess he is a first rounder on most teams boards at this point. But since the draft pundits had him so low in their preliminary estimations, they are too tentative to move him up more than incrementally. So few of those evaluators are bold enough to go rogue on these rankings, they all tentatively peak at each others work to make sure they aren't some huge outlier.

Yeah, the Twins bullpens (prior to August's bullpocolypse) had been featuring guys who could miss bats AND avoided control issues. We can criticize the Twins for a lot of bad baseball, but they had figured out what made for good bullpen pieces. It was why Jovani Moran and Jorge Alcala stood out like sore thumbs. Grabbing Kowar looks like back in the day when the Twins thought they could fix fireballers with control issues. No, no you can't. Randy Johnson's happen once a life time.

***********Moderator Note************ That's enough, posts have been removed, so back on topic please.

I don't want a TE in round 1. Even if McCarthy isn't starting, I don't think a TE in this system will ever be high volume enough to use a 1st round pick on. I don't mind the offensive players in round 2. It's really frustrating that this organization hasn't been able to develop a new cheap, young RB since Dalvin Cook a decade ago. I'm on the fence about Price though; I really want a guy who can be electric catching the ball, and we have absolutely no idea if Price can do that. Also, he tore his achilles his Freshman year, kudos to him for coming back and being awesome. But that scares me as those injuries are largely genetic. This is really looking like a sparse skill position draft. The smart move may be to let the other teams reach for any QB/RB/WR/TE with a pulse and grab the best non-sexy players.

Does making a waiver claim just entail pressing a button? Because if that's the case, then I get it. It's quick, it's just a reflex, plus, pushing buttons is fun. If making a waiver claim entails analysis, evaluation and extra paperwork, then I don't get why the Twins spend 100x more effort doing this activity than they do all the rest of baseball activities combined.

I wouldn't transform them all into relievers, and I'd personally also do most of the ones you listed last, along with Rojas. However, the team has to start picking players and ripping the band aid off. But those five are never going to be making up a five man rotation. At some point it has to happen for most of these guys. And they don't seem to thrive until decision is done and permanent. The mid-season flip-flop never works for them. I'm sure they'll switch some of these guys over come July or August, but we'll have no idea if it will take until the following season. But Bradley? I think he's pretty close to making the switch. Three seasons with no improvement and declining strikeout numbers. A former top prospect AND a trade acquisition? Yeah, that's a double band-aid pull that no one wants close the rotation door on; he really reminds me of Trevor May.

I might swap out Bradley for one of them, but they have to start plugging in the numerous former or soon-to-be-former starters in there soon. The Twins best bullpen pieces have never come from shopping for bargain free agents, it's been from these overlooked and given-up-on internal options that turn into the high leverage relievers. There is no free agent left out there that I'd want over the Festa, Klein, Adams, Raya, Bradley, Morris, SWR, Matthews, Prielipp, Abel, Rojas group. There's way more upside, and it seems to be a much higher success rate building your pen this way.