nicksaviking

My problem is that option four seems way more likely. He's just mediocre. I think the chances he's great next year are next to none. He could be awful, but he'd almost certainly be better than last year, so that would put him in position to be mediocre. Daniel Jones, Tua, Murray and Love all got terrible extensions for being mediocre. The Panthers and Texans are up next to see if they have the stones to make the tough decision and cut bait on their QBs. The Vikings, who much like the Steelers, seem to be more concerned with not being bad than they are with being great, are extremely susceptible to making a poor decision here.

It has nothing to do with Houston's 100 AB's in MiLB. His draft profile said he had no power and his hit tool was very questionable. And I was also amongst the lowest enthused fans on this site about Lee. I didn't dislike him, but just like Austin Marin, he never profiled to be a major offensive force. But I am far from given up on Lee, he may have more pop than expected, and his offensive potential has always been miles beyond what Houston profiled as. But going after a Houston just seems like it defies big picture logic. If or when Houston, Lee or Martin were free agents none of them profile as a guy that is out of the Twins price range. But if this team is EVER going to win a championship, they need to somehow acquire guys who typically WOULD be out of their price range. They should be using their 1st round picks on those kinds of players every single year. Same when they trade away their top players. So if Houston doesn't profile to be a 'forever' shortstop, then he shouldn't be drafted in the first round.

If he never hits 'well enough' then how is he different than Ryan Kreidler or Orlando Arcia? Sorry, but Houston was a bad pick. Even if his batting average isn't awful, which is much in doubt, he's only a slap hitter. Shortstop is no longer a position where glove only players can survive, they tend to be amongst the best athletes in the league, therefore amongst the best hitters too. 14 shortstops had an OPS at .740 or above last year, and that didn't include down years for Mookie Betts, Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson and JP Crawford, who historically hit better, but still all had OPSs over .700. It shouldn't be too much to ask for the Twins to have a top 20 shortstop offensively. Slap hitting and questionable hitting Houston seems very unlikely to be a top 20 offensive shortstop. Bottom ten shouldn't be acceptable, it's not for other teams. The Twins can afford glove only shortstops. They have grabbed them left and right off of waivers the last several years. More than we can count. Therefore they should NEVER blow a 1st round pick on a guy who has a significant chance to be a glove only player at the majors. Because what the Twins can't (won't) afford are top end hitters. That's what they need to do with their first round picks.

So the Raiders significantly improved their defense and now they are forced to keep Crosby. They also significantly improved their OL. Their receiving corp sucks, but they should have a stud RB and TE. My hot take: they should trade pick 1.1 to the Jets and make sure to get the Jets 1st next year. I know lots of folks like him, but Mendoza is not in the same prospect class of Williams, Maye and Daniels, and those second tier QB prospects have largely been huge busts in recent years. That team might under-the-radar not be on it's way to being sneaky decent, but it will all be for not if they don't get the QB spot right. Not that I like the Raiders. But if I were a fan, that's what I'd be stumping for.

I'm guessing selling or keeping McCarthy would be pretty split amongst Vikings fans. You got my vote though. Full steam ahead for trying to find a franchise QB in 2027 again; I'm good taking away all temptations to do otherwise.

Way more concerned with his offense. Glove only SS's pass through the waiver wire weekly. The Twins currently have two of them I'm desperately hoping to keep off of the opening day roster. Is Gray good defensively too? No idea, and really don't care. Let's have some timely hitting and score some runs this year.

But only the breaking news they want you to know.

I would pay to watch Schefter get eaten. By angry chimpanzees preferably. He's the worst thing that's ever happened to sports journalism. Knowingly passing off league, team or agent propaganda, disinformation and flat out lies as actual fact based news so he can get a scoop five minutes before real reporters. So many others do it too now, but he was the one who started doing it unapologetically and somehow still has the nerve to deny it. Note I did say sports journalism. I had to include that bit as sports are still inconsequential compared to real world journalism fraud.

That would be fun. But I think a bad move by the Raiders unless they would actually entertain having Mendoza sit and watch to start the year. I really don't think Mendoza is all that great of a QB prospect. If you've got a Cam Ward type rookie who's struggling and looking bad, you can't have a big name and very well liked veteran behind him or fans and pundits will be calling to make a switch. Unless you want a legit competition, or you legit want him to sit and watch, this seems like a better spot for Brissett, or Taylor or Wentz. I'd have said Garoppolo but I doubt he's going back to Vegas.

Typically I'm for due diligence, but what's with the visits and physicals prior to announcing a framework of a deal? Willis, Pickett, Minshew, Trubisky and even Tua didn't do visits and physicals. And forget about QBs, we've just gone through three days of non-stop signings and no other player did visits and physicals prior to an announcement. This is a league minimum deal, there shouldn't be much in the way of caution here. And if he blows the physical, you don't sign the paperwork. My only concern with this dilly-dallying is that they Vikings are going to be in a really bad spot if they let another team waltz in and lure him away.

Hargrave released. The timing surely means they thought they might be able to trade him. Not surprising that they couldn't, he wasn't bad, but he wasn't worth what he was being paid. That lack of league-wide perception doesn't inspire me that they'll be able to get something good for Greenard.

I thought they had been better the last couple of years. Plenty of changes all over the defense since 2023. On offense I think they only extended Jefferson, Darrisaw and O'Neill which was good, and let the RBs and QBs walk. Which maybe wasn't good but I was on board with. Not this year though. Not only is Jones and Wilson and possibly Smith back, but they also brought back Pace.

The roster is so old they're close to having to blow it up next year regardless of what happens. Next year is seriously the last shot at hitting on a franchise QB before they have to trade Jefferson. He'll be 28 next season. There is no way around it, they have to manage a top QB in the draft or trade for an elite option. I appreciated they made a big swing with McCarthy, but it wasn't big enough and you can't follow up big swings with half-measures, which is what the team did last year and what it's doing now. Actually, I don't know if you can even say that what they're doing now is a half measure. Quarter measure maybe?

This is starting to feel like a Spielman era offseason. They don't have to put the band back together EVERY single year.

Trey Hendrickson, Josh Uche and Michael Clemons have all signed since the Maxx Crosby fallout. Might be running out of places to send Greenard if that's still the plan. Though I guess Uche has never really been a starter and Hendrickson and Clemons are more DE than edge rushers.

Right, it's a scary situation to be in for the fans. I know how badly most owners want to avoid being outright bad, but if you are putting yourself in position where you are tempted to pay a mediocre QB a salary cap busting amount of money, you need to walk away and try again the following year. The Vikings just can't end up in a spot like the Panthers and Texans are now facing, that Green Bay just stepped into with Love, what the Dolphins and Cardinals did with Tua and Murray and what the Giants and now Colts have done with Jones. Jones' two year deal probably can't be as disastrous as those others had the potential to be, but all you have to do is see what the Raiders had to eat for Geno Smith, who's ceiling was only ever going to be average at best. I think these NFL GMs need to also consider this lack of supply and consider if there really is this disparity between the average QB and the has-been QB. How many more games are you actually going to lose if you don't sign this mediocre QB and instead roll with a dollar store veteran? Andy Dalton played as well or better than Bryce Young. Same with Mills and Stroud and Willis and Love and Brissett and Murray. Wentz was better than McCarthy and even no-name undrafted Tommy DeVito wasn't any worse than Daniel Jones in New York. I'd guess the difference between say the top 6 or 7 QBs in the league and the number 15 QB in the league, is miles larger than the difference between the number 15 QB in the league and the number 50 QB in the league.

I'd like to know which side wanted the two year deal, because I suspect it's the Colts. The fact that he didn't get three like Mayfield and Darnold makes me think other teams haven't bought into the Jones renaissance. With Arizona, Miami, NYJ, Pittsburgh and our Vikings all looking for QBs, none of them wanted to do the transition tag offer sheet?

I kind of blame the NFL. They purposefully schedule all of the off season dates to make fans never lose interest in the league. By design they wanted this week to be a frenzied rush to open X-mas presents. They instead could enforce tampering rules so that free agency is more deliberate and even paced, like the MLB. The Raiders then wouldn't have been forced to spend all their expected cap money on the first day only to find out that Crosby is still in the picture. If the Vikings had a deal to trade for Crosby that was still pending, I'd have been begging them to back out too. Not a good fit schematically and a questionable knee while giving up two 1sts.

The asking price is going to feel painless after the offer of two 1sts!

Most likely due to a medical finding I'd guess? Unless Crosby made some late contract demands? I thought that it was a bad fit because I don't think Crosby is a stand up edge rusher in any sense. That wasn't just my take, Patrick Graham, his prior DC said the Raiders specifically stayed in a 4-3 defense, even though Graham's specialty was a 3-4 base, because it was what was best for Crosby. Maybe the Ravens had an internal discussion and came to the same conclusion.

I just think the track record for non-HOF pitchers in their 30's isn't that good. You'd be paying 30M+ per year for a pitcher past his peak.

Ha, but two hours later, Woolen, Elliss, Chanel and Jenkins are gone.

I take it back. I don’t want Rodgers, but it’s the same as Kyler Murray, I’ll take him over Brissett and Wentz. He’d also keep JJ off the field. I feel bad being so anti-McCarthy because I don’t hate him. I just don’t want to risk the very real possibility that he’ll be just good enough for the Vikings not to look for a long term elite QB next year.

Right. Does he save jobs though? Or cost them? I could see easy-going, player-friendly KOC getting absolutely steamrolled by a stubborn Rodgers.

I'd take Kirk, but not by much. His arm also looked shot. But he is still younger and maybe I could accept the excuse that he was rusty and still building up game strength.