2022 Vikings Off-Season Thread

[gunnarthor]

16 hours ago, alexthegreat said:

09/11/2022 - Packers
09/19/2022 - at Eagles (MNF)
09/25/2022 - Lions
10/02/2022 - at Saints (London)
10/09/2022 - Bears
10/16/2022 - at Dolphins

WEEK 7 BYE

10/30/2022 - Cardinals
11/06/2022 - at Commanders
11/13/2022 - at Bills
11/20/2022 - Cowboys
11/24/2022 - Patriots (Thanksgiving)
12/04/2022 - Jets
12/11/2022 - at Lions
12/18/2022 - Colts
12/24/2022 - Giants (Christmas Eve)
01/01/2023 - at Packers (New Year's Day)
01/08/2023 - at Bears

Not the hardest schedule. Seems like 14-3 is realistic. 

[nicksaviking]

When you only see two away games on the schedule that make you wince, and one of them is the annual game in GB, you’ve got a really easy schedule.

[TheLeviathan]

18 hours ago, nicksaviking said:

When you only see two away games on the schedule that make you wince, and one of them is the annual game in GB, you’ve got a really easy schedule.

My take too.

[gunnarthor]

Hadn't realized that the Patriots game was on Thanksgiving, despite it actually saying that. Should be a fun game, I love turkey day football.

[gunnarthor]

Jack Del Rio, showing that he's never the smartest person in a room, should be fired, per Souhan.

https://www.startribune.com/jack-del-rio-commanders-vikings-linebacker-should-watch-his-career-bite-the-dust-jim-souhan/600180895/?fbclid=IwAR12ot3Bmi8Dr1YNVgkMlWUckYVq-xKU1KtzBTa6aZ1x4b1UaylzJkwXhGs

I tend to agree.

[nicksaviking]

It’s just weird that a guy is a coach and can fundamentally fail on such a grand scale to empathize and care to understand 60% to 70% of the players he’s supposed to connect with.

[Vanimal46]

Interesting visual. No chance Thielen sees the end of his contract without a restructure. I’d say the same for ZaDarius Smith. 

[Danchat]

3 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Interesting visual. No chance Thielen sees the end of his contract without a restructure. I’d say the same for ZaDarius Smith. 

They've already restructured his deal twice, as most of his 2023 salary is guaranteed... another restructure would make his 2024 cap hit even more ridiculous. He's probably still a Viking in 2023. 

[Vanimal46]

Sad to see, really. 2 guys who were at the top of the NFL now scrounging for pocket change because they blew all of their money. 

[Mike Sixel]

2 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

Sad to see, really. 2 guys who were at the top of the NFL now scrounging for pocket change because they blew all of their money. 

That is sad. Yikes.

[Danchat]

A 2024 5th for Mayfield? Yeah, he was bad last year, but when healthy (he certainly wasn't last year) he can be an average QB - which for $5M and a late pick in 2 years is an incredibly reasonable price. The Panthers still probably won't be that good, but they did well to wait until the Browns were desperate.

[Vanimal46]

31 minutes ago, Danchat said:

A 2024 5th for Mayfield? Yeah, he was bad last year, but when healthy (he certainly wasn't last year) he can be an average QB - which for $5M and a late pick in 2 years is an incredibly reasonable price. The Panthers still probably won't be that good, but they did well to wait until the Browns were desperate.

There were really only 2 destinations he could have gone to. Carolina and Seattle; the latter appears to be perfectly fine with tanking the upcoming season. 

I agree with you that Carolina likely won’t be very good. Baker talent wise is a massive upgrade over Darnold, and they got him for pennies on the dollar. Good for them. The Browns will always find a way to shoot themselves in the foot. 

[Danchat]

22 hours ago, Vanimal46 said:

There were really only 2 destinations he could have gone to. Carolina and Seattle; the latter appears to be perfectly fine with tanking the upcoming season.

Well, they may be "tanking" at the QB position, but they're probably still going to win enough games (6-7 I'd guess) and Pete Carroll isn't going to concede anything. I think his days of being a top 10 coach are over, but I still think he'll get enough out of Seattle's roster to make them not terrible but also lose out on a nice draft pick.

Conversely they could have went down the Bears path, which I actually think is too far in the blatant tank direction. Fields is being left out to dry, they have maybe 2 above average players on offense. They didn't even try to add young talent in free agency and they didn't even get a high 1st round pick in the 2022 draft.

[cHawk]

The Cardinals just gave Kyler Murray a big extension of 5 years, $230.5M. $160M of that is guaranteed. The average annual value of this deal is the second-highest in the NFL.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34275993/arizona-cardinals-star-kyler-murray-agrees-2305-million-deal-now-nfl-richest-qbs-source-says?platform=amp

The Cardinals must really believe in him given that they’re paying him more than Allen and Mahomes.

[nicksaviking]

I wasn’t a fan of Murray when he came out of college, (sorry, I’ve got size discrimination issues) but thought he was going to prove me wrong after year two.

I’m back to feeling that he’s going to be one of those guys who put up impressive numbers, but doesn’t have that intangible factor to lead his team to sustained success.

 

[cHawk]

3 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I wasn’t a fan of Murray when he came out of college, (sorry, I’ve got size discrimination issues) but thought he was going to prove me wrong after year two.

I’m back to feeling that he’s going to be one of those guys who put up impressive numbers, but doesn’t have that intangible factor to lead his team to sustained success.

Agreed, at least while Kingsberry is his coach, because Kingsberry-led teams aren’t exactly known for finishing the season strong. The Rams defense completely smothered Murray.

[Mike Sixel]

17 hours ago, cHawk said:

The Cardinals just gave Kyler Murray a big extension of 5 years, $230.5M. $160M of that is guaranteed. The average annual value of this deal is the second-highest in the NFL.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34275993/arizona-cardinals-star-kyler-murray-agrees-2305-million-deal-now-nfl-richest-qbs-source-says?platform=amp

The Cardinals must really believe in him given that they’re paying him more than Allen and Mahomes.

Inflation is real in the NFL given the ever increasing revenue. Cousins looks like a bargain already. 

[cHawk]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Inflation is real in the NFL given the ever increasing revenue. Cousins looks like a bargain already. 

Given how much Murray got and Watson (who hasn’t played football in over a year) got, just imagine how much Jackson, Herbert, and Burrow could be getting

[Danchat]

Yikes, that's more than Mahomes is getting in both APY and guaranteed money - this is getting ridiculous. I'd feel better about this if Murray had any sort of postseason success, but the last we saw him he was getting crushed in the playoffs and reportedly not doing a very good job of being a leader. It's seemed like injuries have brought his play down in the second halves of the 20 and 21 seasons, so he needs to stay healthy to earn that money.

On 7/21/2022 at 5:45 PM, cHawk said:

Kingsberry-led teams aren’t exactly known for finishing the season strong.

No kidding: 

 

On 7/22/2022 at 8:07 AM, Mike Sixel said:

Cousins looks like a bargain already.

Eh, it was only a one year extension, so they'll probably need to extend him again next year (since the past two times they haven't waited until his deal ran out). He'll probably ask for $40M+ it will be have to be fully guaranteed...

[Vanimal46]

Training camp starts on Wednesday. Holy cow where did this summer go? 

[cHawk]

Julio Jones to Tampa Bay

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34298442/julio-jones-signing-deal-tampa-bay-buccaneers-source-says?platform=amp

[cHawk]

Seattle has extended DK Metcalf (3 years, $72M). Hmm…interesting. I thought the Seahawks were in for a long rebuild. Maybe they plan on being competitive sooner than I thought?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34308998/source-dk-metcalf-seattle-seahawks-reach-three-year-72-million-extension?platform=amp

[Mike Sixel]

14 minutes ago, cHawk said:

Seattle has extended DK Metcalf (3 years, $72M). Hmm…interesting. I thought the Seahawks were in for a long rebuild. Maybe they plan on being competitive sooner than I thought?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34308998/source-dk-metcalf-seattle-seahawks-reach-three-year-72-million-extension?platform=amp

I can't imagine what JJ will get ... 

[Danchat]

8 hours ago, cHawk said:

Seattle has extended DK Metcalf (3 years, $72M). Hmm…interesting. I thought the Seahawks were in for a long rebuild. Maybe they plan on being competitive sooner than I thought?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34308998/source-dk-metcalf-seattle-seahawks-reach-three-year-72-million-extension?platform=amp

They probably are in for a rebuild, but Metcalf was potentially 1, if not 2 years away from hitting the market, so inking a deal now makes sense since teams are paying top free agent rates on WRs. Seems like some guys are fine playing for inferior offenses if they're getting the dough (see Tyreek Hill).

Pretty crazy how the WR market was triggered by the Jags signing Christian Kirk! This was probably going to happen either way, but that deal is what broke the camel's back. Jefferson will be getting offered some big numbers next offseason and I wouldn't be shocked if they lock him in then.

[Vanimal46]

Interesting to see who takes over for him at The Athletic. Or if Arif Hasan takes on more responsibility on the beat. 

[cHawk]

Deshaun Watson gets 6 games

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/deshaun-watson-browns-nfl-suspension/tmgtu9pzyg2zjdbgn6wknzot

[Mike Sixel]

27 minutes ago, cHawk said:

Deshaun Watson gets 6 games

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/deshaun-watson-browns-nfl-suspension/tmgtu9pzyg2zjdbgn6wknzot

Seems light given more than 2 dozen women accused him of "issues"......I won't comment more on this for fear of a banning.

[Danchat]

The NFL/Goodell could appeal the decision to push it to 8-16 games... there's quite a bit of outrage about it. Problem was that there was no precedent, and the judge didn't compare the situation to others due to the lack of violent act(s) being committed. I agree that 6 games is light, but it could be hard to change.

Luckily for the Browns, their first 4 games are a cakewalk and Watson will be back for the harder part of their schedule... the AFC North will be interesting to watch.

[Mike Sixel]

Irv Smith is hurt again?

[nicksaviking]

On 8/1/2022 at 12:46 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Seems light given more than 2 dozen women accused him of "issues"......I won't comment more on this for fear of a banning.

From my limited understanding, the arbiter was only able to consider testimony from four of them, or something completely insane.

The NFL's awful and corrupt 'everything goes to arbitration' approach normally screws the players, fans and whistleblowers over. Somehow, someway, it seemed to help Watson.

Screw the NFL punishment, I hope they all go to civil court and he ends up having to give every dime he ever makes to these women.