2022 Vikings Off-Season Thread

[Mike Sixel]

I'm warming to Harbaugh.......though again, I think we really don't know much out here away from interviews.

I'd consider not blowing it up....but I don't know how to sign a couple good players with the cap situation.....I would NOT extend Smith or Thielen to clear money (I'd trade them both if I could). I'd 100% deal Cook if I can get a pick in the top 45 or so. 

They need 2 DL, another WR (if they deal Thielen, maybe even if they don't), and 2-3 CBs. I'm not sure how you do that given their situation......

[Danchat]

46 minutes ago, yeahyabetcha said:

Weren’t the Cowboys the 3 seed??  Not that it really matters….

Yup, you’re right, got that mixed up.

[Vanimal46]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm warming to Harbaugh.......though again, I think we really don't know much out here away from interviews.

I'd consider not blowing it up....but I don't know how to sign a couple good players with the cap situation.....I would NOT extend Smith or Thielen to clear money (I'd trade them both if I could). I'd 100% deal Cook if I can get a pick in the top 45 or so. 

They need 2 DL, another WR (if they deal Thielen, maybe even if they don't), and 2-3 CBs. I'm not sure how you do that given their situation......

I’m not really warming up to Harbaugh yet, but it’s not like I’m a HC expert. I do agree with @nicksavikingif this fails, we will change course quickly. 

[gunnarthor]

Wow. Flores just hit the NFL with a heck of a lawsuit. 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33194862/brian-flores-sues-nfl-others-former-miami-dolphins-coach-alleges-racism-hiring-practices

First, his lawyers are really, really good. Second, the allegations against the Dolphins owner might be enough to force him to sell the team. Flores alleges that the Giants interview with him was a sham because they had already planned on hiring a different, white, coach. He has texts from Bellichek to support that. I'm sure Bellichek will love to be deposed in this lawsuit. There's a link to the complaint in that article, for those who are interested. 

[nicksaviking]

Yeah this should be fun.

I feel guilty that I enjoy watching the sport so much because the league is run like the mob and I actively cheer for the owners and commissioner to finally get what's coming to them. Blatantly lying about everything, covering up absolutely atrocious offenses and acting like they're above the law; if non-billionaires pulled half the crap they did, they'd be in and out of prison regularly.

[TheLeviathan]

It's clear KAM wanted Harbaugh.  If this is his guy, then I'm good with that.  Captain Comeback, if nothing else, is one entertaining dude.

Bring on Fangio for the defense and let's have some fun!

[gunnarthor]

13 hours ago, TheLeviathan said:

It's clear KAM wanted Harbaugh.  If this is his guy, then I'm good with that.  Captain Comeback, if nothing else, is one entertaining dude.

Bring on Fangio for the defense and let's have some fun!

Yeah, this is more or less where I am on Harbaugh.

If we hire him, I think the Vikings will hang onto Cousins and Harbaugh will push to have a wide open, scoring offense, knowing that the defense is what it is. Harbaugh has won with middling to good QBs before and I suspect he'd keep Cousins. 

[cHawk]

11 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

Yeah, this is more or less where I am on Harbaugh.

If we hire him, I think the Vikings will hang onto Cousins and Harbaugh will push to have a wide open, scoring offense, knowing that the defense is what it is. Harbaugh has won with middling to good QBs before and I suspect he'd keep Cousins. 

I’m not sure about that. He might prefer Mond.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Yeah if the new GM wants Harbaugh, then let’s roll already. Not a Harbaugh fan but I can live with that.

[gunnarthor]

56 minutes ago, cHawk said:

I’m not sure about that. He might prefer Mond.

I hope you're right.

[nicksaviking]

1 hour ago, gunnarthor said:

Yeah, this is more or less where I am on Harbaugh.

If we hire him, I think the Vikings will hang onto Cousins and Harbaugh will push to have a wide open, scoring offense, knowing that the defense is what it is. Harbaugh has won with middling to good QBs before and I suspect he'd keep Cousins. 

I think Harbaugh will want a mobile QB. 

And I'm sure the new GM won't want to continue kicking the can down the road on the past front office's mistakes.

[Danchat]

2 hours ago, cHawk said:

I’m not sure about that. He might prefer Mond.

It’s hard to say, It might take a year of development in Harbaugh’s system for him to decide how much he likes Mond. I think there is a higher chance of Kirk staying if Harbaugh is the guy, but I would hope they let him play out his contract. If Jim can get the most out of average QBs, no need to pay that QB $35M+ a year on a new deal.

[Mike Sixel]

Question from another site:

Would you deal Jefferson for the #1 pick this year? There is no QB.....but is there a DL that you think is one of the five best in the game, give or take? If so, would you deal him?

I vote no, but if the GM thinks one of these DL is a beast, then he better be right....

[TheLeviathan]

14 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Question from another site:

Would you deal Jefferson for the #1 pick this year? There is no QB.....but is there a DL that you think is one of the five best in the game, give or take? If so, would you deal him?

I vote no, but if the GM thinks one of these DL is a beast, then he better be right....

I would not.  A sure thing is worth keeping.

Now, deal him for the 1st overall and then trade back to load up?  Sure, I might consider that.  This is a class deep in pass rushers.

[TheLeviathan]

3 hours ago, gunnarthor said:

Yeah, this is more or less where I am on Harbaugh.

If we hire him, I think the Vikings will hang onto Cousins and Harbaugh will push to have a wide open, scoring offense, knowing that the defense is what it is. Harbaugh has won with middling to good QBs before and I suspect he'd keep Cousins. 

I also think Harbaugh is coming with the idea of Cousins as his QB.  But Cousins is going to have to work with the team to bring his cap number down.  This offense has all the pieces but he has to recognize the defense needs serious investment.

BTW, Harbaugh won with Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick.  We have to stop thinking like the robots Mike Zimmer turned us into....good coaches will coach their players, not insist on getting stuck in boxes of their own making.

[gunnarthor]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

Question from another site:

Would you deal Jefferson for the #1 pick this year? There is no QB.....but is there a DL that you think is one of the five best in the game, give or take? If so, would you deal him?

I vote no, but if the GM thinks one of these DL is a beast, then he better be right....

Man,  I think I'd want more then just one pick, even #1. 

[Mike Sixel]

9 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

Man,  I think I'd want more then just one pick, even #1. 

How about to the Jets for 4 and 35? That's two starters (if you trust your GM) for one. 

[gunnarthor]

15 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

How about to the Jets for 4 and 35? That's two starters (if you trust your GM) for one. 

Assuming this means a complete tear down, trade Hunter and Cousins* as well? Man, I'm glad I'm not a GM. At #4 you could hopefully get either Kayvon Thibodeaux or Kyle Hamilton. At 12, you hope one of the WR falls, you can nab a corner, or an edge (George Karlaftis or Travon Walker) if you didn't get Thibodeaux. I have no idea what you'd get at 35 but it'll be a nice piece. I'm honestly not sure. Probably depends on how the new GM sees things but I'd lean towards trading everything and starting over in that scenario. 

* I have no idea what a trade of either would bring back.

[Mike Sixel]

I'm almost leaning to "this is fixable" lately, which shows just how long it has been since the Detroit fiasco........and also how much I felt Zimmer was the main issue.

[TheLeviathan]

1 hour ago, Mike Sixel said:

I'm almost leaning to "this is fixable" lately, which shows just how long it has been since the Detroit fiasco........and also how much I felt Zimmer was the main issue.

For sure, your examples are highlighting this for me too.  I love Justin Jefferson but if I thought this team was a lost cause I'd trade him for 4 and 35 in a heartbeat along with a total teardown.  But that's not how I feel....I feel like we're some young pass rushers (a good draft for that), some solid corners, and a shift in defensive playcalling from making this team pretty interesting.

The offense is a guard/center from being a really, really dynamic unit.  And the defense has talent, it just needs fresh eyes and, frankly, a defensive playcaller with more ability to develop young guys.  (Looking at you Mr. Fangio)

[Danchat]

 

It seems like it's not happening... well, this will go down as a memorable few days of hype. Morris, O'Connell, and Graham are left as finalists... I would be happy with either of the Rams guys.

[TheLeviathan]

I'm more than a bit stunned by that.

[cHawk]

Looks like Harbaugh’s going back to Michigan. sigh…

[Danchat]

Unsurprisingly, the Vikings will follow the trend of picking OCs and former QBs as HCs. It's hard to have much of an opinion on O'Connell, since he hasn't called plays in his 2 years as Rams' OC, but you have to hope he'll follow the footsteps of other McVay branches like LaFleur and Taylor.

[Vanimal46]

Is Harbaugh heading back to Michigan after burning that bridge? Talk about awkward. 

[Vanimal46]

 

[Vanimal46]

I like reading this! 

[Mike Sixel]

This isn't about one or two years  I'm baffled at some of the tweets implying that. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

On Harbaugh, I went from zero to sixty, and now back to zero, in the span of about 72 hours. I sure did talk myself into circles on that one.

[Vanimal46]

36 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

This isn't about one or two years  I'm baffled at some of the tweets implying that. 

What tweets are you seeing? Hiring O’Connell signals to me that a rebuild is imminent. Which is a great thing. It was my biggest fear hiring Harbaugh instead - where we keep Kirk and continue doing patch jobs to fight for the 7th seed.