Since Kirk Cousins' signing the veteran QB has played well but it hasn't resulted in a deep playoff run and the road to changing that is difficult without cap space
This article really lays out why this season cannot be viewed as a success. Based on their decisions this off season they acted like they were a contender. Losing in the first round to the 6 seed means that they were wrong with that evaluation.
I think the most likely outcome for the 2023 season is Coller's "natural tank". I don't think they will go full rebuild, but will try again to keep the aging roster together as much as possible and age /bad breaks finally catch up with them. My biggest worry is that they extend Cousins only for cap savings just to fit in Jefferson's extension. We will really see this off season if Kwesi is going to repeat the mistakes of the Spielman era.
Thanks Eric. Reality hurts but since Ziggy and Mark have owned the team it's always been good but not good enough. And the one playoff win could've been a loss very easily Rudolph also could've been called for PI. Always good to read your written work and when you've did a podcast with Matt.
Money, money, money... The Vikes need to do some major housecleaning ($$$) for a bright future. If we could trade Cousins (with his permission) for a few decent draft picks, I say do it. We need to rebuild and it will be painful. The big question is will the Wilf's allow it?
I generally agree with this article.. I do think this is overstated
> Garrett Bradbury, Ezra Cleveland, Wyatt Davis and Ed Ingram, all players who have flopped.
Bradbury was certainly over drafted (ie we spent too much capital on him), Cleveland has been acceptable and Ingram we only have his rookie year (a lot of OLs bloom late so just looking at his rookie year and calling him a flop is just lazy analysis)
That said, this is the perfect year to flop
1. Obviously dead money will hurt 2023 but lets clean up the crap.
2. We face a tough schedule and also 9 away games. We will not be doing well anyway.
3. We have some very solid young pieces (and maybe more as we really do not know what we have in Cine, Booth, Evans, Nailor yes, they might all be worth nothing but maybe they will be pretty good with some seasoning and health) . Asamoah looks like a starter from his limited reps
Again, the decision rests with the WIlfs. That simple. We can criticize Kwesi on the execution of a competitive rebuild but the mandate was from the Wilfs
Allowing Ed Donatell to enter the Stadium was the reason they lost. Wide receivers running wide open all over the middle of the field never should have happened. That game should have been 24-7 Vikings but for the defensive scheme. Never should have come down to 4th and 8. Vikings should have won that one going away. Keep the offense mostly as is, replace the Defensive coordinator, add an o lineman, 3 quality defensive backs and a 1 d lineman in the draft or through free agency and LETS GO!
Eric's not wrong but it's way more than just Cousins. Dropping him is just the easiest fix. Barr's cap hit was $10M this year. That was a debacle of a signing. We paid an RB. Is Cook worth $10M more than Mattison? We paid Michael Pierce and Sheldon Richardson and Kyle Rudolph and Jeff Gladney another $10M more. We convert salary to bonuses and push money into the future for guys. Or they have balloons at the end that make them completely untradeable. We spent a lot of money on a defense that was horrible. Dalvin Tomlinson's contract is over but we have 7.5 million more cap hit to pay. People relate to every bad cap hit as if Kirk made them do it. Almost no one not on a rookie deal is tradable for anything. They found that out before this year started.
I appreciate that it was brought up that it is the contract structure that is the ultimate problem. While an overpayment, the lack of flexibility from the short term, guaranteed nature of the deal is the real albatross that comes with Cousins.
Time to start the cleaning. Drop Kendricks and Hicks. Drop Zadarius, started great but disappeared 1/2 way through season. Drop Theilan. Drop Cook or trade if possible. That will get books much better. Let Kirk ride his contact out. Draft best DE or WR with your 1st pick, draft all D for rest. Natural tank season and pick your next QB in 2024.
The years-long trend of kicking cap hits down the road was dumb, period. The allocation of capital (draft and $) to RBs was criminal. The run of Elflein, Cleveland, Bradbury, the serial rapist, Wyatt and Samia was staggeringly unproductive.
The easiest way to win is to have a good QB on a rookie deal. However, executing that strategy is hard and can also result in being the Bears, Jets, Browns or Cardinals. Of the 14 playoff teams, only 5 are paying QBs, but it seems pretty likely Hurts, Danny Dimes, Burrow, Herbert and Jackson (by someone) are going to get paid this offseason. Being able to competently manage a roster while paying a QB is not a big ask--it's a key part of being a GM.
I like how he laid this out. Kirk’ss contract has really put a premium on being able to hit on modest free agent acquisitions and in the draft. We have sucked in the draft overall the past few years.
This article really lays out why this season cannot be viewed as a success. Based on their decisions this off season they acted like they were a contender. Losing in the first round to the 6 seed means that they were wrong with that evaluation.
I think the most likely outcome for the 2023 season is Coller's "natural tank". I don't think they will go full rebuild, but will try again to keep the aging roster together as much as possible and age /bad breaks finally catch up with them. My biggest worry is that they extend Cousins only for cap savings just to fit in Jefferson's extension. We will really see this off season if Kwesi is going to repeat the mistakes of the Spielman era.
Thanks Eric. Reality hurts but since Ziggy and Mark have owned the team it's always been good but not good enough. And the one playoff win could've been a loss very easily Rudolph also could've been called for PI. Always good to read your written work and when you've did a podcast with Matt.
Money, money, money... The Vikes need to do some major housecleaning ($$$) for a bright future. If we could trade Cousins (with his permission) for a few decent draft picks, I say do it. We need to rebuild and it will be painful. The big question is will the Wilf's allow it?
I generally agree with this article.. I do think this is overstated
> Garrett Bradbury, Ezra Cleveland, Wyatt Davis and Ed Ingram, all players who have flopped.
Bradbury was certainly over drafted (ie we spent too much capital on him), Cleveland has been acceptable and Ingram we only have his rookie year (a lot of OLs bloom late so just looking at his rookie year and calling him a flop is just lazy analysis)
That said, this is the perfect year to flop
1. Obviously dead money will hurt 2023 but lets clean up the crap.
2. We face a tough schedule and also 9 away games. We will not be doing well anyway.
3. We have some very solid young pieces (and maybe more as we really do not know what we have in Cine, Booth, Evans, Nailor yes, they might all be worth nothing but maybe they will be pretty good with some seasoning and health) . Asamoah looks like a starter from his limited reps
Again, the decision rests with the WIlfs. That simple. We can criticize Kwesi on the execution of a competitive rebuild but the mandate was from the Wilfs
Allowing Ed Donatell to enter the Stadium was the reason they lost. Wide receivers running wide open all over the middle of the field never should have happened. That game should have been 24-7 Vikings but for the defensive scheme. Never should have come down to 4th and 8. Vikings should have won that one going away. Keep the offense mostly as is, replace the Defensive coordinator, add an o lineman, 3 quality defensive backs and a 1 d lineman in the draft or through free agency and LETS GO!
Eric's not wrong but it's way more than just Cousins. Dropping him is just the easiest fix. Barr's cap hit was $10M this year. That was a debacle of a signing. We paid an RB. Is Cook worth $10M more than Mattison? We paid Michael Pierce and Sheldon Richardson and Kyle Rudolph and Jeff Gladney another $10M more. We convert salary to bonuses and push money into the future for guys. Or they have balloons at the end that make them completely untradeable. We spent a lot of money on a defense that was horrible. Dalvin Tomlinson's contract is over but we have 7.5 million more cap hit to pay. People relate to every bad cap hit as if Kirk made them do it. Almost no one not on a rookie deal is tradable for anything. They found that out before this year started.
I appreciate that it was brought up that it is the contract structure that is the ultimate problem. While an overpayment, the lack of flexibility from the short term, guaranteed nature of the deal is the real albatross that comes with Cousins.
Time to start the cleaning. Drop Kendricks and Hicks. Drop Zadarius, started great but disappeared 1/2 way through season. Drop Theilan. Drop Cook or trade if possible. That will get books much better. Let Kirk ride his contact out. Draft best DE or WR with your 1st pick, draft all D for rest. Natural tank season and pick your next QB in 2024.
The years-long trend of kicking cap hits down the road was dumb, period. The allocation of capital (draft and $) to RBs was criminal. The run of Elflein, Cleveland, Bradbury, the serial rapist, Wyatt and Samia was staggeringly unproductive.
The easiest way to win is to have a good QB on a rookie deal. However, executing that strategy is hard and can also result in being the Bears, Jets, Browns or Cardinals. Of the 14 playoff teams, only 5 are paying QBs, but it seems pretty likely Hurts, Danny Dimes, Burrow, Herbert and Jackson (by someone) are going to get paid this offseason. Being able to competently manage a roster while paying a QB is not a big ask--it's a key part of being a GM.
I like how he laid this out. Kirk’ss contract has really put a premium on being able to hit on modest free agent acquisitions and in the draft. We have sucked in the draft overall the past few years.