They gave up the 4th fewest sacks in the league this year. Acting like we had no chance of success is stupid.

I spent 5 minutes hemming and hawing about what we should do at oline and how improved oline play will make our D look more elite and then I stepped back and laughed at myself like you're a ****ing vikings fan bro just take your lumps and stop pretending we'll ever SB

Shoulda gave up when teddy ruined his knee on noncontact practice

This is why I am pissed at Spielman. We spend so much money and draft capital on the defense, which is good but not great, and almost ignore the O line. The offensive line is the easiest position to predict success coming out of the draft. The bust potential is less than almost all, if not all other positions. We have taken bad chances in the draft and basically ignored one of the most important parts of building a successful team.

With Zimmer as HC, I think this defense can be adequate with less resources thrown at it.


The glaring hole is Rhodes going from all pro, maybe one of the top 2 or 3 CBs in the NFL to a guy who should not be playing.

Wilson is a hole at OLB. He makes a nice play once in a while, but he's almost always in the wrong place when the other team is making big runs against us.

I think the rest of the D is pretty good.

We had no chance of success vs strong D lines because our interior O linemen are too weak to resist. We need more size and strength on the o line.

I highly doubt the defensive drafting is all Spielman's idea. Zimmer must have a ton of say in that.

Rhodes is definitely the big difference but I'm having trouble believing 1 CB can have that big of impact. Rhodes is injured often enough its probably easy to look up how much he effects the spread and it's probably less than 1 point even at his peak.

Zim probably does have influence.

I'd be interested to see the results if anyone who knows how to analyze the effects of how bad Rhodes has become changed the team from 2017 - 2019. I'm curious if someone can point out where else (aside from Wilson) the D is weaker.

Zim has a ton of say in all the draft capital and money that has been thrown at their average defense. It’s why it makes it so baffling how they have decided to allocate their money on offense because it goes against Zims wishes on how he wants to play.

I have to take issue with this. All the stats I have heard suggest that our defense is between top 5 (or better) and top 10 in the NFL for 2019. This has been stuff like points allowed, points per possession, red zone %, 3rd down efficiency, sacks, etc. I dont know much about football advanced stats, but I found this with about 2 minutes of Googling that says by whatever measure this is, we were the 7th best D in the NFL in 2019: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamdef/2019

Fine, I’ll give them above average. No way I can give them
Very good. Besides the Saints game, They came up small in way too many big games this year.

Vikes offensive stats this year were definitely boosted by playing a pathetic schedule. They played a bunch of bottom 10 Ds this year (ATL, OAK, NYG, DET 2x, WAS, PHI was terrible when we played them) and just about every other opponent wasn't any better than average. CHI is probably the only real D they went up against all year until the playoffs and they were completely AIDS in that 1st CHI game

Diggs is such a biatch. Problem is I think the Vikings need him more than he needs the Vikings.

Good haul for diggs, sad to see him leave. Think hes sneaky elite and underrated due to size.

I dont understand how contracts work. Was the Cousins extension a true commitment to keep him additional 2 years, or just a way to move around some of this years cap space?

thread title should be "if i die i die"

Justin Fields 2021

Pouring gas on the fire:

D Hunter apparently has a herniated disc in his neck. I have a bulging disc in my neck and herniated a disc in my low back. I've read and experienced a lot about disc injuries, as well as talked to several doctors about them. Disc injuries can range from no big deal to life changing debilitation. My guess is since he's missed the whole season so far, he's done for the season at least, and how his career goes forward partially depends on choices he makes for treatment and partially on luck. It would be great to have him back 100% next year, but he might never be the same again. Being an NFL defensive lineman is probably one of the worst occupations I can think of for dealing with a neck disc injury. Peyton Manning was never the same after his neck injury.

good on front office for dumping ngakoue asap. the tank is on!

agreed. it's just really really too bad we ****ing extended Kirk.

My dumbass actually thought Kirk might be great this year with no fans.

Best trade spielman has made, maybe ever

My take after reading up on these guys we got in rounds 1 & 3:

- Darrisaw is probably our LT for the next dozen or so years and has all pro potential.
- Multiple writers at The Athletic are saying Davis almost certainly will start at G right away and Jones (DE) probably will too.
- Surratt (LB, not S - some speculated that because he is small for a LB so they might move him, but that is not in our plans) will compete to start, but its less certain with him. They look at him as a future Barr replacement.
- Mond improved a lot last season and has a big arm, good legs, a competitive streak and his team went 9-1 good for 4th in the country, but he has a long ways to go as far as reading defense and feeling pressure (Hopefully he isn't TJax 2.0).
- Mond & Surratt sound like reaches to me.
- Jones might have been a slight reach, but the Vikes liked some things about his character better than other DEs with better physical traits - I like hard workers with high motors, and he is one.
- We were lucky as hell to have both Davis and Darrisaw fall into our laps. Both of those guys should have been picked before we got them. Most mocks had Darrisaw gone by 14 and Davis by 59. We got them at 23 and 86.

My fingers are crossed that Spielman has finally seen the light that we need strong maulers on the O line. With any luck, we might have 80% of a very good O line this season, and they are all young, so they could develop into a great line.

They aren't giving up on Bradbury, so they ****ing better get him to commit to hitting the weights and the buffet lines a lot harder so he doesn't get pushed around anymore. Nothing is more maddening to me than a weak interior offensive lineman. You are not taking your job seriously enough if you are a relatively weak G or C. Getting stronger is a choice. It is something anyone can do if they commit to it.

https://www.si.com/nfl/49ers/news/ch...2021-nfl-draft

I feel better about Mond after hearing what Simms says about him. ^

Trading down and still getting Darrisaw was perfect outcome after Fields came off the board altho it seemed kinda lucky. LV took a diff LT and Indy went DE. Also happy w/ Mond and Wyatt picks. Team's previous refusal to roster a backup QB w any upside was a big leak. Would have been tilt if they went DE at 14 w gaping holes at LT, G, and no 2nd rd pick.

The Athletic is projecting us to have the best defense in the NFL this season:

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2021/8...t-defense-2021

Lol Vikes. Bye Zim!!

Its been a while since anyone has posted here. A lot has happened. Anyone still paying attention to this thread?

The jury is out, but so far I like the KAM hire.

I hated not hiring Harbaugh. If he hadn't been ready and willing to coach us, I probably would have liked the O'Connell hire more.

Getting Z Smith could be huge if he stays healthy.

We plugged a couple holes through free agency.

As far as the draft goes, I wrote something at Daily Norseman that I will copy and paste here. Most of the people over there are apocalyptic about the trade. I was a little confused at first, but I think we did end up with a good deal.

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2022/4...a-cbd3db36fe3e

I would have liked to have seen us try harder to get interior offensive line help. Unless they get Bradbury to commit to getting stronger, that will still be a gaping hole. And RG isn't looking great either, although we should never see Udoh or Dozier play there again hopefully. Hopefully one of the three guys competing for the job will end up being good.

I'd like to see the Nebraska center fall to 66.

I think I want us to take Booth with 34, but there are some other good players still available that might be ok too.