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.
Quote:
My initial reaction when we made the trade was that we got fleeced, but I was not sure, so rather than have a knee jerk reaction, I did a little research. I found that most people who know a lot about analytics related to the NFL draft now say the old Jimmy Johnson draft chart is antiquated. The old system massively over-values the earliest picks and significantly undervalues mid-to-late round picks.
There are a few other draft point charts I looked into and plugged numbers into to see what KAM and our guys might have been thinking when they pulled the trigger on the trade.
Draftek is the old Jimmy Johnson chart. They give DET the advantage by 230 points (14%) in this trade.
Rich Hill's chart says the trade was pretty close to neutral. DET has a 40 point (8.4%) edge.
The Fitzgerald-Spielberger chart gives the Vikes a significant edge: 533 points (19.0%).
The Harvard / CAVOA chart gives the Vikes a 64.1 point (14.7%) edge.
PFF has the Vikes with an advantage in WAR: +0.14 WAR (12.4%)
Time will tell if we made the right move or not, but based on the most recent and best (in my opinion) analytical data, the Vikings got good statistical value out of the trade.
As far as the pick itself, at first I was a little disappointed that we took a safety. Then I looked into details about Cine. I listened to a long interview with him. No one ever knows for sure what they will get when they draft a player, but its hard to envision a scenario that Cine isn't at least a good starter. Guys get hurt. He has never missed a game (knock on wood). Guys get into trouble. This guy seems like a very nice guy, well adjusted, and will probably never get into trouble (knock on wood). Guys don't fulfill potential because they loaf when they get to this level. This guy seems like a very hard worker. And he's super smart. The more I know about this guy, the more I like this pick.
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.