Your 2018 Minnesota Vikings (Initial 53)

[SteelKing728]

I'm so happy Thomas and Boone made it.

But...no Beebe.

[vike daddy]

pleased to see Holton Hill on it.

[Cearbhall]

6 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Tomorrow at 4pm ET

What makes you think that? I would be pretty surprised if it takes that long before we hear about them. It should be about noon that they are announced. The waiver claims need to be in by 11am central. Teams can start forming their practice squads about an hour later -- as soon as the waivers are finalized. 

I have no idea where you got your information but see the link I left to the NFL Operations Important Dates listing. This is not different that other recent years. Consider the credibility of wherever you got that information and maybe put them on your list of places to not trust.

6 hours ago, Kparty15 said:

Hopefully Newman and Robison can come back throughout the season in case of injury.

 

If they make Newman a coach this isn't going to be a possibility for him. Keeping a guy around practices as a coach and then moving him to the roster would otherwise be a way to skirt the roster limit. If a team wants to have the ability to bring a coach back as a player they need to have used a roster spot open for that coach until that point in the season. 

This is something that came up some time ago when a team had some QB issues and were considering bringing their QB coach onto the roster. I can't recall which team it was right now but I kind of want to say it was Philly.

The Cardinals were also considering something similar with Larry Foote the year he didn't make their 53.

[Krauser]

Thoughts on the cutdowns and final roster:

QB: Glad Sloter made it, could be QB2 next year. 

RB: I didn't expect 5 RBs but there's some logic to it -- the Eagles kept 5 last year (as I think @Klomp first pointed out).

Might end up as a redshirt year for Roc Thomas, protecting him from waivers (which very likely would've been the Packers) -- even if he doesn't play he has the inside track for RB3 next year, once Murray leaves. 

WR: Not crazy about Zylstra and oft-injured Coley as the only WR depth. If anything happens to Diggs or Thielen long term, that could be a problem -- I would've kept Wright just as injury insurance. 

Having said that, I like Coley quite a bit, just want him to stay healthy. And I think Zylstra is the best bet of the young depth guys to make it as an eventual starter. Beebe missing the cut didn't surprise me: he played well but should be a practice squad guy this year (even Thielen spent a year on the PS). 

TE: A bit surprised Conklin made it. He did basically nothing good in preseason and Bell is competent (though I bet Priefer wasn't at all happy with the blocked punt). I guess the draft capital is in his favor. Maybe they'll pick up a TE on waivers? TE depth seems almost as hard to come by as OL depth so I doubt there'll be anything good our there.  

OL: Predicted they’d release Edison as soon as Isidora started practicing at C. I think Edison’s missed blitz pickups were the end of him.

If O'Neill continues to develop, I really like this OL depth chart by midseason: Reiff-Jones-Elflein-Remmers-O’Neill, with Hill, Compton, Isidora and Collins as backups.

I think they'll be roughly as good as last year's OL, meaning they'll be pretty good. I don't see a huge need to pick up another OL unless they're going to keep 10 and cut someone from another position. I doubt they'll get rid of Compton, who's fine as Sirles-type depth, and the other depth is locked in: Collins is the swing tackle, Isidora is a C/G, and O'Neill is the developmental future starting RT. 

Gossett apparently didn't do anything to impress in camp or practices, because he played pretty well in preseason but was obviously never considered for a spot on the final roster. I hope he ends up on the practice squad. I think he has a better chance to be a starter than Isidora. 

DL: Surprised they kept Parry, but Jaleel didn’t play NT in the last 2 preseason games so maybe they don’t trust him to backup Linval after all.

Robison had declined and Weatherly and Bower earned his snaps.

Odenigbo is a loss but the DEs ahead of him aren’t going anywhere (he's the same age as Weatherly, a year older than Bower and behind both on the depth chart) --  he was never going to start on his rookie contract. If he sticks on the practice squad, he might have a chance to work in to a DT rotation next year, but then he'd have to beat out Holmes (2 years younger, was more productive as a pass rusher this preseason already) to play. He's probably better off going elsewhere. 

I think they'll probably dress 8 DL and make Holmes inactive (backups Bower-Parry-Johnson-Weatherly). With Robison gone, I'm not sure what happens on 3rd downs -- maybe Griffen moves inside and Barr plays DE (Wilson at LB), maybe Weatherly or Bower lines up inside (neither have ever done that in preseason, that I've noticed), or maybe Linval rushes the passer more (which he's surprisingly good at) and Parry plays NT more often on early downs. I'd rather make Parry inactive, play Jaleel at NT rotationally, and have Holmes available as a nickel pass rusher -- I think he'd be really good at it. 

LB: I would’ve kept Cliett over Downs but I guess they want more of a MLB type until Brothers gets back. Downs didn't show much in preseason, but hard to know how much he was still limited by getting up to speed from the injury. 

CB: Newman was finally showing his age, I’m glad he did the right thing and retired so they could keep Alexander. Holton Hill stayed clean, got mentored by Rhodes and Newman, and made the team. Their top 5 CBs look amazing -- Rhodes, Waynes, Hughes, Alexander and Hill -- and they can keep all that depth in 2019. 

S: They have 4 starting calibre safeties, plus Kearse. Just incredible depth and quality in the secondary. 

...

Overall they got younger and better this year.

Their 5 oldest players last year (Newman, Berger, Robison, Tom Johnson & Forbath) are gone. The oldest current Vikings are only 30: Sendejo, Sherels, Griffen and Cousins. Sendejo turns 31 on Sept 9, the day of the season opener. By year's end, Sherels and Griffen turn 31 while Reiff and Linval turn 30. Harrison Smith turns 30 on Feb 2, the day before the Super Bowl.

The major additions this offseason are clear upgrades from the 2017 players they replaced: 

• Cousins > Keenum
• Richardson > TJohnson
• Hughes > 2017 Newman
• even Carlson > Forbath

Promotions within the roster should also be upgrades: 

• Weatherly/Bower > 2017 Robison,
• Jaleel > Shamar
• Wilson > Lamur

Several players may develop further into competent starters (Treadwell, Morgan) or stars (Hunter, Waynes). 

Cook is back, Murray starts the season at full speed

The changes along the OL are roughly a wash (Jones/Remmers should be as good as Easton/Berger) and the OL should be as good or better than last year if Elflein comes back healthy and continues to develop. Plus they have O'Neill in the wings, who looks capable of developing into a very good starting RT. 

They kept 10 rookies overall, including 6 of their 8 draft picks (not Gossett, or the injured Aruna) and 4 rookie UDFAs: Boone, Thomas, Zylstra and Holton Hill. 

All 3 of their rookie UDFAs last year stayed on the roster: Collins, Wilson and Bower, and the latter two of those should have expanded roles this year. 

They have 11 more UDFAs on the team, for a total of 18 (over a third of the roster): Sloter, Harris, Ham, Rashod Hill, Jones, Easton (IR), Quigley, Remmers, Sherels, Sendejo and Thielen.

...

The Vikings have a very talented roster, from top to bottom. Full credit to Spielman, Zimmer and the assistant coaches for putting together this team. 

[CriminalMind]

The 53 is incredibly strong.

As I hoped, they kept the 5 RBs, giving great depth, & not letting any go to GB for example. Sets up Cook-Boone-Thomas next year, making peanuts.

Zylstra - happy he made it, our WR depth is shotty but not this guy had some untapped potential. When Wright was signed, many saw him as a lock & Treadwell as a potential drop, but I didn't see it that way, I thought Wright would be the one competing to stay. Glad Treadwell is here again.

No reason suprises on the OL, Compton I kind of penciled into to starter once he was brought it. Remmers at guard is good, but hope to get our center back for week 2

DB - elite unit top to bottom. It's gonna be interesting if Hughes splits snaps with Waynes, I see Hughes as the superior talent (eventually, if not now).

 

[vikesfan89]

It's pretty incredible that no one is really past their prime yet

[vikingsrule]

21 minutes ago, vikesfan89 said:

It's pretty incredible that no one is really past their prime yet

We haven't played a down yet this season. We've got several key players at or in their 30s that could see a sharp decline. These are always hard to predict but it's encouraging that there are very few 30+ year olds that were relying on. Looking at players like Griffen and Joseph at their age, we've got to get a really good rotation going to add longevity.

[wcblack34]

37 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

We haven't played a down yet this season. We've got several key players at or in their 30s that could see a sharp decline. These are always hard to predict but it's encouraging that there are very few 30+ year olds that were relying on. Looking at players like Griffen and Joseph at their age, we've got to get a really good rotation going to add longevity.

Fortunately, Griffen and Linval play positions that see very productive years into their 30s. As long as their declines are gradual, I think we’re looking good for the next 2-3 years. It also appears that our front office has done an excellent job of drafting possible eventual replacements. In the case of Sendejo, Iloka is already a replacement on the roster. Very shrewd pickup. I’m quite pleased with how the DL looks over the next 2-3 years. 

[SemperFeist]

13 minutes ago, wcblack34 said:

In the case of Sendejo, Iloka is already a replacement on the roster. Very shrewd pickup.

But for only this year, and what is it going to cost to keep him?

Many of us have indicated that Sendejo is a prime candidate to be cut for cap purposes next offseason, but how much of that savings would get eaten up by re-signing Iloka?

[vike daddy]

i really like this roster, and coaching staff.

we improved everywhere. some places more than others, some places are only small upgrades, but they're all steps up.

[Krauser]

3 hours ago, vikingsrule said:

We haven't played a down yet this season. We've got several key players at or in their 30s that could see a sharp decline. These are always hard to predict but it's encouraging that there are very few 30+ year olds that were relying on. Looking at players like Griffen and Joseph at their age, we've got to get a really good rotation going to add longevity.

Griffen (31 in December), Joseph (30 in October), Reiff (30 in December), and Smith (30 in February) are the closest thing to "key players at or in their 30s". I guess Cousins is 30 but we don't really expect QBs to fall apart from aging at this point.

The other 30-ish year olds aren't key players: Sherels is a role player and Sendejo is a starter but already has 2 potential replacements on the current roster in Iloka and Harris. 

Griffen, Joseph and Smith were all great last year. It's reasonable to project some regression from that, if only because it's hard to play any better than they did in 2017, but those seasons were part of a sustained stretch of high quality play from all 3 guys that goes back at least to 2014 -- they weren't flukes or outliers. None of them at age 29/30 or 30/31 is so old that you'd expect them to decline, and there should be no long-term injury concerns assuming Griffen's foot is healthy and he didn't get gangrene from the cut on his leg.

Reiff was only OK last year, relatively speaking a down year for him. That may have had more to do with adjusting to a new team, free agents often take a year to get up to speed. He's been pretty healthy over the years and seems like a good bet to maintain that. 

So while there's no guarantees and you always hope for good injury luck, it's reasonable not to expect a significant age-related decline from any of the major contributors on the Vikings roster this year. They're in much better shape than they were last year in that regard, before replacing Newman, Robison and Tom Johnson. 

[wcblack34]

2 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

But for only this year, and what is it going to cost to keep him?

Many of us have indicated that Sendejo is a prime candidate to be cut for cap purposes next offseason, but how much of that savings would get eaten up by re-signing Iloka?

I don’t see that as a concern. Iloka is younger, and the safety market isn’t booming. Even if Ilija gets an identical payday, he’s a better long term bet than Sendejo. 

[Krauser]

Practice squad tracker: 

 

[Krauser]

Cliett makes 3, or 4 assuming Tocho got through waivers. 

[Krauser]

Gossett makes 4 (or 5): 

He was top of my wishlist along with Beebe and Odenigbo.

My shopping list: Gossett, Norton, Beebe, Badet, Odenigbo, Cliett, Dooley, James, Tocho, Matthews