2017 Special Teams Watch

[SemperFeist]

12 minutes ago, CriminalMind said:

Not to spoil the fun but we do know that Patterson is currently under contract for $3.25M ish from Raiders.

And he’s doing nothing with them, plenty of fans have even seemed frustrated with him. 

All of his salary for next year can be saved if he’s cut, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that that happens. 

[gopherwrestler]

I'd pay $3.25M for kick off's to be booted out of the endzone so we didn't have to watch McKinnon get stuffed at the 12 yard line after he tried to take in 105 yards, watch anymore of Sherels try and return any sort of a kick return.

Or give Patterson a chance at returning it, I mean he did a pretty good job for us back there.

[SteelKing728]

2 hours ago, gopherwrestler said:

So all aboard the Patterson Train?

I couldn't agree more I want him back for Kick Returning. Never wanted him to leave.

But I am sick of the gimmick offense with him. Seems like last year when we tried to force him the ball with a hand-off or a screen it turned out to be drive killers.

If we honestly were to make an attempt to make him a RB and basically turn him into what McKinnon is doing this year, than fine, he probably does about the same, maybe break a few more big plays, but I just don't see this happening.

 

One issue why I don't see him coming back is it really seems like the Vikings are moving on from trying to pay players for special teams that don't impact the offense and defense. Only way Patterson would come back is if he could come back as a PR also.

If that's the case, then we can allow McKinnon and Sherels to walk. Patterson comes back with a bigger role.

[marshpit23]

8 hours ago, wcblack34 said:

I'd take him back in a heartbeat. However, he's still going to command a salary similar or more than Jarius Wright's at this point. Patterson is an elite special teams performer. Perhaps the best in the game, all around. That certainly has value. If you were to ask me if he's more valuable than Wright at the same price, I'd say "absolutely." But if you asked if the Vikings want to pay that much for a special teams player, I have no idea.  He isn't coming here on a minimum contract.

I think that the Vikings should have tried him at Running Back last season after it became apparent that Asiata and McKinnon weren't doing much. CP is one of the most elusive players I've ever seen in the open field. I think he'd stand a shot as a one cut and go RB. 

Yeah, I mentioned the RB deal last year and was told ‘He’s too tall’; ‘Runs too upright’, etc...then we signed Murray ( a tall, upright runner). To be fair, Murray came with decent production and actually plays the RB position...I just think CP could’ve handled the KR, spot WR, and 5-7 RB carries a game. I would sign him back on a reasonable contract.

 

[gopherwrestler]

4 hours ago, SteelKing728 said:

If that's the case, then we can allow McKinnon and Sherels to walk. Patterson comes back with a bigger role.

I just wonder if there is a reason why Patterson never really returned punts? I am guessing he struggled tracking them, I know when I played even at a high school level, punts are much harder to track than a kick.

Sherels has done well at that for his career, but watching the last few games you can see he has even had a few bobbles and almost drops. Who knows with him if he will be brought back, every year we think he will be gone and then he always makes the team.

McKinnon may walk either way, no idea what he will get for a contract tho. Cook coming off a knee injury, Murray and McKinnon have been a nice little package for us but it would not shock me to see him go elsewhere and look to the draft to get another change of pace type back.

 

 

[Vikes_Bolts1228]

On 11/25/2017 at 8:49 AM, gopherwrestler said:

I'd pay $3.25M for kick off's to be booted out of the endzone so we didn't have to watch McKinnon get stuffed at the 12 yard line after he tried to take in 105 yards, watch anymore of Sherels try and return any sort of a kick return.

Or give Patterson a chance at returning it, I mean he did a pretty good job for us back there.

EVERY TIME Patterson returned the ball, you held your breath in excitement. You thought every return was going to the house. You didn't want to miss the kickoff.

We have gotten none of that this year. Now I'm happy if whichever returner gets it to the 26.

 

[Cearbhall]

9 hours ago, Vikes_Bolts1228 said:

EVERY TIME Patterson returned the ball, you held your breath in excitement. You thought every return was going to the house. You didn't want to miss the kickoff.

We have gotten none of that this year. Now I'm happy if whichever returner gets it to the 26.

 

Now I am happy if the returner kneels in the end zone so we get it at the 25. Whenever they take it out I expect a tackle inside the 25 or a penalty that will keep it well inside the 25. The few times they pass the 25 are not worth the risks.

[HitStickAllDay]

CPs size and aggressiveness while running has made me curious why he hasn’t been tried at RB a la Ty Montgomery. Montgomery hasn’t been great, but his style is upright and I’d argue CP is more apt to break tackles and has more elusiveness. Would love to see it someday, but it’s probably too late at this point. 

[Klomp]

11 hours ago, Cearbhall said:

The few times they pass the 25 are not worth the risks.

I thought it was getting to that point with Patterson too, though. It's the nature of special teams today.

[vike daddy]

Special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer called the performance “sloppy” and “unclean,” and said the Vikings defeated the Detroit Lions 30-23 last week in spite of his special teams unit.

“That’s probably one of the poorest games we’ve played in a long time,” Priefer said Thursday.

Two blocked kicks and uncharacteristic penalties will prompt that from a coach. Kai Forbath had a 53-yard field goal attempt and an extra point blocked, but Priefer exonerated his kicker on both misses. He felt a penalty should have been called on Detroit for interfering with long snapper Kevin McDermott on the first one.

“Kevin, we thought he was hit in the side of the head and neck area, which is illegal,” Priefer. “We still should have protected him better than we did, (but) they got a guy in there clean.”

The missed extra point was because of a mishandled snap by holder Ryan Quigley.

“Neither one were Kai’s fault,” Priefer said. “We’ve got to do a better job there. It was a very unclean game for our field-goal team, but it didn’t stop there. We didn’t cover kicks well. We got a penalty on a kickoff return, which we haven’t had in maybe over a year. We had two great punts and two of the other punts we didn’t cover well.”

http://www.twincities.com/2017/11/30/vikings-special-teams-anything-but-last-week-vs-lions/

[vike daddy]

Kai Forbath and the kicking team regained their confidence on Sunday. Entering Sunday’s game, Forbath had missed four field goals and an extra point in the previous four games. But being back inside the friendly confines of U.S. Bank Stadium was good for Forbath and the kicking team, as they were true on field goal attempts of 53 and 35 yards while also splitting the uprights on four extra point attempts.

There was no hidden yardage available to the Bengals return groups because of a dominant performance by the Vikings kickoff and punt coverage teams. Cincinnati had 12 punt return yards on two chances and 44 kickoff return yards on two chances. Vikings punter Ryan Quigley landed three of his five punts inside the Cincinnati 20 and Forbath had five touchbacks on the afternoon. The Bengals average drive start after a kickoff was their own 24 and their average drive start on all possessions was the 25. It was a 100% sound day for the coverage groups and the effort was led by rookie linebacker Eric Wilson, who had two stops; CJ Ham, Anthony Harris and Jayron Kearse combined for the other three special teams tackles.

http://www.vikings.com/news/article-1/10-Takeaways-from-Sundays-Win-Over-Cincinnati/f9450e90-f530-427a-87e7-ddb2f550c197?sf176645001=1

[vikingsrule]

On November 25, 2017 at 2:14 PM, gopherwrestler said:

I just wonder if there is a reason why Patterson never really returned punts? I am guessing he struggled tracking them, I know when I played even at a high school level, punts are much harder to track than a kick.

Sherels has done well at that for his career, but watching the last few games you can see he has even had a few bobbles and almost drops. Who knows with him if he will be brought back, every year we think he will be gone and then he always makes the team.

McKinnon may walk either way, no idea what he will get for a contract tho. Cook coming off a knee injury, Murray and McKinnon have been a nice little package for us but it would not shock me to see him go elsewhere and look to the draft to get another change of pace type back.

 

 

I could see MN looking to find a replacement for Sherels. Doesn't seem to have the same ability as a PR and he's a bad KR. He had a nice run but if he's no longer a standout ST player, it's time to move on since he does occupy a roster spot that could go to a better CB.

as for bringing back Patterson, I don't see the need. He's give the KR game a boost but that part of football has almost become irrelevant. I don't trust him to do some of the other things RBs are supposed to do like blitz pickup, which basically makes him a gadget player. Don't see a spot for him at WR. 

[Klomp]

17 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

I could see MN looking to find a replacement for Sherels. Doesn't seem to have the same ability as a PR and he's a bad KR. He had a nice run but if he's no longer a standout ST player, it's time to move on since he does occupy a roster spot that could go to a better CB.

as for bringing back Patterson, I don't see the need. He's give the KR game a boost but that part of football has almost become irrelevant. I don't trust him to do some of the other things RBs are supposed to do like blitz pickup, which basically makes him a gadget player. Don't see a spot for him at WR. 

So you're kicking one guy to the curb because he's a bad KR, but you aren't signing another guy because KR is irrelevant?

[gopherwrestler]

One thing with Sherels on the PR side is he never really loses yards, always going forward, smart on knowing the fair catch, and dependable at catching the ball.

 

[Klomp]

2 minutes ago, gopherwrestler said:

One thing with Sherels on the PR side is he never really loses yards, always going forward, smart on knowing the fair catch, and dependable at catching the ball.

Exactly.

If all you want is touchdowns, he's been bad. Otherwise, I don't think much has changed. And I'm fairly certain he's still a big part of other ST units.