2018-2019 Offseason Thread (Season Concludes)

[SemperFeist]

5 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

Does Zimmer have any history coaching with him.

Bowles was Zimmer’s secondary coach when they were in Denver. 

[SemperFeist]

1 minute ago, gopherwrestler said:

I’d prefer George Edwards 

Over Bowles? No way. 

[Cearbhall]

3 hours ago, vikestyle said:

Not that this would ever happen, but would you trade Cousins for Keenum right now with how their contracts currently stand?

I agree that it would never happen. However, it is an interesting hypothetical to consider. The trade would leave both teams with exactly the same $3M dead money hit. After the trade, the Vikings would have $3M in dead money for Cousins plus $18M of a cap hit for Keenum resulting in a total cap hit of $21M. Without the trade the cap hit for Cousins would be $29M. The 2019 net result to the cap would be an $8M cap savings for the Vikings.

The biggest gain in the trade for the Vikings is probably regaining flexibility. If they found a future savior of the franchise QB somewhere this year they could cut Keenum without much problem. The team would be totally free next year. With Cousins, the team is tied to him for two years for better or worse. The team can draft a QB this year or next but can't realistically move on from Cousins without a trade for a couple more years.

If it was my decision I would take the hypothetical trade.

On the other hand, it would shock me if the team would take the trade. They already made their decision and I don't see why anything that happened in '18 would change their mind. The team had to have known that Cousins was just barely above the Dalton line when they traded for him (after all, they know more than us fans) and he performed almost exactly to that expectation. Cousins still isn't any better than Keenum at his best but he still has less question marks than Keenum. That is exactly what they were buying and it is still just as true.

The reason that I would take the trade is because I would have picked Keenum over Cousins last year at their current price points. Nothing has changed to warrant a change to that feeling for me -- just like nothing has changed that would warrant the Vikings changing their feeling on the topic.

 

[SteelKing728]

I don't think Zimmer or Spielman should be fired, but their seats should be hot.

We need to upgrade the OL first and foremost, and then find a replacement for Richardson or Barr. Honestly we aren't that far away from making the playoffs but its clear that certain groups need upgraded and maybe we need a bit of a philosophy change. The latter can be done with the same guys running this show.

[vikestyle]

The biggest change from last year to this I believe was the fact that last year everyone seemed to play for and rally around Case. They knew he would hang in there and take the hits and do everything he could to make a play. I just didn't get that vibe from Cousins this year. It was more of a "when is he gonna make the big mistake" feeling. 

On the defensive side of the football, Everson seemed to lose his voice after his unfortunate issues. He was the emotional leader of the defense. 

Where do we find the inspiration next year? Zimmer isn't a rah rah guy. Kirk seems like he's forcing it when he tries to do it. We need to find that voice and that heartbeat. Football is an emotional game and that inspiration needs to come from somewhere. Where and how do we find that? I did not see an inspired football team outside of maybe the second half of the first Packers game.

[Illadelegend215]

18 hours ago, PrplChilPill said:

If only it wasn't such a surprise the OL would be bad, that they took another CB in round one.... No one is accountable for that? A terrible OL year after year, and no one is accountable?

Someone needs to be accountable for not bringing in an oline, but to fire a man who took this team out of the basement of the nfc north to nfc north kings once and an 11-5 season (possible Super Bowl run if Walsh doesn’t miss that fg) is asinine. We have one of the best defenses in the nfl, literally two of the top 10-15 receivers in the league, a budding monster at rb, and an fringe top qb (just give him more than 4 seconds to at least read his third option). 

Instead of firing folks, let’s just get what we need. We need the best oline player in the draft point blank 

[SemperFeist]

 

[gopherwrestler]

1 hour ago, SemperFeist said:

 

He deserves it.

[gopherwrestler]

13 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Over Bowles? No way. 

Idk, he called plays for 2 years with probably one of the most talented defenses, had some success, I believe the Cardinals let up less than 20 points a game each year.

Making a run for the Super Bowl, maybe I’d like Bowles.  I don’t think I would argue him over Edwards all that much tho. One nice thing with Bowles would be to have another guy with head coaching experience and another set of “eyes” to add to this defensive coaching staff. 

[gopherwrestler]

This goes for the Vikings too. He was great with Fred Taylor and MJD. He wants to run the ball, power running game just doesn’t work the way it used to, and get stuck resorting to chucking the ball.

 

 

[VikeManDan]

11-5 Patriots (road)

6-10 Bills

12-4 Bears (home and road)

13-3 Saints

13-3 Rams (road)

10-6 Seahawks (road)

That is a combined record of 65-31. You’d certainly expect Cousins to be able to win one or two of those games as that was the reason we paid him. Granted, how many teams beat Seattle, LA, and the Patriots in December? We know we struggle in Chicago. An absolutely brutal road schedule this year. Short week to LA? Back 2 back road games NE and Seattle? Thanks NFL. 

Cousins needs to perform better in big moments. Improve the OL first and foremost and let’s get at it again next year. We’ll have a 2nd place schedule and hopefully an easier road slate although I believe we play at KC and the Chargers while the Bears get them both at home. Go figure  

 

[gopherwrestler]

 

this seems like a lot of “not wanting to play anymore and get hurt” type of game for Barr

[TENINCH]

8 minutes ago, gopherwrestler said:

 

this seems like a lot of “not wanting to play anymore and get hurt” type of game for Barr

Yep and if I'm the Vikings I don't go out of my way to retain him.

[RpMc]

Coaching Staff Moves
OC - Kevin Stefanski
OL - James Campen (Run Game Coordinator)
 

The level of upheaval this offseason, particularly with the coaching staff, is something that will most likely be something that the team tries to mitigate with everything that happened this offseason.  Spielman and Zimmer likely know that they'd be doing their $84 million dollar man, and subsequently themselves, a disservice by bringing in another "hot shot" up and comer as an offensive coordinator.  James Campen is a name that will be recognizable to some here as the Packers current offensive line coach and run game coordinator.  Should he become available, he'd be at the top of my list to fill the offensive line coach position, and handle the run game like he did in Green Bay.  His lines are routinely riddled with back ups, and mid to late round draft picks, but perform exceedingly well.  Aaron Jones was leading the league in YPC prior to his injury as well.  He'd be an absolute steal, and would likely be the best, most impactful, addition this team could make in the offseason.

Player Moves
TE - Kyle Rudolph (released) + $7.625M
SS - Andrew Sendejo (option not exercised) + $5.500M
OG - Mike Remmers (released) + $4.550M
WR - Laquan Treadwell (traded, 2020 7th) + 1,804,770 (think Corey Coleman trade)

Cap Following Moves = $30,834,181

LB - Anthony Barr (5 years, $60M - $10M cap in year one)
K - Dan Bailey (2 years, $5M - $2M cap in year one)
DT - Tom Johnson (1 year, $1.5M)
WR - Aldrick Robinson (1 year, $1.5M)
OL - Nick Easton (1 year, $805,000)
S - Anthony Harris (1 year, $3,110,000) (2nd round tender)
OT - Rashod Hill (1 year, $2,035,000) (Original round tender)
FB - CJ Ham (1 year, $645,000) (ERFA)
P - Matt Wile (1 year, $570,000) (ERFA)

Cap Following Moves = $8,669,181

DT - Sheldon Richardson (Not Retained)
RB - Latavius Murray (Not Retained)
OL - Brett Jones (Not Retained)
CB - Marcus Sherels (Not Retained)
RB - Ameer Abdullah (Not Retained)
OL - Tom Compton (Not Retained)
SS - George Iloka (Not Retained)
QB - Trevor Siemien (Not Retained)

A lot to digest here.  First, the players that are actively being moved on from.  I'm an advocate of moving on from Kyle Rudolph.  He's going to be 30 years old during next season, and, to me, appears to be on the decline in terms of his ability to impact the game.  His price tag is expensive and as can be seen from the above, we need that money just to be able to re-sign some of our players to modest (other than Barr) deals that give them small raises over what they made in 2018. I'd rather move on from him a year too soon than too late (which would involve extending him... which shouldn't be considered an option).  The team has an option for Sendejo for 2019 and with his price tag, age, and Harris appearing ready, it's not picked up. Plus, as it's a team option and not a cut, there's a chance he qualifies for a compensatory pick should he get picked up.  The Remmers experiment at guard didn't work, and he's got a decent price tag associated with him.  Finally, the guy who thinks he has a great season.  The Vikings find someone to take a chance on him for a 7th in the 2020 draft, and save themselves a little extra money (if he's cut, the savings is less due to having to pay out guaranteed salary - new team takes that over in a trade).

The biggy is the new deal for Anthony Barr; it's not one that I make, but I see the team making it because of the connection to Zimmer/Spielman's first high pick together.  The deal is on par with Telvin Smith/Jamie Collins (although those deals are a bit older), and pays Barr as one of the top 43OLBs in the game. The rest of the deals are modest raises for useful players.  Richardson had an impact early this season, but tapered off and isn't worth a big deal to bring back - might fetch us a comp pick.  The same goes for Latavius Murray, he's still a very useful player, but we are a cap team now and can't afford a multi-million dollar backup running back when the team clearly is behind Cook getting that majority of the work.

Looking at the amount of cap room, the Vikings have an expected rookie pool of just under $7M, so some veterans coming in as free agents on minimum salary benefit deals is likely, particular along the offensive line (although there isn't a ton out there that would realistically come here for those types of deals).  In order to free up more cap room to sign a higher tier of free agent, the Vikings could part ways with, or restructure, the contract of Everson Griffen, but, for now, I'll leave that out of play.

NFL Draft

1. Cody Ford - G/T - OKLAHOMA
2. Chris Lindstom - G - BOSTON COLLEGE
3. Kaden Smith - TE - STANFORD
4. Daniel Wise - DT - KANSAS

Still diving into the draft, so I'm not sure where to go with the remaining four picks (6/6/7/7), but these are the players I would expect to come and impact the 2019 season.

[RpMc]

Just wanted to put a sample off-season out there.  Unless we kind of purge and let Barr and Richardson both go, money is going to be exceedingly tight.  Even with the money freed up from cutting Rudolph... it's barely enough for a middle tier offer for Barr and to sign some of our other useful free agents to modest raises... let alone bring in potentially impactful free agents from the outside.

Take it for what you will.