The 2018 Kirk Cousins Megathread

[RpMc]

Don’t know Teddy yet, but the other three is like 66-68M

[whitehops]

4 hours ago, CriminalMind said:

NBA players did this... Well some

just to clarify for those that don't know, it wasn't a new CBA that players were waiting for it was a renewal in the tv contract, which was expected to increase the salary cap (which is based on league revenue) by almost 30%. the nba max contract is about 30% of the salary cap (depending on years of service) so a lot of players were syncing up their free agency with that offseason. those players got PAID.

 

since then it's actually screwed a lot of teams and players over since there was such a boom in the market, the teams that missed out on marquee free agents had to pay big money for average or role players and now they're stuck overpaying them. the cap was projected to keep increasing after the initial boom but it stalled, leaving a lot of teams overpaying middling talent and not having enough money to sign free agents now. 

 

i don't think a similar thing would happen in the nfl unless they were set to get a bigger percentage of league revenue, which i don't see happening with all the other issues they want sorted out.

[CriminalMind]

3 minutes ago, whitehops said:

just to clarify for those that don't know, it wasn't a new CBA that players were waiting for it was a renewal in the tv contract, which was expected to increase the salary cap (which is based on league revenue) by almost 30%. the nba max contract is about 30% of the salary cap (depending on years of service) so a lot of players were syncing up their free agency with that offseason. those players got PAID.

 

since then it's actually screwed a lot of teams and players over since there was such a boom in the market, the teams that missed out on marquee free agents had to pay big money for average or role players and now they're stuck overpaying them. the cap was projected to keep increasing after the initial boom but it stalled, leaving a lot of teams overpaying middling talent and not having enough money to sign free agents now. 

 

i don't think a similar thing would happen in the nfl unless they were set to get a bigger percentage of league revenue, which i don't see happening with all the other issues they want sorted out.

NBA asked for cap smoothing to prevent this (which would have not given G's the ability to sign Durant) ... NBAPA wanted the full spike ... Only a few players benefited. Owners didn't really care cuz they were going to make money regardless. 

 

 

[whitehops]

2 minutes ago, CriminalMind said:

NBA asked for cap smoothing to prevent this (which would have not given G's the ability to sign Durant) ... NBAPA wanted the full spike ... Only a few players benefited. Owners didn't really care cuz they were going to make money regardless. 

yeah the NBPA got a little greedy there i think. a lot of players benefited in those next two offseasons but now the NBA "middle class" is pretty much dead.

and yeah the warriors needed a ton of luck even besides the cap spike to sign durant. now they're a juggernaut.

Edited March 14, 2018 by whitehops

[byuvike88]

He is going to have some huge expectations. Hopefully he lives up to them...Still not sure how I feel about it. 

[Vikes_Bolts1228]

1 hour ago, byuvike88 said:

He is going to have some huge expectations. Hopefully he lives up to them...Still not sure how I feel about it. 

I have full faith Kirk will be a 5,000yd/45td/0int guy.

[Cearbhall]

9 minutes ago, Vikes_Bolts1228 said:

I have full faith Kirk will be a 5,000yd/45td/0int guy.

 

More seriously, it will be interesting to see if Kirk gets to 4k yards. I don't know if he will. The Vikings system isn't very conducive to huge passing yards. Zimmer will still be the same defensive oriented coach next year he always has been. The Vikigns defense isn't the terrible defense that the Redskins had. Those terrible defenses forced Washington to throw the ball a lot more than I can see Zimmer wanting air it out.

If I were guessing right now, I would take the under on 4000 yards for Kirk this year. The only thing that would likely change that guess for me before the season would be an infusion of offensive line talent. The team really could use a solid starting guard and another guard that would have a decent chance of beating Easton out in an open competition, loser becoming the backup. If Remmers is to be the competition for Easton, and I think he would fill that role nicely, the team needs a solid RT.

The problem with Remmers and Easton competing to start is that the loser of the competition would too expensive to be a backup guard (especially Remmers). Last year the Vikings had to cut Boone after he lost the position to Easton because of salary. That lack of depth at guard had a lot to do with the offensive struggles later in the year IMO.

[MD4L]

For all the flack Minnesota will receive if (likely when) they fail to match the 13-3 regular season record, it needs to be noted Case Keenum would've likely set the same regression. But if the Vikings can sure up their guard play (I know for a fact the RG position will be a new guy) and get another CB that can play press man from Rhodes (hello Isaiah Oliver!), this team is going to be good.

Final point: Chicago will likely be much improved, Aaron Rodgers will likely play 16 games next year, and Detroit improving would mean they're better than last season when they were already league average and the Vikings needed to get a QB they could legitimately say was "the guy." I don't think anyone else on the market after Cousins could legitimately say that.

[Klomp]

8 minutes ago, Cearbhall said:

 

More seriously, it will be interesting to see if Kirk gets to 4k yards. I don't know if he will. The Vikings system isn't very conducive to huge passing yards. Zimmer will still be the same defensive oriented coach next year he always has been. The Vikigns defense isn't the terrible defense that the Redskins had. Those terrible defenses forced Washington to throw the ball a lot more than I can see Zimmer wanting air it out.

If I were guessing right now, I would take the under on 4000 yards for Kirk this year.

The Vikings were within 250 yards of 4,000 yards each of the last two seasons. I think Cousins can manage an extra 15 yards per game.

[Cearbhall]

1 minute ago, Klomp said:

The Vikings were within 250 yards of 4,000 yards each of the last two seasons. I think Cousins can manage an extra 15 yards per game.

Sure he can. I am aware of where they have been. I am not confident that he will. If I were putting money on it I would take the under if the team doesn't improve the offensive line.

[Vikes_Bolts1228]

9 minutes ago, MD4L said:

For all the flack Minnesota will receive if (likely when) they fail to match the 13-3 regular season record.

Well, we had a pretty decent schedule in 2017. We're going from the 27th highest SoS to the 8th highest SOS with a brutal road schedule.

But, Green Bay has the hardest SOS, Detroit is #2, and Chicago is tied with us at 8.

13-3 will be hard to replicate but I'll be fine with 12-4 or 11-5 and winning the North and hopefully snagging a 1st round bye again.

Anything less than winning the division will be a failure. 

Edited March 14, 2018 by Vikes_Bolts1228

[vikingsrule]

4 minutes ago, MD4L said:

For all the flack Minnesota will receive if (likely when) they fail to match the 13-3 regular season record, it needs to be noted Case Keenum would've likely set the same regression. But if the Vikings can sure up their guard play (I know for a fact the RG position will be a new guy) and get another CB that can play press man from Rhodes (hello Isaiah Oliver!), this team is going to be good.

Final point: Chicago will likely be much improved, Aaron Rodgers will likely play 16 games next year, and Detroit improving would mean they're better than last season when they were already league average and the Vikings needed to get a QB they could legitimately say was "the guy." I don't think anyone else on the market after Cousins could legitimately say that.

The Vikes are fine with Trae Waynes at CB. He's been okay opposite of Rhodes. We've had more issues at slot CB. As for other needs, DL has to be built up. The Vikes don't really have a useful third DE (Robison likely to be cut and he wasn't very good at generating pressure last year) and have a definite need at UT where Stephen and Johnson are free agents. 

 

[marshpit23]

1 hour ago, Klomp said:

The Vikings were within 250 yards of 4,000 yards each of the last two seasons. I think Cousins can manage an extra 15 yards per game.

I personally go back and forth on this. I don’t think Kirk will need to throw over 4K; however, can he manage an additional 15 yards/game increase over last year? Absolutely! Especially with Cook returning to the line up. 

[marshpit23]

1 hour ago, vikingsrule said:

The Vikes are fine with Trae Waynes at CB. He's been okay opposite of Rhodes. We've had more issues at slot CB. As for other needs, DL has to be built up. The Vikes don't really have a useful third DE (Robison likely to be cut and he wasn't very good at generating pressure last year) and have a definite need at UT where Stephen and Johnson are free agents. 

 

Agreed. We need a UT, DE, OG/OT, and CB with four first picks. The order will depend on the depth and availability of position.

[Krauser]

I don’t think Cousins is very good, but he’s good enough to win with, and that’s what they needed. Ryan and Stafford are decent comparisons, though I’d put Cousins 3rd in that group. The supporting cast (assuming the OL improves further) and scheme in Minnesota should help make Cousins look good. And that’s fine — it’d be great to have the elite QB (Brees, Rodgers, etc) who can elevate the team around him, but the next best thing is a legitimate starter who can lead a good team to success. That’s Cousins, in my book. He hasn’t had much success yet, but he hasn’t had a good team to lead yet either. Now he does.

The cost seems entirely fair, significantly cheaper than expected based on early reports. Stafford signed his extension last year, he’ll have higher cap hits for 2018-20 ($87.5M) than Cousins, and Garoppolo is also more expensive over his first 3 years. I guess Cousins market was softer than he wanted unless he was willing to settle for the Jets. Guaranteeing the whole deal won’t change much for the Vikings cap considerations and makes Cousins look like he won a valuable concession instead of taking a fairly significant risk by allowing the Vikings out of the deal in 3 years if they feel he hasn’t lived up to it.

I don’t think the deal will stop the Vikings from retaining cornerstone players in the years ahead, meaning Diggs and Hunter and Barr. I do think they’ll look hard at second tier pieces like Waynes and Kendricks and Rudolph (2 more years on his current deal), and replace them with younger guys on rookie contracts when the time comes. The team was always planning to pay a QB real money starting this year, it was just supposed to be Teddy —they’re in great shape with respect to the cap.

I mostly tried to ignore the FA process this year (too busy) but I’m happy with the first big move. After all the hype, it would’ve been disappointing not to land Cousins. I’d like to see some decent depth added on the OL and DL even before the draft, and hopefully a slot CB so they can bump Alexander outside to compete with Trae. 

So far, so good.