FA quality starter for OG (Glowinski, Levitre, Beadles, Carpenter, Cooper) and resign Easton
Draft DT in the 1st unless a stud T falls (if so, take him and slide Reiff inside) but sticking with a Sheldon replacement, go DT and add OG, T in rounds 2 and 3
Between a quality FA, Easton, 2nd Round Pick, and Collins, we should be able to develop a NFL average quality interior which will be miles ahead of the last season. Personally I think next year the guy to watch out for is Collins. His speed, athletic ability, teamed with size make him a potential great ZBS fit.
I trust Zimmer to give us a defense that is good enough to
win, with duct tape and bailing wire.
I don’t trust anyone to fix this OLine situation with day 3
talent.
This offseason isn’t complicated. It’s all about fixing the offense, while
holding steady on defense. Load up on
offensive line. Add a receiver/TE that is
moderately talented that can get open once in a while against a NB or LB. I’d rather spend a draft pick on a backup OL,
than I would a starting DT at this point.
If there is any weak point in our OLine plans, fate will find a way to
expose it.
2 of our last 3 seasons have been thrown away because of
historically bad OLines, despite having a top 5 defense. A functional running game will do more to
help our defense than any DT available to us in the draft.
Quote: @"Jor-El" said:
@"HappyViking" said:
We do need major help at DT. Richardson is not the next Kevin Williams like we hoped. He's ok, but obviously he's not the playmaker we had hoped for. The Vikes might not even offer him a new deal, so the cupboard is pretty bare, don't you think?
If the BPA is a stud DT, I hope they get their guy.
How is the cupboard bare? The last two drafts, we used our 3rd-round picks on DTs. In each case we traded out of that round to pick up some late picks, but were assured that in Jaleel Johnson and Jalyn Holmes we were getting steals, "Day 2 talent". People were even comparing Holmes to Danielle Hunter, and we have a highly-lauded defensive coaching staff that can no doubt turn both of these into star linemen, right??
To pick those DTs, we also passed up offensive linemen that are starting for other teams (Julien Davenport in 2017, Mason Cole in 2018).
BPA is a nice draft philosophy. But when you starve a unit for a decade, and that unit is critical to the health and success of the most expensive player your ownership has ever invested in, BPA is a luxury a team can't afford.
Friggin' AMEN!
Quote: @"JimmyinSD" said:
@"FSUVike" said:
@"JimmyinSD" said:
with the lack of OL talent in the draft this will further push up the price of the limited OL available in FA, I would like to see us grab Easton and one other interior OL in FA to take the pressure off of draft day, but if the market is nuts we will be lucky to come out of FA with one starter let alone 2. Ideally it would be great to go into the draft with all the starting positions penciled in and then just strictly be able to let the board work for us instead of Rick having to work the board and himself getting worked in the process.
Jonah Williams will go in or near the Top 10. Greg Little will be gone by #18. Jawaan Taylor, Dalton Risner & Yondy Cajuste could all easily go in the first. Cody Ford is becoming the default pick for Minnesota in the First in a lot of mocks lately. His running mate Powers will go in the 2nd and start from day 1. Bama's Piersbacher (or something like that) will also be a stater. Wisconsin has 3 guys who will likely all be gone by the 3rd Round.
So far it's a bunch of Tackles, many of whom project better as Guards. Once the process cranks up some of the pure guard prospects will start to move up like Ragnow & Price did last year.
Does this Draft have a Future HOF LT? Nope. Can't miss Guard like Quenton Nelson? Nope. But those type of players aren't ever available where the Vikings are picking anyway.
What it does have is quality depth. Unless you're TBro or Jimmy, who somehow watched even more College Football than me and formed the complete opposite opinion on most of these guys. Which is also a contradictory opinion to that of most Mocks that have anywhere from 4 to 7 O-Linemen going in the 1st Round of an allegedly weak Draft.
As for the original topic, I'd take Dexter Lawrence at #18. It's simple. Good starting talent available for the O-Line will still be there in the 2nd. Dexter is a monster. A legit Blue Chip prospect who might slide because teams reach for QBs and because of just how many really good DTs are in this Draft.
My personal blueprint is sign Mark Glowinski from the Colts for RG. Snag Lawrence in the 1st and Ross Pierschbacher in the 2nd. I'd also bring back Easton.
Now you've got 3 guys who can play Center (Elf, Easton, Pierschbacher) and a Guard who's played on both sides (Glowinski). Spend a 5th on a kid to push Isadora off the Roster and now you've got interior depth and insurance in case Elf doesn't rebound or if Easton isn't fully recovered.
Of course, that means the team is still All In on Reiff at LT. I'm not. So alternatively, if Lawrence is off the Board (likely) and Greg Little or Jawaan Taylor are available (likely at least one will be) and the FO doesn't have a similarly high grade on another DT like say Simmons from MSU, whom I love but not as much as Lawrence, then I take the OT.
Unlike Remmers, Reiff doesn't struggle with power. Speed is his weakness. He stands a much better chance of sliding inside than Mike did. If the draftee isn't ready for Tackle kick him inside instead for some seasoning or to eventually take over at RT if O'Neil moves to LT after next year.
Either direction involves bringing back Easton and grabbing a Starter like Glowinski and using either a 1st or 2nd plus a later round depth pick.
It's actually FA that's thin, not the Draft. Saffold and Foster will be hot commodities that I don't see the FO overpaying for since they're both older players. Need to find the smart signing and work the Draft. Very doable.
how do I get lumped in here? I admit that I dont watch as much CFB as most. you have taken what I have said about wanting to sign 2 FA OL and draft 2 as me saying that rookies cant start on the OL and that is plain bull shit.. .what I have said is that I dont want to have to depend on rookies to start or even be available in the draft. I think last year showed us that the league is waking up to the new rules and importance of quality OL play in determining the teams overall success and the run on 2nd round graded players in the first round was evidence of that. Your proposal of glowinski ( 1FA) and easton plus 2 more in the draft is what I have been saying since mid season to fix this OL.
Yes FSUVike, why do you have to keep dragging me and Jimmy into your posts because we don't agree with every take you have? I think it's very realistic that a DT will be our first pick with the talent available in the first round if the Olineman with a first round grade are off the board. The point that both of us agree on is that there are first round OT's worthy of taking in this draft. What I also said is that blue chip interior lineman are lacking. I know there are tackles that the experts 'Project" as a better guard prospect, but that is a risk that we can't afford to screw up on. With Kubiak on board, I'm more comfortable going that route than when we first discussed this. Jimmy is right and I have also mentioned this in another post today that the OT's that have the potential to also kick inside either temporarily or full-time will be pushed up the board by Tackle needy teams which makes the DT selection a more likely scenario for us in Round 1 unless we decide to trade back and collect an additional pick in the 2nd or 3rd and draft the quality depth players you mentioned.
Considering DL in the 1st round doesn't sound insane to me for the following reasons:
- Sheldon Richardson is a FA. He did a great job providing quick pressure up the middle, though I felt kind of mixed against the run. He will be cheaper to retain than Barr, but I could see them letting him walk. We do have Jaleel Johnson and Jalyn Holmes waiting in the wings and especially if Richardson is gone, they could jump to upgrade at DT.
- Linval Joseph had a down year. Not sure if he was hurt, didn't pair well with Richardson or some other issue, but teams were gashing him up the middle. Probably not a 1st round need, but unless they really like Jaleel Johnson at NT, then it would be a good time to start developing a replacement.
- Everson Griffen has a high cap number and is coming off a poor season where he was dealing with mental health issues. If anything, I suspect that his contract would be restructured, but a change here is possible, since he was arguably outplayed by Stephen Weatherly. Still though the Vikings have a good track record of developing 3rd & 4th round DEs (Griffen, Robison, & Hunter), so they may not feel pressured to spend a 1st here.
With that in mind, I think that taking a DT early could make sense. You could look at DE if someone amazing falls to you, but I'm less concerned about filling that spot, because Weatherly is already decent and they have a few developmental pass rushers already to serve as a fallback plan.
What would make a lot more sense to me is spending a 1st rounder on a LB, since if Barr goes, then we have no one close to having his skill set. Wilson is OK depth and I really don't know why Gedeon sees the field over an extra safety. He struggles against the run and is a liability in coverage and I'd much rather have Kearse out there. LB is an urgent need if Barr leaves and while we could upgrade DL in the 1st, we at least have fall back plans already in place.
Still though OL has been our biggest need for a long time, so all things being equal, I'd prefer to take the best WR available. I could be sold on an athletic TE or 3rd WR, but OL is what they need to address. I also assume things will be like last year and there will be big runs on the available OL talent, though from what Guru is writing, it sounds like there may be some better OL depth in the draft this year.
Quote: @"medaille" said:
I trust Zimmer to give us a defense that is good enough to
win, with duct tape and bailing wire.
I don’t trust anyone to fix this OLine situation with day 3
talent.
This offseason isn’t complicated. It’s all about fixing the offense, while
holding steady on defense. Load up on
offensive line. Add a receiver/TE that is
moderately talented that can get open once in a while against a NB or LB. I’d rather spend a draft pick on a backup OL,
than I would a starting DT at this point.
If there is any weak point in our OLine plans, fate will find a way to
expose it.
2 of our last 3 seasons have been thrown away because of
historically bad OLines, despite having a top 5 defense. A functional running game will do more to
help our defense than any DT available to us in the draft.
There is a lot here I am on board with...I think OL + that 3rd athletic receiver/te option is big.
But it gets more complicated imo if we lose both Barr and Richardson. This is where trading an area of richness (DB) for OL help can take pressure off of the draft to address everything.
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