06-30-2023, 02:19 PM
Quote: @AGRforever said:
In Brees' prime, he would move around in the pocket and create plays off script, Cousins has never shown that ability, IMO that is what kept Cousins from ever being able to take a team from good to great, he has an upper tier arm, but doesnt have the Brady or Rogers like ability to pre read a D and get the ball out like lightning to beat a blitz himself, and has never shown comfort in buying more time or making blitzers miss with his feet. basically Kirks best sack defense is that thing he does where he just squats right before the hit and they sometimes go over top of him as he kind of duck walks backwards and then pops up again.@MaroonBells said:
@JimmyinSD said:
You don't know that. He was 28 when we traded for him. Hell, he's only 35 even now. And I still maintain that the best QBing we've seen since Favre was Bradford. Didn't last long, but he was damn good. It's a real shame he couldn't stay healthy.@MaroonBells said:
Bradford was never going to be a long term solution, not targeting QB because you traded for SB is a lack of awareness considering Sams age and injury history.@greediron said:
We missed on Ponder, as did everyone that year. We had Teddy...until we didn't. Then Bradford...until we didn't. After Teddy and Bradford, we brought in Cousins. So I'm trying to think of QBs we should've drafted at our slot but didn't. Lamar Jackson comes to mind. Late 1st rounder the year we took Hughes. But it would've been pretty silly to draft Jackson considering we had just signed Cousins to pots of money a month before.@supafreak84 said:
It isn't the first round picks at QB that were the issue. Cousins was a 4th round pick, the same year the redskins drafted RGIII high in the first round.@greediron said:
And let's dig into the topic of quarterbacks. The Vikings only drafted in the top 10 three times while Spielman was the GM or the defacto GM. 2007 when we drafted Adrian Peterson (7th), 2012 when we drafted Matt Kalil (4th), and 2014 when we drafted Anthony Barr (9th).@supafreak84 said:
Yeah, it is kinda funny claiming Rick only had picks cuz Rick sucked, or that Rick only had picks cuz he traded away all his good picks. Rick was a great manipulator of draft picks. He moved well, dropped when he saw value and usually came out with a steal. This article attests to that.
Rick really struggled and ultimately was fired because he couldn't draft a QB (or wouldn't draft a QB once he thought he had his guy) and because he sucked at drafting offensive lineman. Cousins could have been the answer, but the line really affected his play (insert cousins hating dog whistle here). Who knows, maybe because if we had a good OC, they got hired as a HC the following season. Maybe because Sparano died and left the Oline room in disarray. Maybe because Zim was a defensive coach and couldn't figure out the offensive side.
Lots of excuses, but ultimately it was the lack of QB play that doomed him. We ended up paying for Cousins and I think that was the beginning of the end for Rick and Zim.
- In 2011 we win a completely meaningless game week 16 on the road at Washington, which moved us from the first overall pick to the third overall pick (which we would swap with Cleveland for the 4th pick). We lose that meaningless game and we would have had the #1 overall pick which would have been Andrew Luck. Imagine how that one game shifted the fortunes of this franchise and the perception of Spielman.
- In the 2011 draft we took a swing at Ponder and missed. He did however follow that up by drafting Kyle Rudolph in the second round who would go on to catch more touchdown passes by any TE in team history (by double).
- in 2014 we trade back up into the first round to take Teddy Bridgewater. Teddy showed a lot of promise before his career was derailed by the catastrophic leg injury heading into year three. We don't know how his career might have turned out otherwise but he was a Spielman pick that he was extremely high on. For the record, I was a big Derek Carr guy that year and was pretty upset when we drafted Bridgewater over him.
From that point on we were never a bad enough team to be in position to draft an elite signal caller, and it's why we broke the bank in free agency bringing in Cousins in free agency. Cousins was supposed to be the missing piece on an otherwise championship caliber roster. Instead Zimmer implodes, his message grew stale with the players, and here we are now...
Mahomes, Rodgers, and many others weren't high first round picks. But they were taken when the team had a QB in house. It is the willingness to take a chance even if you already have a QB. That was Rick's issue.
Russell Wilson went in the 3rd. But that's a half-court shot a year after you drafted your QBOTF. All this to say luck and timing play a big part.
Even looking at Cousins. He's probably the best QB free agent acquisition since Brees? Discounting Brady choosing to take his talents to west beach for 1 good year?
Young FA QBs never hit the market. We've had one of the best. I honestly don't see much of a difference between Brees and Cousins other then charisma.
