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Vikings to be in combine spotlightThe Vikings will be getting a lot of attention at the combine next week. They have a terrible cap situation, their coach and GM are perceived by the peers to be on the hot seat and it's going to be impossible for Minnesota to keep this roster together in 2020.
Teams will be sniffing around for trades, sensing some blood in the water, and it will go way beyond just receiver Stefon Diggs, the most talked about trade candidate. All of the extensions and huge contacts handed out the last three years have caught up to this franchise, and there is no easy way out. Cutting Xavier Rhodes is a no brainer, and tight end Kyle Rudolph can maybe get you back a mid-round pick in return, but that still doesn't create enough wiggle room to upgrade of note anywhere else.
The secondary needs to be almost entirely rebuilt, and Everson Griffin opting out of his deal is highly anticipated, which takes a big bite out of the pass rush. Linval Joseph's $12M salary might make him trade bait, too, meantime the offensive line remains a significant issue still after years of trying to fix it.
I'm not a huge believer in windows closing in the NFL, but with Kirk Cousins in the final year of his deal, this is an obvious example of one slamming shut. A purge of one degree or another is inevitable
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-i...-and-more/
The window has closed
From the moment Mike Zimmer took over the Vikings in 2014, the organization decided the way to win a division with two top-notch quarterbacks was by building the type of defensive juggernaut that Bill Parcells would be proud of and stack the team while Teddy Bridgewater was on his rookie contract.
With 2013 first-rounders Xavier Rhodes and Harrison Smith already in place, Zimmer and GM Rick Spielman started building around them with ninth overall pick Anthony Barr in ’14. And then they hit gold in ’15 with Trae Waynes, Eric Kendricks and Danielle Hunter all in the same draft. Add the development of Everson Griffen and Andrew Sendejo with savvy free agent signings in Linval Joseph, Captain Munnerlyn and Terence Newman and they quickly had all the pieces required to be dangerous. In two years with Zimmer at the helm, the Vikings jumped from 32nd to fifth in points allowed and won the division.
Two years later — and with almost all of those same pieces from ’15 — the Vikings went 13-3 and rated No. 1 in points and yards allowed and reached the NFC Championship game. The only problem with having that much talent on defense is that everyone has to get paid eventually. They gave out extensions to Rhodes, Smith, Joseph, Griffen, Kendricks and Hunter.
By ’19 the Vikings were the second highest spending team on defense in the NFL, per OverTheCap. But the spending stopped matching the production as several key players saw their performances dip significantly from the ’17 campaign.
Now the Vikings will be forced to move on from older players who have faded like Rhodes, Griffen and Joseph and possibly free agents in their prime like Waynes, Mackensie Alexander and Anthony Harris, who ranked as PFF’s top safety last year. If nobody comes back and they walk away from Rhodes and Joseph, the Vikings are left to rebuild the defensive line and secondary with very limited cap space or draft capital
https://www.skornorth.com/vikings-2/2020...-he-right/
The window is still open
Way back when Zimmer was working with a ragtag group in his first year, the Vikings still finished with 11th in points against. That isn’t all that far off from the Super Bowl teams, which ranked seventh and eighth this year. In ’18 the Rams made The Big Game with the 20th best defense.
Plus the Vikings have an impressive history of development at all levels of the defense. Defensive linemen like Ifeadi Odenigbo, Stephen Weatherly (if he returns), Jaleel Johnson and Armon Watts all have the potential to provide similar production as Griffen and Joseph did in ’19, even if their ceilings aren’t as high as the Pro Bowl versions of those veterans.
If the Vikings extend Cousins to reduce his cap hit in ’20, keep their skill players in place and improve the offensive line via the draft and free agency, they flashed in ’19 an offense that could be capable of staying in the NFC race — especially with Kubiak running the show. There are years worth of evidence to give us reason to believe Kubiak’s offense can sustain the success they had in ’19. Cousins thrived with a higher volume of play-action passes and deep throws downfield and overall the Vikings ranked seventh in passing Expected Points Added — the Chiefs and 49ers were first and fourth and the average Super Bowl team over the last 10 years has ranked sixth.
While the talent on the defensive side has turned geriatric, the offensive stars are either in their primes or young. Diggs and Adam Thielen have years left of presumably excellent play, Irv Smith could be a rising star, same for Brian O’Neill.
The future of quarterbacks in the NFC also gives hope to the Vikings remaining a contender. We have seen a new NFC team in the Super Bowl nearly every year. With Seattle struggling to build around Russell Wilson, the door is open to any team that earns a first-round bye and has things fall their way in the postseason. It isn’t out of the ream of possibility by any stretch to see the Vikings being better than a Bears team without an answer at quarterback, the Packers into Aaron Rodgers’s later years and the Lions remaining the Lions.
Conclusion
Whether the Vikings’ window is closed does not rest on keeping the players who made them great in ’17. It lands on the shoulders of the offense becoming the centerpiece of the team and putting the onus on Zimmer to scheme and develop his way to a capable defense until they can re-stock the cupboard.
If the focus of the offseason is to get Cousins more time to throw the ball and more playmakers around him, they have a shot to win the NFC North if things break right.
If they decide to leave the offense as is and spend draft capital and whatever cap space they can muster to either keep current players or overpay for defensive free agents, it’s hard to see much changing for the better — though they can still be competitive in a conference that appears to be wide open.
Quote: @purplefaithful said:
Conclusion
Whether the Vikings’ window is closed does not rest on keeping the players who made them great in ’17. It lands on the shoulders of the offense becoming the centerpiece of the team and putting the onus on Zimmer to scheme and develop his way to a capable defense until they can re-stock the cupboard.
I think its as simple as this.
Quote: @StickyBun said:
@ purplefaithful said:
Conclusion
Whether the Vikings’ window is closed does not rest on keeping the players who made them great in ’17. It lands on the shoulders of the offense becoming the centerpiece of the team and putting the onus on Zimmer to scheme and develop his way to a capable defense until they can re-stock the cupboard.
I think its as simple as this. Agreed. I'm really interested to see what this team looks like next season. I think Trader Rick is going to be busy this off-season.
i dont buy the "window" theory's, good teams sink unexpectedly and bad ones emerge equally as fast from one year to the next. I think this team is however trending in the wrong direction, but who knows for sure... thats why they play the games.
is the glass half full or is it half empty---Damned if I know, it's the offseason and I'm in the dark drinking directly from the can missing my Viking fix while contemplating the latest Diggs tweet :'(
Quote: @StickyBun said:
@ purplefaithful said:
Conclusion
Whether the Vikings’ window is closed does not rest on keeping the players who made them great in ’17. It lands on the shoulders of the offense becoming the centerpiece of the team and putting the onus on Zimmer to scheme and develop his way to a capable defense until they can re-stock the cupboard.
I think its as simple as this.
1000% this. Let's see if the CB whisperer can make due with Hughes, Alexander, Hill, and Boyd. The D has had enough premium draft capital thrown at it. Continue to fix the OL and swing for the fences.
The window for what?
Being generally good or good enough to win a SB? I think Zimmer and this coaching staff are good
enough that we will be at least middle of the road almost regardless of
talent. I think we’ll be within one win
of making the playoffs no matter what.
Pretty good chance of making the playoffs. Not a great chance of getting to or winning
the SB. That said, I don’t think we’re
as far off as people seem to think. I
think one excellent LG would shift us into a fairly dominant offense. Maybe not best in the league, but probably
top 5. And being fairly dominant on one
side of the ball is probably good enough to coast us to the playoffs, and it
would be up to the defense to see how far we went from there. If we got a legit 3rd WR, even
better, maybe a guy like Doctson who we couldn’t keep last year would flourish
with a full offseason in the system.
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