My offseason plan

[MaroonBells]

OK, I've been hammering on this for probably two months. I wish I'd posted this earlier because it looks like it's going according to plan so far! I even predicted how much cap we'd pull out of Cousins' contract. One caveat, I didn't have us tagging Harris, but signing him and trading Harrison Smith. I know that would be a hard pill to swallow for many, but he's 31 and doesn't have the range he used to. Trade him while we can still get something for him. Pull $9M off the cap and replace him with a high draft pick. 

Currently $2M under
Key decisions
Release | resulted savingsJoseph $10MRhodes $8MPat Elflein $2M (to happen after the draft)
Shamar Stephen $2M (to happen after the draft)Running Tab: $24M under
(The big pill) Trade | resulted savingsHarrison Smith $9M (2nd rounder)Running Tab: $33M under
Restructure | resulted savingsReiff $2MBarr: $2MRudolph: $2MRunning Tab: $39M under ExtendCousins + $10M I’ve read Vikings could save as much as $12 to $15M here, but kicking cans down the road isn’t the Vikings style.Running Tab: $49M under
Cook - $8M (Zeke Elliot’s 1st year hit was only $6M. More can kicking. Again, not the Vikings MO)Running Tab: $41M under
Re-sign Internal free agents of consequence Harris - $10MAlexander - $5MThe rest: Bailey, Colquitt, Ham, Mannion, Sendejo - $6MEst. cap hit: $21MRunning Tab: $20M under
External free agents:Everson Griffen, DEMaliek Collins, 3T, Cowboys, 24 yrs oldJuston Burris, S, 27 yrs oldEst. cap hit: $12MRunning Tab: $8M under

NFL Draft:1. AJ Terrell, CB - Quickly becoming my favorite CB value in the draft2a. Ezra Cleveland, T/G - Start him at LG. In a year he replaces Reiff. Or Reiff moves inside, O’Neill to LT and Ezra competes with Udoh at RT.2b. Kyle Dugger, S - Big, athletic and versatile safety replaces Smith

3a. Matt Hennessy, C/G - We’ll need a backup center after releasing Elflein3b. Van Jefferson, WR - Has some Diggs in his footwork 

4. Leki Fotu, NT - Enormous run stuffer to replace Joseph on early downs6. Jabari Zuniga, DE - 4.6 forty

Needed for Draft: $6MRunning Tab: $2M under

Key units

Offensive Line
LT- Riley Reiff, CollinsLG - Ezra Cleveland, HennessyC - Garrett Bradbury, HennessyRG - Josh Kline, SamiaRT - Brian O’Neill, Udoh
SecondaryCB - Hughes, AJ Terrell, Alexander, Hill, BoydS - Harris, Dugger, Burris, Sendejo
Defensive lineDE: Hunter, Griffen, OdenigboDT: Collins, Jaleel, Fotu, Watts

Wide Receivers
WR: Diggs, Thielen, Jefferson, Bisi, Beebe

[Guest]

This is solid and very realistic. Do I personally think they'll trade Harry? No. But you make it palatable. Ezra Cleveland is one of my draft crushes along the O-line. His athleticism would be great in our scheme. I still wonder if they'll try to do more along the interior D-line than in your mock. Maliek Collins is a name I've liked for the Vikings but his durability is such a large question mark. 

[Guest]

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
This is solid and very realistic. Do I personally think they'll trade Harry? No. But you make it palatable. Ezra Cleveland is one of my draft crushes along the O-line. His athleticism would be great in our scheme. I still wonder if they'll try to do more along the interior D-line than in your mock. Maliek Collins is a name I've liked for the Vikings but his durability is such a large question mark. 

I really like what we saw from Watts last year. You like to see a rookie flash and he definitely did that in very limited snaps. But of course you can't really count on that, so Collins competes with Watts at 3T and Jaleel competes with Fotu. Zuniga replaces Weatherly and gives us another guy who can move inside in sub packages. Outside is the same with Hunter, Griff and Odenigbo

Secondary is set for the long term with youngsters Hughes and Terrell outside and Alexander in the slot. Backed up by Hill. Safety doesn't look bad with Harris and Dugger, a league average player in Burris and Sendejo. 

I don't think we can expect "upgrade" here necessarily, but given where we were in terms of the cap, and how poorly our secondary played last year, there's some serious hope. 

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
This is solid and very realistic. Do I personally think they'll trade Harry? No. But you make it palatable. Ezra Cleveland is one of my draft crushes along the O-line. His athleticism would be great in our scheme. I still wonder if they'll try to do more along the interior D-line than in your mock. Maliek Collins is a name I've liked for the Vikings but his durability is such a large question mark. 

I really like what we saw from Watts last year. You like to see a rookie flash and he definitely did that in very limited snaps. But of course you can't really count on that, so Collins competes with Watts at 3T and Jaleel competes with Fotu. Zuniga replaces Weatherly and gives us another guy who can move inside in sub packages. Outside is the same with Hunter, Griff and Odenigbo

Secondary is set for the long term with youngsters Hughes and Terrell outside and Alexander in the slot. Backed up by Hill. Safety doesn't look bad with Harris and Dugger, a league average player in Burris and Sendejo. 

I don't think we can expect "upgrade" here necessarily, but given where we were in terms of the cap, and how poorly our secondary played last year, there's some serious hope. 

I agree with the last portion of this statement the most. Given how the secondary player last year, I don't think it will take much for the unit to show significant improvements. 

[Guest]

My offseason plan
Heavy Heineken consumption! B)

[Guest]

*unblock*

I like the draft picks...very similar to guys I have simulated multiple times.

I'm not sure I'm on board with a Reiff redo...

You know what I think about trading Harrison.

*reblock*

[Guest]

@MaroonBells thanks for working this up, very cool. And it does seem plausible.
But my question is, with your plan, do you see the Vikings being a better team next year than they were in 2019? About the same? Or a bit worse?
Even if your first 2 picks are studs (big if), I'm not sure I see a big improvement year over year with the talent you'd have us shedding. Maliek Collins would be the wildcard that could put your plan over the top I guess.
Again, nice writeup!

[Guest]

We're lucky to have Maroon here with his incredibly well thought and explained analysis. Now, let's attack him! JK

I will double down on my drunken rant from last night. There is ZERO percentage chance that Mac Ax is playing in the Slot next year unless Rick makes him the highest paid Slot in the League. He never wanted to move inside and still believes (rightly so, IMO) that he's an Outside Corner. He wants the chance that Zimmer never gave him.

Also, Terrell reminds of that Corner from Missouri from several years back that everyone was so high on and I said would be a bust. Justin something or other. Think he went to Cleveland and then busted.

No way do I think Terrell will bust. But to me he's meh. Henderson and Fulton are one rung above him, Diggs and Hall et al on the same rung. Hope you're right but I envy-watch a lot of Clemson and don't see it. 

I'm starting to think unless Henderson or Fulton falls or a LT is there that Blacklock might be the guy.

[Guest]

@pattersaur said:

@MaroonBells thanks for working this up, very cool. And it does seem plausible.
But my question is, with your plan, do you see the Vikings being a better team next year than they were in 2019? About the same? Or a bit worse?
Even if your first 2 picks are studs (big if), I'm not sure I see a big improvement year over year with the talent you'd have us shedding. Maliek Collins would be the wildcard that could put your plan over the top I guess.
Again, nice writeup!

I think even if we stand pat, our offense will be one for the ages, through organic improvement and continuity (Cousins 2nd-ish year in the same offense). However, we will add some pieces--likely a WR3 and an OL. Just adding those two positions should make it a very dangerous offense. 

I think we all expect a down turn on defense. But I'm not so sure shedding some vets who weren't really playing well (Trae, Linval, Xavier) and replacing them with high draft picks is necessarily going to be a downgrade. Zimmer will adjust scheme to suit personnel and we'll lace 'em up and see what we got. 

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

@pattersaur said:

@MaroonBells thanks for working this up, very cool. And it does seem plausible.
But my question is, with your plan, do you see the Vikings being a better team next year than they were in 2019? About the same? Or a bit worse?
Even if your first 2 picks are studs (big if), I'm not sure I see a big improvement year over year with the talent you'd have us shedding. Maliek Collins would be the wildcard that could put your plan over the top I guess.
Again, nice writeup!

I think even if we stand pat, our offense will be one for the ages, through organic improvement and continuity (Cousins 2nd-ish year in the same offense). However, we will add some pieces--likely a WR3 and an OL. Just adding those two positions should make it a very dangerous offense. 

I think we all expect a down turn on defense. But I'm not so sure shedding some vets who weren't really playing well (Trae, Linval, Xavier) and replacing them with high draft picks is necessarily going to be a downgrade. Zimmer will adjust scheme to suit personnel and we'll lace 'em up and see what we got. 

we need to add another option for a quick response to a post... "uplifting"   your post elevates my hopes for the team for next year... I just have this eeyore feeling for our upcoming year.... of course decades of optimism havent panned out so perhaps this is our year.