Vikings Getting Calls On Kyle Rudolph

[Carl Knowles]

Hard pill to swallow. Rudolph is one of my favorite players. All of this because of Cousins contract and cap fear. I guess the Vikings gotta do what they gotta do. Bring on a big offer!

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2914...0-deadline

[Guest]

why did I wake up this morning?

[Guest]

Let him go, he deserves that chance and frankly he, like Harry will always be a Viking

[Guest]

I can't imagine they'd get much for him, but every pick helps. 

[Guest]

he certainly deserves to hear the teams and have a say.  In a season like this  at this point in his career he's earned his shot to go oiut on his own terms.

[Guest]

I'm torn. Harrison and Rudy (and to a lesser extent Barr) are guys that have been here for a long time and been great on and off the field. I wish for them to experience success, but I'm saddened that it likely won't be here. Ugh. What a shit show of a year.

[Guest]

Rudy makes a lot of sense. He'll be 31 in a couple of weeks, he's got a big contract, an emerging player behind him, and he's still worth something. 

[Guest]

I think we have to ask ourselves how big of a rebuild are we
looking at?  Are we going to try and be
competitive next year and stretch the window of the players we have or do we
need to dump salaries to make room for another run?  I think we could be playoff competitive with
minor changes, but I just don’t see us being SB competitive.


I think we have to draft Cousins replacement this draft.  If Zimmers history holds true, we’ll probably
never get this good of a draft pick again. 
I think we’ll have to start getting rid of the midlevel performers
getting paid a bunch.  Barr has to be cut
for cap relief.  Rudolph with needs to be
restructured to something like $6M a year or moved.  Harris is too good for us to pay a second
safety.  Reiff?  I think Cleveland was a mistake, not because
he sucks or anything, but because he doesn’t really upgrade the unit, he’s just
cap relief.  Now that we have him, we
need to figure out if he can play tackle. 
I just really don’t want to go into the offseason with 3 question marks
on the OLine if we cut Reiff without seeing Cleveland at OT or potentially
seeing Reiff at G.  (and it’ll probably
help us on the Tank for … campaign) and taking a step backwards on OLine really
hamstrings our next year or two considering Rick is on the slow plan of
replacing all our lineman, one per year with rookies not meant to start for a
year.


I’m waffling on Cousins. 
I don’t think he’s the guy, but Rick screwed up his extension so bad
that getting rid of him is so painful.  I
can see both sides of cutting him immediately and waiting a bit to cut him.

[Guest]

@medaille said:
I think we have to ask ourselves how big of a rebuild are we
looking at?  Are we going to try and be
competitive next year and stretch the window of the players we have or do we
need to dump salaries to make room for another run?  I think we could be playoff competitive with
minor changes, but I just don’t see us being SB competitive.


I think we have to draft Cousins replacement this draft.  If Zimmers history holds true, we’ll probably
never get this good of a draft pick again. 
I think we’ll have to start getting rid of the midlevel performers
getting paid a bunch.  Barr has to be cut
for cap relief.  Rudolph with needs to be
restructured to something like $6M a year or moved.  Harris is too good for us to pay a second
safety.  Reiff?  I think Cleveland was a mistake, not because
he sucks or anything, but because he doesn’t really upgrade the unit, he’s just
cap relief.  Now that we have him, we
need to figure out if he can play tackle. 
I just really don’t want to go into the offseason with 3 question marks
on the OLine if we cut Reiff without seeing Cleveland at OT or potentially
seeing Reiff at G.  (and it’ll probably
help us on the Tank for … campaign) and taking a step backwards on OLine really
hamstrings our next year or two considering Rick is on the slow plan of
replacing all our lineman, one per year with rookies not meant to start for a
year.


I’m waffling on Cousins. 
I don’t think he’s the guy, but Rick screwed up his extension so bad
that getting rid of him is so painful.  I
can see both sides of cutting him immediately and waiting a bit to cut him.

if you were to ask me your question..... my answer is simple,  are we a fanbase that is hungry for a playoff appearance or starving for a superbowl?  granted you cant get a SB without the playoffs,  but we all know that there are teams that are just not going to get it done,  i felt that way last year and was frustrated once again to get to the waters edge and know that we didnt have the boat to get across that big water.  I knew this year was a throw away clear back in late march with the offseason  we had and the prospect of having to start a bunch of new players at to many key positions.

IMO any vet that is 30 or over at the start of next season needs to be approached about moving on,  and they need to get it honestly,  this is a team that is shooting for 2022,  if they want to stay they will be asked to make sacrifices,  if they want to go they will be given every effort to make sure they end up in a place that will work for them.  i am tired of the little patch jobs,  lets build a new team from the ground up... or the lines out.

[Guest]

I think our approach now has a lot to do with what management thinks about Zimmer. They did not fire him Monday, so I think he's here until the end of the season. BUT - I do think they may have already decided whether he will return in 2021. If they have decided on a "Big" rebuild, I don't think he'll stick around, and I could picture him staying to see his team through this bad season and then retire.

• Barr: if we cut him this offseason, we get something like a $10M cap hit. I see him as a restructure target. He has vastly underperformed his salary. If Zimmer stays, he will likely want to keep Barr, a favorite, here. If not, I wouldn't be surprised to see a new staff try him at rush OLB in a 3-4 defense. I'm not sure he can be a great pass rusher even in that scheme but it does seem like people around the NFL have believed that would be his best fit.
• Smith: I think he stays if Zimmer is going to be back. But I think his fate is also dependent on Ant Harris. If they can trade Harris, would they want to lose both safeties? Who would start - Metellus and ?? I also don't think Smith would bring much in trade. How would people feel if one of the best DBs in the history of this team leaves for a 5th-round pick??
  
• Ant Harris: He will be a free agent and likely to leave. But other teams will consider him a 10-game rental, so again, I bet he would bring just a modest pick. If he leaves after this season and signs a big contract, we might get a better comp pick for him than what we get in trade.

Two things I would like to see the Vikings do:1. Move Brian O'Neill to LT. See if he can play there. That may mean trading Reiff or moving him to OG or somewhere for the rest of this season. And try Oli Udoh at RT.
2. Start Irv Smith full-time. Again, if they can move Rudolph, do so, but elevate Smith regardless.