Very informative, Guru. I don't think it would be smart for the Vikings to exercise the tag on any of their QBs. If Cousins gets too expensive, the Vikings need to pick one of Teddy, Bradford, or Keenum and commit to them with a multi-year contract. You can make a case for any of the four options... the worst decision would be to continue to punt this down the road in my opinion.
Quote: @pumpf said:
DeFillipo might be a better OC than Shurmur, so it's possible that Case could be even better this year. But I don't know if I believe that will happen. We may not be willing to sign Teddy to be the starter... but I hope we re-sign him. I'm curious to see how high his ceiling could be with the offensive weapons that we have now.
Agree. I wouldn't hate bringing Case back on a tag, or short-term deal, as long as we're able to keep Teddy Bridgewater. But how does that even work? You pay Case, what, $18-20M, and he competes with Teddy in camp? If Teddy's fully healthy it's hard to see Case winning a head to head camp battle. And then you're wasting $20M on, what, peace of mind?
I'd be surprised if a team on the verge of a championship, after stating that it wants the offense to be more explosive, adds two QB whisperers, then puts it all in the hands of such a limited QB. How does that sync when you can have BOTH franchise-hopeful Teddy Bridgewater and former #1 overall pick Sam Bradford whom Flip called " the most accurate, pure passer I’ve ever coached" for the same cost?
I have no clue what the Vikings are going to do, but if it were up to me, the debate would be about either Teddy and Sam, or Kirk Cousins and a free agent. Keenum would not be in the picture.
I don't know how we could keep both Case and Teddy. If by some miracle we convinced both of them to stay and compete for the starter's job, how would we pay them? I mean in order to keep Case supposedly he may command over 20 mil. There's no way Teddy would sign for a lesser amount than Case and that's because I have to believe that in Teddy's mind he'd win that camp competition (and I honestly think he would, too). He isn't going to be the starter and get paid backup money. And, conversely, I'm sure Case wouldn't want to back up Teddy. Both guys are going to want to be the starter.
Geoff, I know you already said in this thread that the team won't guarantee the starter's job to either Teddy or Sam. If we don't resign Case and we don't enter the Kirk Cousins sweepstakes, wouldn't that then guarantee either Teddy or Sam as starter for 2018 if we sign either one of them? If neither are guaranteed the job, who (if not Case or Cousins) would be any kind of competition for the starting job for Sam or Teddy? The only way I can see not guaranteeing either of them the job would be if we resigned both of them. But why in the world would Sam and Teddy agree to a camp competition against each other?
Just going on what we know about the Vikings not signing Teddy or Sam as unquestioned starter, that leads me to believe we're going to be either retaining Case as the starter (by virtue of tag or an actual long-term deal) or we are indeed getting in the Cousins sweepstakes. It makes sense in light of Sam and Teddy's injuries and the uncertainty that those injuries create, but at this point if we let Teddy go then I'm all for going after Cousins.
Quote: @MaroonBells said:
@ pumpf said:
DeFillipo might be a better OC than Shurmur, so it's possible that Case could be even better this year. But I don't know if I believe that will happen. We may not be willing to sign Teddy to be the starter... but I hope we re-sign him. I'm curious to see how high his ceiling could be with the offensive weapons that we have now.
Agree. I wouldn't hate bringing Case back on a tag, or short-term deal, as long as we're able to keep Teddy Bridgewater. But how does that even work? You pay Case, what, $18-20M, and he competes with Teddy in camp? If Teddy's fully healthy it's hard to see Case winning a head to head camp battle. And then you're wasting $20M on, what, peace of mind?
I'd be surprised if a team on the verge of a championship, after stating that it wants the offense to be more explosive, adds two QB whisperers, then puts it all in the hands of such a limited QB. How does that sync when you can have BOTH franchise-hopeful Teddy Bridgewater and former #1 overall pick Sam Bradford whom Flip called " the most accurate, pure passer I’ve ever coached" for the same cost?
I have no clue what the Vikings are going to do, but if it were up to me, the debate would be about either Teddy and Sam, or Kirk Cousins and a free agent. Keenum would not be in the picture.
MB, I don't agree with you that Teddy is ahead of Keenum when he hasn't had any meaningful playing time in two seasons to prove your take. None of us on this board are in a position to make that decision based on the uncertainty of Teddy and Bradford's health. If Sam's doesn't really have a bone on bone issue per the reports last season that said he did, and his knee procedure fixed the problem, what makes you think that he would want to be a backup when there are plenty of QB hungry teams that need a body? Teddy isn't going to backup anyone either unless that decision is out of his control and his contract tolls for 2018. If he is a free agent, someone will sign him to be their starter. I don't see any situation where we get to keep 2 of the 3 QB's on the roster last season unless the Toll happens.
As far as Case goes, if Teddy's tolling issue isn't resolved by the time free agency begins, I don't think we have a choice but to protect ourselves and use one of the tags on Keenum. It would be foolish for us to not exert some control of Case's contract situation vs. letting all three hit the open market potentially leaving you with nothing. That's what scares me with going after Cousins and if you fail to secure his services while the other 3 sign deals elsewhere.
Sometimes with all the different takes I read my mind wonders if there's absolutely any possibility that the team throws a real curve ball here and resigns Sam. Until I hear it otherwise from Rick or Zim, I am starting to wonder if Sam could be the dark horse choice. I think the team wants Teddy but isn't willing to pay him big money. I think that leaves them with their other "known" that they probably envisioned a long-term future with which is Sam. Obviously, the team has the info on the health of both Sam and Teddy that we do not. Could that knee really not be as bad as we all think it is? And what about Teddy's knee? In the history of the NFL, has a player at any position ever came back from Teddy's kind of injury to have the kind of career we're all hoping he'll have, one that would take us to the "promised land" of a SB championship??
I say we pick a name out of a hat because no matter who gets to be next years QB there's going to be a ton of questions and second guessing. Thank God I'm not Rick lol. His career might very well be riding on 2 unhealthy knees and/or a question mark of a one year wonder.
Quote: @AGRforever said:
I say we pick a name out of a hat because no matter who gets to be next years QB there's going to be a ton of questions and second guessing. Thank God I'm not Rick lol. His career might very well be riding on 2 unhealthy knees and/or a question mark of a one year wonder.
Don't go feeling too bad for Rick Spielman. The man is collecting some very very very nice paychecks to make these decisions.
If we sign Case, we're clearly "married" to him as the starter. There's no way (as MB pointed out above) that we can sign him... and then have an open competition for the starter job. I don't think we can just hand it to Teddy... unless we ALSO sign Sam (to be the back-up... and/or compete with Teddy). On the other hand, we can sign Cousins- and make him the obvious starter. But will Teddy sign on to be a back-up to him? Sam might. I don't think Sam's gonna be signed to start anywhere... maybe Teddy won't either. As I see it, our choices are:
1) Sign Case... and have Sam or Teddy as the #2.
2) Sign Cousins... and have Sam or Teddy as the #2.
3) Keep Teddy and Sam and have them battle it out in TC.
Cousins should be the choice if they can work a deal with him. Otherwise the franchise that just went 13-3 and got to the NFCC is saying let's gamble on Teddy's many questions marks, or Sam's health problems/knees, or Case not regressing to the mean, etc.
The team should be in win now mode, with the huge amount of cap space available--NOW is the time to go for SB championships and Cousins plus this defense means that window is open for several years to come. Any one of the other three is a roll of the dice. Or combo of 2 of the 3 which I have to imagine is what they want if they don't have the stones to reach for the mountaintop, which based on history is probably the reality of the situation anyway.
As far the op's post, well, people complain that Case isn't worth 23 mil which he isn't but you are paying for convenience as they say - the convenience of controlling him for a year and not having to shell out for a loaded long term deal that might bite your ass.
i would get them all in a room, offer multi year contracts to all 3 for what they are worth and tell them the first 2 that sign is our depth chart. Assuming all are healthy im thinking Sam about 20 per front loaded, Case 15 per, Teddy 15 per backloaded. All should have trade value in case you have to get rid of one
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