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Dalvin Cook could take off in Vikings' revamped offense in 2019Teams coached by recently added assistant Gary Kubiak teams have long prioritized zone running schemes that helped make Terrell Davis a Hall of Famer and turned Arian Foster into an elite rusher.
Gary Kubiak’s addition to the Vikings’ offensive staff — which was said to be at the direction of offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski — figures to further solidify the identity of the team’s offense behind Mike Zimmer’s vision. Kubiak’s teams have long prioritized the zone running schemes that helped make Terrell Davis a Hall of Famer and turned Arian Foster into the NFL’s leading rusher in 2010.
If Rick Dennison — Kubiak’s longtime assistant — comes to the Vikings, as expected, in the offensive line coach/run game coordinator role he held with the Jets last year, he’ll join tight ends coach Brian Pariani among Kubiak’s longtime assistants. Kubiak’s son Klint, who returns for his second stint in Minnesota as the Vikings’ quarterbacks coach, has a strong relationship with Stefanski, as well.
A unit that struggled to find its identity last season is making an effort to establish more cohesion in 2019. If the tenets of Kubiak’s offenses come to Minnesota, it’ll mean plenty of zone runs, more snaps with quarterback Kirk Cousins under center — Kubiak’s teams have frequently put QBs under center more than any offense in the league — and the kinds of play action throws Cousins executed with success in Washington.
http://www.startribune.com/dalvin-cook-c...505020962/
I'm hopeful about this, especially in that the OC is a Vikings' long-timer...giving continuity even as the whole offensive department updates.
Granted, I chug purple Kool-Aid every offseason, but this seems like a win-win. I think Zimmer likes having a fellow, older, established coach to lean on for offensive input.
As far as the (continuing) elephant in the room goes-meaning Cousins-I have to believe that he'll have a massive chip on his shoulder after a disappointing first season in purple. He got the contract he wanted, he has a ton of directly-spoken support (even as the usual suspects in the fan base have turned on him as they do all of our QBs), and every personality profile I've read on him states him to be ambitious, organized, and very driven to improve. Fine, here's his real chance to step up from "talented, but disappointing" into the upper tiers of the position. He has the arm, puts up the numbers...he just needs to do it against good opponents, with greater consistency. If our OL improves decently, I think that would go miles toward furthering his confidence.
I've watched our offenses kill QB careers for too many years, now. Even the '09/Burt season required a huge number of factors to fall into place (having both AD/CT, drafting Percy, Rice staying upright, JA and others on defense, and the "man in the crocs")...and that included a QB that largely ignored our head coach.
For the first time in many years, we're building our offense around a QB, including spending a ton of money at the position. That kind of commitment has worked for other clubs, I'm hoping it'll be the final, defining piece for ours.
2018 was a whacko/tragic situation, which is all too common with the Vikings. I honestly believe that the prioritizing of the offensive staff and QB will pay forward, and the team still has all the foundation it needs to be a championship contender. Get the OL sorted and tweak everything else....
First question, who on the roster is ideal for ZBS? My guess is Elf, ONeill, Collins, maybe Easton.
2nd Question, is Easton reliable enough to pencil him on the roster? if so, between he and Collins I believe you have one of the G of locked in
With that said, letting Barr, Richardson, Dejo walk with a restructure of Griff and Rudy, frees up cap space for a high quality G optimal for ZBS. Could that be Billy Turner, James Carpenter or Ben Garland? Maybe Jeff Allen? (I would also love for us to take a real run at Deone Buchanon or Preston Smith for LB, backup plan Vincent Rey).
So a new OL scheme with Reiff, Elf, ONeill, Easton, Collins, FA would mean TRENCHES BPA over the first 4 rounds (DT, OG, DE, OT)
1st round DT
2nd round OG
3rd round DE
4th round OT
This would give us a depth chart of:
OT: Reiff-ONeill-Collins-4th Rd
OG: Easton-FA-2nd Round-Isodora
C: Elf-Jones
DE: Hunter-Griff-Weatherly-3rd Round-Bower
DT: Joseph-1st Round-JJohnson-Holmes-TJohnson
I would gladly give up some of the sexy toys to have a DL that is consistently top 5 in production, a OL somewhere around 10th-16th ranked in performance.
With the best secondary I believe we have ever had in 2019, a dynamic duo of WR along with Cook, this team winning in the trenches puts us back in the Super Bowl conversation
Quote: @Zanary said:
I'm hopeful about this, especially in that the OC is a Vikings' long-timer...giving continuity even as the whole offensive department updates.
Granted, I chug purple Kool-Aid every offseason, but this seems like a win-win. I think Zimmer likes having a fellow, older, established coach to lean on for offensive input.
As far as the (continuing) elephant in the room goes-meaning Cousins-I have to believe that he'll have a massive chip on his shoulder after a disappointing first season in purple. He got the contract he wanted, he has a ton of directly-spoken support (even as the usual suspects in the fan base have turned on him as they do all of our QBs), and every personality profile I've read on him states him to be ambitious, organized, and very driven to improve. Fine, here's his real chance to step up from "talented, but disappointing" into the upper tiers of the position. He has the arm, puts up the numbers...he just needs to do it against good opponents, with greater consistency. If our OL improves decently, I think that would go miles toward furthering his confidence.
I've watched our offenses kill QB careers for too many years, now. Even the '09/Burt season required a huge number of factors to fall into place (having both AD/CT, drafting Percy, Rice staying upright, JA and others on defense, and the "man in the crocs")...and that included a QB that largely ignored our head coach.
For the first time in many years, we're building our offense around a QB, including spending a ton of money at the position. That kind of commitment has worked for other clubs, I'm hoping it'll be the final, defining piece for ours.
2018 was a whacko/tragic situation, which is all too common with the Vikings. I honestly believe that the prioritizing of the offensive staff and QB will pay forward, and the team still has all the foundation it needs to be a championship contender. Get the OL sorted and tweak everything else....
Throw in that an offense built on the run will fit Kirk quite well. He thrives on play action and under Flip, we didn't do much of that. Riding Cook and the ZBS, Kirk can go back to just being an excellent part of the puzzle rather than everything depending on him.
I highly doubt the Vikings will take 2 OL or 2 DL in the first 4 rounds.
Quote: @Skodin said:
First question, who on the roster is ideal for ZBS? My guess is Elf, ONeill, Collins, maybe Easton.
2nd Question, is Easton reliable enough to pencil him on the roster? if so, between he and Collins I believe you have one of the G of locked in
With that said, letting Barr, Richardson, Dejo walk with a restructure of Griff and Rudy, frees up cap space for a high quality G optimal for ZBS. Could that be Billy Turner, James Carpenter or Ben Garland? Maybe Jeff Allen? (I would also love for us to take a real run at Deone Buchanon or Preston Smith for LB, backup plan Vincent Rey).
So a new OL scheme with Reiff, Elf, ONeill, Easton, Collins, FA would mean TRENCHES BPA over the first 4 rounds (DT, OG, DE, OT)
1st round DT
2nd round OG
3rd round DE
4th round OT
This would give us a depth chart of:
OT: Reiff-ONeill-Collins-4th Rd
OG: Easton-FA-2nd Round-Isodora
C: Elf-Jones
DE: Hunter-Griff-Weatherly-3rd Round-Bower
DT: Joseph-1st Round-JJohnson-Holmes-TJohnson
I would gladly give up some of the sexy toys to have a DL that is consistently top 5 in production, a OL somewhere around 10th-16th ranked in performance.
With the best secondary I believe we have ever had in 2019, a dynamic duo of WR along with Cook, this team winning in the trenches puts us back in the Super Bowl conversation
I like a lot of your plan, except a few items.
1. I'm very afraid of counting on Easton - but scared that the Vikings will.
2. I don't know if we can find a starting OG in free agency, at least anyone better than Compton.
3. DT in round 1...I know it's a great draft for DL, but are we really going to find anyone that Zimmer will start as a rookie? I doubt it, so we have another "must win" year without an impact player in round 1.
If we don't get a starting G in FA, we're probably going OL in the first. Even if not, I think there is an underappreciated interest in adding another weapon for Cousins, not just protectors. Vikings could draft a fast TE like Hockenson.
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