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Is this the year we finally draft a QBOTF? I know its not ideal because we have other holes to fill, but if this team is unsure of what they are going to do with Cousins (who is only under contract for one more season), then has there been a better time to draft a guy early and let him sit for a season before taking the reigns in 2021? We have nobody under contract at the backup positions currently.
So what's the plan? Sign Cousins to another huge deal after the season (are we completely sold on him yet)? Draft a Fromm, Eason, or Jordan Love and let them sit for a year? Or do we spend some money in free agency on a young backup with starting potential down the road like a Mariota or maybe even Bridgewater?
I'm going to be very interested to see how this teams addresses the QB position this offseason.
Just my opinion.
Cousins has proven he is more than capable, Personally, I believe in him, but let him off the leash for crying out loud......but a few things need to happen, is he willing to take a "team friendly" deal? Yes? Awesome. No? Buh Bye.
The rest goes from there.
If No....looks like we are going to roll the dice in the draft. Here we go again swing and miss or connect?
If he DOES restructure a team friendly deal....
Scherff - go get him. (given he checks out medically)
Draft - Best DB's available / 3T (our secondary getting older / slower)
What are the alternatives? In the Draft I see Joe B clearly going #1 overall. Tua Top 5, and potentially made of glass. Herbert Top 10 and was better 2 years ago. Eason and Love are maddeningly inconsistent, and probably don't make it to 25 in a year with so many QB needy teams.
The next tier is Fromm and that arm that makes Keenum's look like a cannon. Hurts couldn't take his eyes off of the LSU pass rush long enough to see open Receivers and his deep ball accuracy is awful. Gordon was a 1 year wonder who's a statue on the pocket and his grade under pressure is horrific.
Yes, all QBs have warts coming out. But this is a weaker class overall. Mahomes destroyed a Power 5 Conference and has Pro Genes. Jackson was a Heisman Trophy winner! There was far more on their resumes than any of these kids minus Joe and Tua.
Nobody wants to hear this but Kirk Cousins was an All In move. If he doesn't pan out and is gone after next year Rick and Mike go with him and the team is in rebuilding mode. If there's any percentage of a chance that improving the roster via this Draft can help Kirk take it to the next level why hurt that by burning an early round pick on a kid with a thin resume?
And why would you trust Rick to be the magician that mystically figures out which of these kids is the next Franchise QB? Odds are one of the group after the top 2 pans out. But I don't trust Spielman at all to be the guy that figures out which one it is. Best to give him one more year to bolster the Offensive Roster and then let his successor find the QB of the Future.
I am not a fan of wasting draft capital on a QB that "dropped to you". You have to be more adamant about your intentions at that position.
Quote: @"Geoff Nichols" said:
I am not a fan of wasting draft capital on a QB that "dropped to you". You have to be more adamant about your intentions at that position.
Well that's unfortunately the position the Vikings notoriously find themselves in, just good enough to miss out on elite QB prospects. We rarely are ever drafting in the top 10, which makes it even more difficult to identify an elite prospect at the position. They have had to sort through QB's that have dropped (Ponder/Bridgewater), but at some point you have to take a swing and trust in your staffs ability to develop those prospects. That philosophy certainly paid off in Baltimore this year. I like Kubiak as a guy I would trust to develop a young QB and I would like to see the Vikings take a swing at things especially with the uncertainty surrounding Cousins after the season and the fact that we have no backups at the position
Some interesting facts on Kubiak and QB's:
In Kubiak’s 18 years without Elway, his teams finished in the top 10 in NY/A nine times and 11 times in the top 15. Some of the highlights of those years:
— In 2000, the Broncos ranked fourth in NY/A with Brian Griese and Gus Frerotte under center. They were top 10 in third down percentage and red zone percentage. Griese averaged 7.22 NY/A with the great Ed McCaffrey and Rod Smith as his top receivers.
— At one time people figured Jake Plummer to be a bust, but in Denver he led the Broncos to the third ranked offense in NY/A with 7.46 yards per attempt despite the weapons in the Rocky Mountains fading from the Elway/Griese days. Ashly Lelie was the No. 2 receiver that year.
— In 2009, Matt Schaub was the surprising leader of the No. 1 passing team in yards and No. 3 in NY/A at an outstanding 7.60. The Texans had a supremely underwhelming run offense (30th in yards, 31st in Y/A) but still finished fourth in the NFL in total offensive yards and 10th in points.
— From 2007-2011, the Texans finished in the top 10 in NY/A every year.
— The 2014 Baltimore Ravens, who reached the AFC title game and lost to the Patriots 35-31, saw Joe Flacco put up his highest NY/A of his career at 6.66. The Ravens ranked 12th.
— In 2016 with Denver, Trevor Siemian had a nearly identical NY/A (6.22) to Kirk Cousins in 2018.
How do Kubiak’s offenses achieve this type of efficiency?
Quote: @FSUVike said:
And why would you trust Rick to be the magician that mystically figures out which of these kids is the next Franchise QB? Odds are one of the group after the top 2 pans out. But I don't trust Spielman at all to be the guy that figures out which one it is. Best to give him one more year to bolster the Offensive Roster and then let his successor find the QB of the Future.
Rick? Why would you trust any GM? Rick didn't draft Weeden, Manuel, Bortles, Manziel, Winston, Mariota, Lynch, Trubisky, Rosen, etc. In fact, the last QB Rick drafted, unlike the above, is about to become a very rich man.
I agree with the gist of your post though. Personally, I don't get this idea that all we have to do is draft Cousins' replacement and we're good to let the contract expire. The question should only be "can you win a Super Bowl with Cousins?" The answer to that is yes. He might need a few things around him, like every QB in the NFL not named Mahomes or Jackson, but there's little doubt he's a top 5-10 QB in the NFL (PFF ranks him 6th).
I think we extend him. I just don't think we have much choice, given the odds: I think it's naive to think you can possibly draft your "mahomes" somewhere between the 25th pick and wherever. I hate to be pessimistic, but the odds are much, much higher that you'll be giving up on QB6 and drafting a QB that can't play in the NFL.
Cousins has been unable to beat teams with winning records throughout his career and I do not see anything from him that says that is going to change. We can extend him and continue to follow the painful trend of lighting it up against Detroit and losing to every good team or we can make a move.
The Chiefs were in the exact same situation with Alex Smith a few years ago, made a gutsy move to trade up and select Mahomes instead of staying with Smith. I think that worked out pretty well for them. I don't know if the answer is in the draft, trade or FA, but I am pretty sure it is not in house.
Quote: @supafreak84 said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
I am not a fan of wasting draft capital on a QB that "dropped to you". You have to be more adamant about your intentions at that position.
Well that's unfortunately the position the Vikings notoriously find themselves in, just good enough to miss out on elite QB prospects. We rarely are ever drafting in the top 10, which makes it even more difficult to identify an elite prospect at the position. They have had to sort through QB's that have dropped (Ponder/Bridgewater), but at some point you have to take a swing and trust in your staffs ability to develop those prospects. That philosophy certainly paid off in Baltimore this year. I like Kubiak as a guy I would trust to develop a young QB and I would like to see the Vikings take a swing at things especially with the uncertainty surrounding Cousins after the season and the fact that we have no backups at the position
Agreed. But you can definitely be aggressive and jockey for position to some extent. It isn't an impossibility. The Rams, Eagles, Chiefs, and Texans all showed that a franchise QB is far superior than the draft capital it takes to acquire them. You just need to really have to hone in on your guy and get the evaluation right.
Quote: @"Geoff Nichols" said:
@ supafreak84 said:
@"Geoff Nichols" said:
I am not a fan of wasting draft capital on a QB that "dropped to you". You have to be more adamant about your intentions at that position.
Well that's unfortunately the position the Vikings notoriously find themselves in, just good enough to miss out on elite QB prospects. We rarely are ever drafting in the top 10, which makes it even more difficult to identify an elite prospect at the position. They have had to sort through QB's that have dropped (Ponder/Bridgewater), but at some point you have to take a swing and trust in your staffs ability to develop those prospects. That philosophy certainly paid off in Baltimore this year. I like Kubiak as a guy I would trust to develop a young QB and I would like to see the Vikings take a swing at things especially with the uncertainty surrounding Cousins after the season and the fact that we have no backups at the position
Agreed. But you can definitely be aggressive and jockey for position to some extent. It isn't an impossibility. The Rams, Eagles, Chiefs, and Texans all showed that a franchise QB is far superior than the draft capital it takes to acquire them. You just need to really have to hone in on your guy and get the evaluation right. You certainly can move up in the draft, but when you are routinely picking in the late teens to 20's it takes a huge amount of draft capital to move that far up into the top 5 to 10 picks to select an elite prospect at the position. As you know, our GM is notorious for valuing his draft capital and routinely moving back to acquire even more draft capital...which makes envisioning moving up that far for an elite QB prospect difficult. With that in mind it makes our reality at the position trying to evaluate and pluck one of those late first round prospects and hoping our staff can develop their talent into a franchise type guy. If the Vikings truly don't know what they are doing with Cousins and his contract after this season....its time to once again take a swing at some point early
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