11-23-2017, 04:36 AM
How quickly can things change in the NFL?Just ask Rick Spielman.
A few months ago it was fair to speculate whether the Vikings general manager might be in jeopardy of losing his job if the team had another disappointing season. Today, there’s a case to be made that with the Vikings sitting at 8-2 Spielman is in line for NFL executive of the year honors.
This comes after an offseason in which Spielman retooled an offense that finished 29th in the league in 2016 and was a big reason the Vikings won only three of their final 11 games after starting 5-0.
Mike Zimmer deserves credit for the coaching job he has done, but it’s Spielman who has final say over assembling the Vikings’ 53-man roster and has had that power since being named general manager in 2012. (Spielman was hired as the Vikings vice president of player personnel in 2006 at a time when then-coach Brad Childress had control of the roster.)
That means Spielman gets much of the credit for jettisoning running back Adrian Peterson last offseason and signing free agent offensive tackles Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers as well as running back Latavius Murray. Spielman also drafted running back Dalvin Cook, who led the Vikings with 354 rushing yards when he suffered a torn ACL in Week 4, in the second round and then took starting center Pat Elflein in the third round.
A year after having no real backup plan for if something happened to quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and then needing to trade a first-round pick to Philadelphia for Sam Bradford when Bridgewater suffered a potentially career-ending knee injury just before the regular season, Spielman made sure he did not repeat that mistake.
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2017/1...ed-season/
A few months ago it was fair to speculate whether the Vikings general manager might be in jeopardy of losing his job if the team had another disappointing season. Today, there’s a case to be made that with the Vikings sitting at 8-2 Spielman is in line for NFL executive of the year honors.
This comes after an offseason in which Spielman retooled an offense that finished 29th in the league in 2016 and was a big reason the Vikings won only three of their final 11 games after starting 5-0.
Mike Zimmer deserves credit for the coaching job he has done, but it’s Spielman who has final say over assembling the Vikings’ 53-man roster and has had that power since being named general manager in 2012. (Spielman was hired as the Vikings vice president of player personnel in 2006 at a time when then-coach Brad Childress had control of the roster.)
That means Spielman gets much of the credit for jettisoning running back Adrian Peterson last offseason and signing free agent offensive tackles Riley Reiff and Mike Remmers as well as running back Latavius Murray. Spielman also drafted running back Dalvin Cook, who led the Vikings with 354 rushing yards when he suffered a torn ACL in Week 4, in the second round and then took starting center Pat Elflein in the third round.
A year after having no real backup plan for if something happened to quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and then needing to trade a first-round pick to Philadelphia for Sam Bradford when Bridgewater suffered a potentially career-ending knee injury just before the regular season, Spielman made sure he did not repeat that mistake.
http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2017/1...ed-season/
