Poll: Looking Back at RS

During Rick Spielman's tenure as the primary personnel decision-maker for the Minnesota Vikings (2006–2021), the team went roughly 132-123-2 in the regular season, not including his time with the Miami Dolphins.

• As General Manager (2012–2021): Spielman was promoted to GM in 2012, holding the title of Executive VP/General Manager until he was fired on January 10, 2022.

• Performance: The team earned four playoff appearances during his time as GM.

• Final Years: His final two seasons (2020–2021) resulted in a 7–9 and 8–9 record, which contributed to his departure.

Notable Seasons

• 2015: 11–5 (NFC North Title)

• 2017: 13–3 (NFC North Title, NFC Championship Appearance)

• 2019: 10–6 (Wild Card) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Spielman was widely known for accumulating draft picks, executing frequent trades, and bringing in high-profile free agents like QB Kirk Cousins in 2018. [1, 2]

• Rick Spielman - Wikipedia

  In hopes of finally winning it all, the Vikings signed free agent QB Kirk Cousins to a fully guaranteed 3-year $84 million contrac...

  Wikipedia

• No playoffs helped seal fate of Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman

  Jan 10, 2022 — MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf had enough of being relevant one year and an afterthought the next.

Spielman was pretty average.  His rosters had star power but weren’t solid all the way through.  Good enough to be in that borderline playoff area where one year you’re in, one year you’re out, never really good enough to compete for a SB.

Hard to ignore the numerous stars he drafted.

He flubbed up the Oline pretty bad and took like 6 years to get it okish, but never really good, because he kept replacing the best players on the line, one player a year, and left bad players in place.

Also the way he handled the Cousins/Zimmer era was pretty despicable.  For all the talk that everyone has about Kwesi and other bad GMs forcing their coaches into rosters they don’t want, Spielman is clearly the most well defined example of this in recent Vikings history.  From day one, Zimmer didn’t want Cousins, but Spielman forced him down that path of mediocrity.  I think if he was going to change the direction of the franchise, he really needed to fire Zimmer, let him get a new job in a situation that suited him and bring in a new coach that matched the philosophy he was trying to implement.

I think in the end the Spielman era is going to be remembered for the stars he brought in, and his lack of getting a QB.  Cousins was fine, but you need better than fine to consistently be pushing for a SB and he had like 2 attempts in his career which is not going to cut it.

To be fair Zimmer had some draft picks that should have been outstanding players for a long time. Matt Kalil could and should have been a Joe Thomas like 12 year mainstay at LT. He just didn't have the heart for it. Very talented. Sharrif Floyd was actually coming into his own as an ELITE DT until a surgeon screwed up a routine knee scope. Bad luck. Xavier Rhodes was elite then dropped off in his prime, again I think a mental issue unless there were injuries we did not know about. Taking Barr over Aaron Donald was a complete WHIFF and should not have happened. He rang the bell with the 2015 draft in my opinion. Waynes, Kendricks, Hunter, Diggs was outstanding. 2016-2019 drafts were completely abysmal. 2020 was highlighted by getting Jefferson, Cleveland, Wonnum, Lynch and Dye were career backups with Metellus being the only true starter after JJ.

Spielman was meh, if I could have those 16 years back, I’d only be 50…! 🙂

Rick had his flaws, but I thought the good outweighed most of the bad. He rebuilt a roster void of talent after the Chilly/Favre years and those lean Frazier years. Did he draft Aaron Donald, no, but he did draft Barr who was a multi time Pro Bowl player for us. He took a swing on a quarterback (Ponder) in what turned out to be one of the worst QB drafts of all time, and he also moved back into the first round after drafting Barr to take Teddy Bridgewater. Is it Rick's fault Teddy almost had to have his leg amputated in a freak practice accident? No, of course not. That sent the entire organization spiraling and put us on a path where we almost had no choice but to pay Cousins and take that swing. We were never bad enough to be in position to draft a marquee quarterback prospect. We can bash on him for never getting the offensive line right, but he also drafted our current starting tackles in Brian ONeill and Christian Darrisaw. Rick drafted Justin Jefferson and hit huge on a later 1st round pick. I would take trader Rick over the Kwesi's of the world every day of the week..

I thought Rick did an outstanding job here, was head and shoulders above what we have had over the past 4 years. Thought he was one of the best drafting GMs and he was light years ahead of everyone in the league when it came to UDFAs. When other teams caught on, he was made fun of for his accumulation of 7th rounders, but it was a sound strategy to get ahead of the UDFA process.

Our two best players Jefferson and Darrisaw were Rick picks and consider how he got Darrisaw while adding additional picks. Metellus and Brandel two other starters were 6th rounders.

Also huge credit to Rick in being able to identify gems outside of the first round. Hunter, Diggs, Cook, Metellus, etc. To me, this is where GM's make their bread and why good ones are valuable. As a GM, if you can't identify talent outside of round one, you are going to be in trouble

He's whiffed on quarterbacks.

He made some very good picks.

He was exemplary in round 4-7. Selecting several 6th and 7th players was a shrewd smart move. He got a lotta production from late rounds.

Wish he and Zimmer would've sorted out their differences. The entire organization l lost when they didn't. And As owners the wilfs' failed in their responsibility to nip that shit in the bud.

He had hits and misses like any other GM. For perspective, do a deep dive into other GMs, even the ones you consider 'great' and you'll see a lineup of horrible misses. Its part of the draft game. Honestly, if McCarthy doesn't pan out and Turner doesn't make a nice leap this year, KAM's time in Minnesota was horrific.

Overall on Field Success: C+ (132/123)

Drafting: B- (almost a C+ for me as I pondered QB and OL track record)

Team Leadership: C- (cant excuse what happened with Zimsu and allowing Zimsu/Cousins to fester)

I mean, where does the buck stop? The team was pretty average so I'll say the GM was pretty average too.

10 years at the helm

No SB trips

No consistent playoff appearances

No franchise QB

Drafted ok

Hired Zimmer. This was Parcells guy, slotted into the job by his buddies the Wilfs. When it went bad Rick had no power to fire him and the rift developed.

Overall he was average imo. But like KAM I think he was hamstrung to an extent by the Wilfs faith in committee based management. He had no latitude to implement a strong vision, if he actually had one or was capable of such.

I expect the next guy to face the same issue and have the same lack of power to rise above the TCO groupthink. The Good Ship .500 will sail onward...😀

Balanced Hits & Misses = Average.

He was not below avg in my opinion. Two things stick out in my mind:

1) his nickname Trader Rick was deserved for his propensity to stockpile tons of draft picks. Seems like he was going for quantity over quality. How many times did he have at least 10 picks (of course most in the 6th-7th round that never had a chance of hitting)?

2) I fault him for not rectifying the communications gap between him and Zimmer, which led to the dysfunction that ended up getting them both fired. But as GM, he should have seen and confronted Zimmer to communicate, or show him the door. For those guys to not talk...for how many months?...is unforgiveable and just piss poor management.

I didn't mind Slick Rick. Had his weaknesses like everyone else, and I could have done with all the "late round trade shenanigans," but I wonder what he could have done with a better set of head coaches? Chilly, Frazier, Zimmer? Oof.