ESPN: Vikings have 22nd best NFL starting roster

I think 9 is the ABSOLUTE FLOOR if the football gods dont smite them...

My own guess is 11 with baseline QB play and rooks dont kill em.

We won 9 with the Jets and Browns as the only teams throwing for less yards. Only the Jets, Browns, and Titans had less TD passes. If we haven’t moved up to the 17-20 range in both those categories I’ll be more than a little disappointed.

JustInTime wrote:

We won 9 with the Jets and Browns as the only teams throwing for less yards. Only the Jets, Browns, and Titans had less TD passes. If we haven’t moved up to the 17-20 range in both those categories I’ll be more than a little disappointed.

Right?

EVEN IF Kyler Murray struggles to learn the offense and he ends up having the worst season of his career (2022), he would still have twice as many TDs as INTs, compared to JJ who threw more INTs than TDs last year. He would still have a QB rating of 95, 23 points higher than JJ's last year. And he would be doing this with a far better supporting cast than he had in 2022. Hopkins missed half that season with a suspension, so Murray's WR group for most of the year was Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore and 34-year-old AJ Green. He had Trey McBride but he was a rookie that year and wasn't really involved. His defense ranked 31st.

Anything can happen and injuries can derail the best of rosters, but it's really hard to see a situation where the Vikings don't improve on last year's 9-8 mark.

JustInTime wrote:

We won 9 with the Jets and Browns as the only teams throwing for less yards. Only the Jets, Browns, and Titans had less TD passes. If we haven’t moved up to the 17-20 range in both those categories I’ll be more than a little disappointed.

MaroonBells wrote:

Right?
EVEN IF Kyler Murray struggles to learn the offense and he ends up having the worst season of his career (2022), he would still have twice as many TDs as INTs, compared to JJ who threw more INTs than TDs last year. He would still have a QB rating of 95, 23 points higher than JJ's last year. And he would be doing this with a far better supporting cast than he had in 2022. Hopkins missed half that season with a suspension, so Murray's WR group for most of the year was Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore and 34-year-old AJ Green. He had Trey McBride but he was a rookie that year and wasn't really involved. His defense ranked 31st.
Anything can happen and injuries can derail the best of rosters, but it's really hard to see a situation where the Vikings don't improve on last year's 9-8 mark.

I just dont know how much (or if) the D takes a step back this year...They played out of their minds good for the most part in 25.

I mean it truly was a DC season for the ages out of BFlo and that was in spite of a miffed Hargrave and an Allen who's best years are behind him.

I know Turner led the team in sacks last year, but he just strikes me as on the immature side. Maybe cause he's so young? I don't know if he'll step into Greenards shoes the way we (me) hope. Potential is certainly there and fingers/toes crossed

Yah, 9 is the floor for me and 11 my guess for the season.

Turner is just scratching the surface. Only 23 in year 3. All the tools to be a DPOTY candidate. Derrick Thomas is the guy I keep coming back to. He’s going to be a beast. Some make the jump in year two, others year three. Would not surprise me to see him have another impressive jump in production.

purplefaithful wrote:

I just dont know how much (or if) the D takes a step back this year...They played out of their minds good for the most part in 25.
I mean it truly was a DC season for the ages out of BFlo and that was in spite of a miffed Hargrave and an Allen who's best years are behind him.
I know Turner led the team in sacks last year, but he just strikes me as on the immature side. Maybe cause he's so young? I don't know if he'll step into Greenards shoes the way we (me) hope. Potential is certainly there and fingers/toes crossed
Yah, 9 is the floor for me and 11 my guess for the season.

I disagree on Turner. I think he can fill Greenards shoes quite well, even better than he did last year. He did not fill Gink's very large shoes, that is the spot that worries me. We have no one to fill that. Depth is an issue, but I think our D might even be better if we have some offense to pair with it.

greediron wrote:

but I think our D might even be better if we have some offense to pair with it.

Thats a great point, I dont know how much BFlo crew was able to play from ahead in 25?

greediron wrote:

I disagree on Turner. I think he can fill Greenards shoes quite well, even better than he did last year. He did not fill Gink's very large shoes, that is the spot that worries me. We have no one to fill that. Depth is an issue, but I think our D might even be better if we have some offense to pair with it.

Hopefully AVG has another good year (maybe 2?) in him here...Golday will need some time to simmer.

If the projected starters listed are correct, then why in the world did the Vikings bring Kyler in? 22nd overall?! I thought Kyler was supposed to be some All-Star QB, the media has loved this move, and he played on a weak team in AZ all his years? 🤪 That alone should put us in the top 15, no?

The point of bringing in Kyler in was for competition and to make the team better, whether that meant Kyler starts and/or he pushes McCarthy to be better. McCarthy saw his first NFL action last year and went 6-4, which should have been 7-3. IMO, we only got better in the offseason (even if that simply means McCarthy improved) by bringing in Kyler Murray, our draft/FA, and our staff and leadership positions. Losing Greenard hurts, as they dude was a baller. But Turner is getting better every year and maybe the Vikings aren't done bringing in depth to the front 7. Either way, it would be a shocking to win less than the 9 games we won last year.

IceRatz16 wrote:

If the projected starters listed are correct, then why in the world did the Vikings bring Kyler in? 22nd overall?! I thought Kyler was supposed to be some All-Star QB, the media has loved this move, and he played on a weak team in AZ all his years? 🤪 That alone should put us in the top 15, no?

The point of bringing in Kyler in was for competition and to make the team better, whether that meant Kyler starts and/or he pushes McCarthy to be better. McCarthy saw his first NFL action last year and went 6-4, which should have been 7-3. IMO, we only got better in the offseason (even if that simply means McCarthy improved) by bringing in Kyler Murray, our draft/FA, and our staff and leadership positions. Losing Greenard hurts, as they dude was a baller. But Turner is getting better every year and maybe the Vikings aren't done bringing in depth to the front 7. Either way, it would be a shocking to win less than the 9 games we won last year.

You'd think. The QB play was supposedly so bad last year, I thought we just needed average play at that position for all of us to be granted entry into Valhalla, including in-laws? This goes against that logic. 🤔 So JJ had the 22nd or worse roster to work with last year? I mean, at least when players stayed healthy? Curious. Its more wins and zero excuses time, that's the bottom line.

I will say that if fans aren't expecting a step back on D, they might want to revisit that thought.....at least for the first half of the season.

purplefaithful wrote:

Thats a great point, I dont know how much BFlo crew was able to play from ahead in 25?

The D had 5 sacks against Seattle without an offense showing up. Crazy they pressure his defense can generate.

StickierBuns wrote:

You'd think. The QB play was supposedly so bad last year, I thought we just needed average play at that position for all of us to be granted entry into Valhalla, including in-laws? This goes against that logic. 🤔 So JJ had the 22nd or worse roster to work with last year? I mean, at least when players stayed healthy? Curious. Its more wins and zero excuses time, that's the bottom line.
I will say that if fans aren't expecting a step back on D, they might want to revisit that thought.....at least for the first half of the season.

Our o-line was terrible last year. No Darrisaw, O'Neill got hurt, revolving door at C. That affected all the QBs.

As to Murray, they had to bring him in. Cheap, wanted to be here. Can't not give it a shot. And Greenard? Would have loved to keep him, but he wanted paid like an elite starter, which is fair. But with Turner possibly surpassing him, we couldn't justify that money and he obviously wasn't taking a 1 year extension.

Not really a surprise to see us pretty mid in a roster ranking.

Pretty solid roster on offense, but a mid QB (obviously he’s a pro bowler, just going by national opinion here). We lost a lot of big name starters on defense (judge their production how you want, but they were big names and both IDL got starter money on their new teams and Greenard’s a stud). We didn’t really add much free agent help and we’re depending a lot on rookies and young players to contribute. Smith still isn’t on the roster even though a lot of people expect him to return.

I think we have to separate our win/loss expectations from people who are judging our roster, as we more than most teams are relying on our coaching staff to bring us those wins rather than a solid roster. The Flores effect is doing a lot of work.

I had read that article this morning and was disappointed in such a low ranking.

But we all follow the roster build much closer than most national beat writers. All of the things that were cited as negatives, (including Murray at QB), could be argued by any of us against their position in the article.

But we all are hungry for some, for any football news. This is nothing more than clickbait to prey on a football-hungry, desperate crowd of fanatics who are having a tough time waiting for the real start of training camp.

greediron wrote:

Our o-line was terrible last year. No Darrisaw, O'Neill got hurt, revolving door at C. That affected all the QBs.

With all the research that is done now a days it'd be interesting to know how NFL teams have performed when their starting 5 Olineman played together a total 8% of the snaps in the season......

Mattyman wrote:

With all the research that is done now a days it'd be interesting to know how NFL teams have performed when their starting 5 Olineman played together a total 8% of the snaps in the season......

• The average NFL team has its projected starting five offensive linemen together for roughly 40% of offensive snaps in a season.

• Healthy teams often have their starting five together for 70–95%+ of their snaps.

• Even injury-plagued teams typically end up in the 20–30% range.

An offensive line at 8% continuity would mean the starters were together for only about 85–90 snaps over an entire season (assuming roughly 1,100 offensive snaps). That's essentially a line that was almost never intact.

What happens to those teams?

• More sacks and quarterback pressures.

• Lower rushing efficiency.

• More penalties (especially false starts and holding).

• Less explosive offense because protections and run-blocking communication suffer.

• More reliance on quick passing to compensate.

There isn't a league-wide study specifically on exactly 8%, because so few teams have been that extreme. However, studies of offensive-line continuity consistently show a strong relationship between stability and winning. For example:

• Since 2022, teams using six or fewer offensive-line combinations have posted about a .580 winning percentage, while teams forced to use seven or more combinations have been around .363.

Signed,

Your friend AI

It was a jinx.

MaroonBells wrote:

Right?
EVEN IF Kyler Murray struggles to learn the offense and he ends up having the worst season of his career (2022), he would still have twice as many TDs as INTs, compared to JJ who threw more INTs than TDs last year. He would still have a QB rating of 95, 23 points higher than JJ's last year. And he would be doing this with a far better supporting cast than he had in 2022. Hopkins missed half that season with a suspension, so Murray's WR group for most of the year was Marquise Brown, Rondale Moore and 34-year-old AJ Green. He had Trey McBride but he was a rookie that year and wasn't really involved. His defense ranked 31st.
Anything can happen and injuries can derail the best of rosters, but it's really hard to see a situation where the Vikings don't improve on last year's 9-8 mark.

You act like the kid can't learn and grow from last year. He got better at the end. Plenty positives for him to run this team.

IceRatz16 wrote:

If the projected starters listed are correct, then why in the world did the Vikings bring Kyler in? 22nd overall?! I thought Kyler was supposed to be some All-Star QB, the media has loved this move, and he played on a weak team in AZ all his years? 🤪 That alone should put us in the top 15, no?

Bottom 10% in yards and touchdowns is “supposedly bad”?