Here we go......blow the dust out of the trophy case....

#Vikings coach Mike Zimmer on replacing Riley Reiff said that team has good players already on the roster. And said: "We'll continue to figure it out and go from there.'

— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) March 31, 2021

@"Vikergirl" said: https://twitter.com/christomasson/status/1377343444356452352?s=19

Translation: Either Cleveland or O'Neill at LT and an edge at 14.

I'm not opposed to edge at 14 and that might actually give us the most bang for the buck. But just once or twice I would like to see what the NFL's best clean pocket QB could do with, y'know, a clean pocket. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Vikergirl" said: https://twitter.com/christomasson/status/1377343444356452352?s=19

Translation: Either Cleveland or O'Neill at LT and an edge at 14.

I'm not opposed to edge at 14 and that might actually give us the most bang for the buck. But just once or twice I would like to see what the NFL's best clean pocket QB could do with, y'know, a clean pocket. 

@"StickyBun" said:

Chris Tomasson

@christomasson

#Vikings coach Mike Zimmer: "I think it's been a really good offseason.''

He ain't lyin. I'm not exactly the world's biggest pessimist, but my offseason plan had us taking cheap flyers on injury-prone 3T Sheldon Rankins and OG Lane Taylor, and I got yelled at for thinking we could afford THAT much. 

Instead, we got Dalvin Tomlinson, one of the top free agents available, starting corner Patrick Peterson, starting safety X Woods, and a guard who is probably Taylor's equal, but 8 years younger and infinitely more durable. So no complaints here. 

Now...just one more really good draft. 

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"Vikergirl" said: https://twitter.com/christomasson/status/1377343444356452352?s=19

Translation: Either Cleveland or O'Neill at LT and an edge at 14.

I'm not opposed to edge at 14 and that might actually give us the most bang for the buck. But just once or twice I would like to see what the NFL's best clean pocket QB could do with, y'know, a clean pocket. 

Not a priority for the team obviously. I don't understand it, but there's nothing like the resounding endorsement of 'we have other players on the team at the same position' that instills great confidence and excitement. 

@"BarrNone55" said:

Mark Craig

@markcraignfl

·5m

Asked Zim if he could elaborate on these changes he and his staff have been working on. "Some of it is big change and some of it is minor tweaks." He says the changes have been made easier by coaching being able to assemble in person to watch film and discuss ideas.

We're going to a 3-4

Don't see the 3-4. Wasn't that supposed to be last year with Capers?  Tomlinson and Pierce don't strike me as 3-4 guys, neither does Hunter.

I think it is in coverage that we change up.  Watching what Tampa did, moving to more zone.  Coverage and pressure concepts are where Zim thrives.  Now that he has some experience on the back end again, his coverage concepts will be new.

@"Vikergirl" said: https://twitter.com/christomasson/status/1377343444356452352?s=19

Does he mean the good players that couldn't beat out the really bad players last year?

@"PurplePastor" said:

@"Vikergirl" said: https://twitter.com/christomasson/status/1377343444356452352?s=19

Does he mean the good players that couldn't beat out the really bad players last year?

@"BarrNone55" said:

Mark Craig

@markcraignfl

·5m

Asked Zim if he could elaborate on these changes he and his staff have been working on. "Some of it is big change and some of it is minor tweaks." He says the changes have been made easier by coaching being able to assemble in person to watch film and discuss ideas.

We're going to a 3-4

No. It's a 17 game season this year.  ;)

@"greediron" said:

@"BarrNone55" said:

Mark Craig

@markcraignfl

·5m

Asked Zim if he could elaborate on these changes he and his staff have been working on. "Some of it is big change and some of it is minor tweaks." He says the changes have been made easier by coaching being able to assemble in person to watch film and discuss ideas.

We're going to a 3-4

Don't see the 3-4. Wasn't that supposed to be last year with Capers?  Tomlinson and Pierce don't strike me as 3-4 guys, neither does Hunter.

I think it is in coverage that we change up.  Watching what Tampa did, moving to more zone.  Coverage and pressure concepts are where Zim thrives.  Now that he has some experience on the back end again, his coverage concepts will be new.

I think we had a pretty good offseason so far, but I would
say that if our OLine regresses, so will my feelings on how we did.

I think we’ve done a pretty good job of getting high value
players without breaking the bank and improving the roster as a whole, but we’re
putting a lot of faith in us coming out of the draft with 2 starters on the
OLine.  I think there’s a very real
chance that our OLine regresses far enough that our skill position players won’t
be able to compensate.

I think if we go into the draft with the same roster we have
now, our first 2 picks need to be OLine, but I just don’t see Spielman being
able to invest that heavily in the big uglies.

I think we’re probably in line for a 9-8 to 10-7 season with
a first round exit in the playoffs.  I
think if our OLine regresses, we’ll be back to seeing more bad Kirk, and our
season will again be heavily dependent on Cook staying healthy.

Me too, Mike. Me too.

@"medaille" said: I think we had a pretty good offseason so far, but I would say that if our OLine regresses, so will my feelings on how we did.

I think we’ve done a pretty good job of getting high value
players without breaking the bank and improving the roster as a whole, but we’re
putting a lot of faith in us coming out of the draft with 2 starters on the
OLine.  I think there’s a very real
chance that our OLine regresses far enough that our skill position players won’t
be able to compensate.

I think if we go into the draft with the same roster we have
now, our first 2 picks need to be OLine, but I just don’t see Spielman being
able to invest that heavily in the big uglies.

I think we’re probably in line for a 9-8 to 10-7 season with
a first round exit in the playoffs.  I
think if our OLine regresses, we’ll be back to seeing more bad Kirk, and our
season will again be heavily dependent on Cook staying healthy.

Well we certainly need a LT after losing Reiff.  I am ok with it being Cleveland, that is why he was drafted.  But then we need a guard.  or 2.  So ideally we pick an LT round 1, leave Cleveland at guard (with the capability of moving to LT if needed in the future) and then a guard round 3-4.  

This quote — and the way he said it — stuck out to me from Mike Zimmer's presser today.

"Offenses have changed so much in the last four or five years, it’s time that we need to do some things differently and change and adapt. I’m actually really excited." pic.twitter.com/Xk0DlGXuMA

— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) March 31, 2021