Won't lie to you....

I can understand that. I think we've all got some level of Irv Smith Jr. fatigue with the hype. Honestly, the older I get, the less hyped I am about TC/Preseason games. Just get me to the regular season, where wins and losses make it real. Where players make an impact or don't. Where coaches gameplan and we see the results, for better or worse. The rest of this stuff is just fluff and wishful thinking. 

@"StickyBun" said: I can understand that. I think we've all got some level of Irv Smith Jr. fatigue with the hype. Honestly, the older I get, the less hyped I am about TC/Preseason games. Just get me to the regular season, where wins and losses make it real. Where players make an impact or don't. Where coaches gameplan and we see the results, for better or worse. The rest of this stuff is just fluff and wishful thinking. 

@"VikingOracle" said:

@"StickyBun" said: I can understand that. I think we've all got some level of Irv Smith Jr. fatigue with the hype. Honestly, the older I get, the less hyped I am about TC/Preseason games. Just get me to the regular season, where wins and losses make it real. Where players make an impact or don't. Where coaches gameplan and we see the results, for better or worse. The rest of this stuff is just fluff and wishful thinking. 

Since I have been a Viking fan for over 40 years, I kind of survive on wishful thinking and "wait until next year."

I remember growing up in the '70s, one of my best friend's dad was a HUGE Bears fan.  EVERY August he would tell me it is the Bear's year!!  They are going to win the Super Bowl while I watched my Vikings lose 3 Super Bowls, The Hail Mary game, and the '77 NFC Championship loss to the Cowboys.  I laughed at him every year, then came the '85 Bears and I remember thinking to myself that it would soon be the Vikings turn.  Then came the '87 Playoff run, the '88 and '89 disappointments (Walker trade).   Then came the "new sheriff" in Denny Green.....seriously when is it the Vikings turn?  When the football Gods shit all over Favre in the Saints game I came to accept it is NEVER going to happen folks. NEVER.  It did for the Cubs, and Red Sox, Bears and Bucs even the Eagles, but NEVER will it happen for our Vikings.  The sooner you accept it, the better you will be mentally.

With Irv out, perhaps people want to take a look at Zach Davidson. He also has eye popping athleticism. The big question with Davidson is he’s coming from a small school so how far has he come up to this point?

40: 4.64
Shuttle: 4.26
3 cone: 6.95

It will be good for him to get some reps.

@"Havoc1649" said: With Irv out, perhaps people want to take a look at Zach Davidson. He also has eye popping athleticism. The big question with Davidson is he’s coming from a small school so how far has he come up to this point?

40: 4.64
Shuttle: 4.26
3 cone: 6.95

It will be good for him to get some reps.

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Havoc1649" said: With Irv out, perhaps people want to take a look at Zach Davidson. He also has eye popping athleticism. The big question with Davidson is he’s coming from a small school so how far has he come up to this point?

40: 4.64
Shuttle: 4.26
3 cone: 6.95

It will be good for him to get some reps.

As I mentioned in another thread, he's dropped balls this TC already. 

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Havoc1649" said: With Irv out, perhaps people want to take a look at Zach Davidson. He also has eye popping athleticism. The big question with Davidson is he’s coming from a small school so how far has he come up to this point?

40: 4.64
Shuttle: 4.26
3 cone: 6.95

It will be good for him to get some reps.

As I mentioned in another thread, he's dropped balls this TC already. 

He's sushi, but also getting some love from the captain. 

Zach Davidson's busy dayWith no Smith, the top tight ends on the Vikings' depth chart are former L.A. Ram Johnny Mundt and 2021 fifth-round pick Zach Davidson, who spent all of last year on the practice squad. Mundt had a few opportunities on Wednesday, but it was Davidson who benefited most from Smith's absence. The Central Missouri product was all over the place, catching a ton of passes with both the first and second-team offense.
It was a good day for Davidson, though not a perfect one. In red zone 7-on-7 action, he ran a beautiful route against Harrison Smith and caught a touchdown pass from Kellen Mond. A couple plays later, though, he had a Mond pass deflect off of his hands and into the arms of Patrick Peterson for an interception. 

Davidson stayed involved during full-team action. Kirk Cousins looked his way often, hitting him on a number of short throws. After one third-down conversion, Cousins yelled "That's a first down! Hell yeah Zach!"
Davidson was also targeted a couple times on the second team's 1-minute drill, catching the first one but failing to come up with a contested grab on fourth down.
"I think with Zach, it’s really exciting because I see a lot of ability in him, so you see a high ceiling and a desire to work and get better," Cousins said. "So it’s exciting to work with a guy like that, where you see all this potential down the road, similar to how I felt about Tyler Conklin three or four years ago. You want to see that development happen, and it’s going to."

@"StickyBun" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"StickyBun" said:

@"Havoc1649" said: With Irv out, perhaps people want to take a look at Zach Davidson. He also has eye popping athleticism. The big question with Davidson is he’s coming from a small school so how far has he come up to this point?

40: 4.64
Shuttle: 4.26
3 cone: 6.95

It will be good for him to get some reps.

As I mentioned in another thread, he's dropped balls this TC already. 

He's sushi, but also getting some love from the captain. 

Zach Davidson's busy dayWith no Smith, the top tight ends on the Vikings' depth chart are former L.A. Ram Johnny Mundt and 2021 fifth-round pick Zach Davidson, who spent all of last year on the practice squad. Mundt had a few opportunities on Wednesday, but it was Davidson who benefited most from Smith's absence. The Central Missouri product was all over the place, catching a ton of passes with both the first and second-team offense.
It was a good day for Davidson, though not a perfect one. In red zone 7-on-7 action, he ran a beautiful route against Harrison Smith and caught a touchdown pass from Kellen Mond. A couple plays later, though, he had a Mond pass deflect off of his hands and into the arms of Patrick Peterson for an interception. 

Davidson stayed involved during full-team action. Kirk Cousins looked his way often, hitting him on a number of short throws. After one third-down conversion, Cousins yelled "That's a first down! Hell yeah Zach!"
Davidson was also targeted a couple times on the second team's 1-minute drill, catching the first one but failing to come up with a contested grab on fourth down.
"I think with Zach, it’s really exciting because I see a lot of ability in him, so you see a high ceiling and a desire to work and get better," Cousins said. "So it’s exciting to work with a guy like that, where you see all this potential down the road, similar to how I felt about Tyler Conklin three or four years ago. You want to see that development happen, and it’s going to."

Cool....but did Kirk really say 'hell'? lol, we know he said heck or gosh darn it.  :p

@"Chuckf" said: I remember growing up in the '70s, one of my best friend's dad was a HUGE Bears fan.  EVERY August he would tell me it is the Bear's year!!  They are going to win the Super Bowl while I watched my Vikings lose 3 Super Bowls, The Hail Mary game, and the '77 NFC Championship loss to the Cowboys.  I laughed at him every year, then came the '85 Bears and I remember thinking to myself that it would soon be the Vikings turn.  Then came the '87 Playoff run, the '88 and '89 disappointments (Walker trade).   Then came the "new sheriff" in Denny Green.....seriously when is it the Vikings turn?  When the football Gods shit all over Favre in the Saints game I came to accept it is NEVER going to happen folks. NEVER.  It did for the Cubs, and Red Sox, Bears and Bucs even the Eagles, but NEVER will it happen for our Vikings.  The sooner you accept it, the better you will be mentally.

I’m kind of tired of waiting for the Irv breakout too. Feels like we’re Charlie Brown trying to kick the football and we never connect, but the problem is our TE room is thinner than Thibodeaux’s hair. Also pretty sure Irv is a free agent after this season so it might a position of need moving forward. The Rams never had a Pro Bowl TE so maybe KO and KAM don’t think the position is a huge need? 2023 draft and whether or not we re-sign Irv will be telling. 

The offseason is like Christmas eve and the preseason is like Christmas morning.  Under the tree is a gift from your uncle.  Every year he gives you socks but may, just maybe, this year will be different.  The Christmas morning arrives and you open the gift and it is socks.  I would love the commentators to look at other draft picks/Christmas gifts than just the Irv Smith gift -- a gift that seems to be broken when you open it.  Like a really cool toy that was dropped at some point and when you open the gift, it is broken.

I have been a die hard Vikes fan since I was a boy in the sixties. I gave up on preseason hype and predictions a long time ago. 

Time will tell if Irv can stay on the field and/or how good their TE depth is. Time will tell if Bradbury can improve and who will play RG. Time will tell if the D can stop the run or actually resemble an NFL defense in the last two minutes of the half or game. 

I just hope to see the Vikes lift the Lombardi trophy before I am off to Valhalla. 

Doesn't look like you need to worry about seeing much more about Smith as he can't stay on the field.  I am really surprised we did not have a better plan after Conklin left as it was risky to depend on Smith, I think we will see another TE or two get picked up when teams start making cuts. 

I think ya'll are worried too much about Irv. He's a helluva talent and I'm sure he'll show that in real games this year. The "injury prone" label gets thrown around too much when it's mostly just bad luck. It followed Kyle Rudolph and Robert Smith around their first couple years...until it didn't. 

The contract might be another story. If he stays healthy and has the kind of year most are expecting, he'll get a big bag of money. But this team is already spending a lot on offense and has JJ's deal to consider as well. 

@"MaroonBells" said: I think ya'll are worried too much about Irv. He's a helluva talent and I'm sure he'll show that in real games this year. The "injury prone" label gets thrown around too much when it's mostly just bad luck. It followed Kyle Rudolph and Robert Smith around their first couple years...until it didn't. 

The contract might be another story. If he stays healthy and has the kind of year most are expecting, he'll get a big bag of money. But this team is already spending a lot on offense and has JJ's deal to consider as well. 

@"minny65" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: I think ya'll are worried too much about Irv. He's a helluva talent and I'm sure he'll show that in real games this year. The "injury prone" label gets thrown around too much when it's mostly just bad luck. It followed Kyle Rudolph and Robert Smith around their first couple years...until it didn't. 

The contract might be another story. If he stays healthy and has the kind of year most are expecting, he'll get a big bag of money. But this team is already spending a lot on offense and has JJ's deal to consider as well. 

I think the worry part, for his health, is warranted.  I'm also not sold on all his hype when healthy.  Lastly, the league history is full of guys who have been very injury prone that they never overcome vs guys that do.  We need to look for a veteran.  My opinion of course.  

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"minny65" said:

@"MaroonBells" said: I think ya'll are worried too much about Irv. He's a helluva talent and I'm sure he'll show that in real games this year. The "injury prone" label gets thrown around too much when it's mostly just bad luck. It followed Kyle Rudolph and Robert Smith around their first couple years...until it didn't. 

The contract might be another story. If he stays healthy and has the kind of year most are expecting, he'll get a big bag of money. But this team is already spending a lot on offense and has JJ's deal to consider as well. 

I think the worry part, for his health, is warranted.  I'm also not sold on all his hype when healthy.  Lastly, the league history is full of guys who have been very injury prone that they never overcome vs guys that do.  We need to look for a veteran.  My opinion of course.  

You can worry and be unsold all you want. Just be sure you don't draft him in fantasy. :-)