monsterpile wrote:Well...the Jake Browning era was short. Mond wasn't much better. To be fair Cousins didn't exactly look good either but I'm not exactly too worried about him.
Other than that not too much to really talk about from this ugly game. Punting was a positive and I thought it was interesting that Ameer was out there fielding punts. He was very good returning kicks at Nebraska.
Yeah, but we still were without Thielen and JJ.
But you're right that the backups and the backup OLine looks pretty bad (in the passing game). Both Mond and Browning are not starter material, and likely will never be. I was against the Mond pick, it was a mistake IMO. But you never know if you give a guy a few years to develop, maybe he can get significantly better.
I'm not really worried about Mond long term as he is a rookie and missed some key practice time etc. Browning looking bad is pretty disappointing after being in basically the same system all this time and getting all this extra work in. Having said that...he has only thrown passes in one preseason and that was 2 years ago. Still if they cut him tomorrow I wouldn't blame them one bit and I was a Browning fan. At least Mond can use his athletic ability. I would not be shocked if the Vikings are considering bringing in another QB if they think Mond wouldn't be ready if Cousins got hurt. The positives are that at this point nobody is going to be poaching Browning and he can be signed to the PS easily which I think they will keep him there as a backup plan just in case.
I agree with your take. Browning looking bad is a major concern as Mond is looking, well like a 3rd round rookie himself. I think we are in big trouble if we lose Cousins for any amount of time and either of these two has to play.
So...you are saying Sean Mannion is starting to look kinda appealing? Lol what's Shaun Hill up to? Wait Blake Bortles is available we can make the Packers upset we got another one of their QBs!!! In all seriousness I actually wouldn't hate Bortles as a backup here.
The bigger miss was letting Taylor Heinicke leave when he cost us next to nothing. Meanwhile in Washington, he's been competing for their starting QB job with Fitzmagic.
mrhockey89 wrote:The bigger miss was letting Taylor Heinicke leave when he cost us next to nothing. Meanwhile in Washington, he's been competing for their starting QB job with Fitzmagic.
Keep in mind that when they let Heinicke go they had Bradford, Teddy and Keenum on the roster as well. If Heinicke doesn't stupidly kick in the glass of that door it's possible that the Vikings would have cut Keenum instead...
mrhockey89 wrote:The bigger miss was letting Taylor Heinicke leave when he cost us next to nothing. Meanwhile in Washington, he's been competing for their starting QB job with Fitzmagic.
Keep in mind that when they let Heinicke go they had Bradford, Teddy and Keenum on the roster as well. If Heinicke doesn't stupidly kick in the glass of that door it's possible that the Vikings would have cut Keenum instead...
My understanding is that our coaches were a bit frustrated that Heinicke would go off script more than they liked. The guy has some gunslinger in him though, in a league full of backup caretaker QBs who can barely throw for a 1st down against 1st string defenses, having a cheap backup who shows flashes of that ability seemed to me like a no brainer to keep regardless. Oh well, at least Cousins doesn't get injured?
mrhockey89 wrote:The bigger miss was letting Taylor Heinicke leave when he cost us next to nothing. Meanwhile in Washington, he's been competing for their starting QB job with Fitzmagic.
Keep in mind that when they let Heinicke go they had Bradford, Teddy and Keenum on the roster as well. If Heinicke doesn't stupidly kick in the glass of that door it's possible that the Vikings would have cut Keenum instead...
My understanding is that our coaches were a bit frustrated that Heinicke would go off script more than they liked. The guy has some gunslinger in him though, in a league full of backup caretaker QBs who can barely throw for a 1st down against 1st string defenses, having a cheap backup who shows flashes of that ability seemed to me like a no brainer to keep regardless. Oh well, at least Cousins doesn't get injured?
I'm a fan of Heinicke and he certainly did a heck of a job in that playoff game but the guy has started 2 NFL games I honestly don't have much disappointment in letting him go. The cheap backup hasn't been a problem for the Vikings since he left and Case Keenum was the cheap backup that helped lead the team to a 13-3 record. All said and done at this point while Cousins has been the best QB the Vikings considered at the time when they signed him (at least we didn't sign Bradford) but Cousins is also the most expensive and the returns haven't been worth it to this point.
Edit:
Also if they had wanted to bring him back as a cheap backup there were multiple opportunities they could have done so.
Also remember that in 2017 they brought in future preseason HOF Kyle Sloter to the PS and Sloter did look like a nice developmental QB. Maybe someday he will reach the lofty heights of Taylor Heinicke and we can be sorry we let him go to. :)
Well this last game didn't exactly make me feel better about much of anything. It it was against the Chiefs and they played a lot of their top guys and the Vikings did hold out a couple key guys. Barr not being healthy is a legit concern.
Penalties were a problem for the Vikings but later in the game KC had some miscues that helped the Vikings do some things.
Browning...looked not very good.
Mond threw a pick 6 but had a performance I would call encouraging. He has ability to get out of the pocket and get some yards. That's not super duper unique but it's clearly something that's better than the other QBs on the roster. He is also really controlled when he does it like "is he gonna still throw it?" And then he cruises for like 10 yards.
WolvesFan21 wrote:So no Irv and we traded for Herndon. JJ and Thielen are going to be getting many targets, hope they can stay healthy.
I'm feeling great about the season now that we have Sean Mannion on the practice squad!!! Before I saw we were bringing Mannion back I had no idea he signed in Seattle. I actually went back and watched all his preseason tape (took like 20 mins) and he looked solid certainly better than Browning which is a low bar. I'm more ok with it since he is just on the practice squad instead of taking up an actual roster space. Hopefully Mond can get up to speed and we don't need a meh vet QB around. Mannion might also be a help in getting Mond up to speed. I recognize Mannion probably isn't inspiring but with Kubiak being a new OC and trying to get a rookie QB ready in case he has to play bringing back Sean does have some positives.
I was surprised they gave up what they did you get Herndon. That Jets offense was pretty bad so maybe they are getting a kinda good player. They have plenty of TEs it will be interesting who all gets on the field including Westbrook as an option.
Darisaw is supposed to practice this week. Rashid Hill is solid backup but has not been good as a starter. Hopefully Darisaw can get healthy and play 12 games or more with top 20 LT results.
