Minnesota Sports Forum

Article on return game and the WR's we drafted.

http://www.espn.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/22691/a-rookie-could-be-the-heir-to-vikings-throne-of-royal-return-men

I wish we would have picked up TJ Logan. I know he is RB, but he look like he would been a good optiion in 5th. Or maybe Desmond King might have been a good pick in the 4th since we was ranked 4th best returnman in the draft on this site.

http://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-nfl-prospect-rankings-by-position/rankings/return-specialists/20

bleedspeed177 wrote:Article on return game and the WR's we drafted.

http://www.espn.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/22691/a-rookie-could-be-the-heir-to-vikings-throne-of-royal-return-men

I wish we would have picked up TJ Logan. I know he is RB, but he look like he would been a good optiion in 5th. Or maybe Desmond King might have been a good pick in the 4th since we was ranked 4th best returnman in the draft on this site.

http://www.ourlads.com/ncaa-football-nfl-prospect-rankings-by-position/rankings/return-specialists/20

I do like Adams a lot though. 5 rushing TDs last year and his highlights he cuts more like a RB. He doesn't look like a natural hands catcher though. It's easy to cheer for him to succeed with his back story.

I'll save anyone reading here some time and tell you never listen to the Purple podcast. It's so bad. I listened to their draft podcast and it was 45 mins long and you know how many draft prospects they really talked about? 2. The rest of it was about how they didn't pick this or that player and how if this draft didn't work out everyone was gonna get fired. I think they had some valid points but it's the freaking draft talk about the players and let us have some freaking optimism for a few days. The dumbest thing was complaining they didn't take a developmental tackle in the mid rounds cause you know that guy will totally save the season of one of the starters goes down which was the main reason they were complaining about not taking that type of player. Ugh.

Thank yo for saving our time. I have heard how if we don't make the playoffs everyone is getting fired. I don't see it. I think we are doing a solid job by both GM and coach. It would be a huge step in the wrong direction, in my opinion, to start over. I also would have loved to get a development LT, but those guys typically don't pan out. We need to invest an earlier pick in the future. Hopefully we have some better options next year. I am pretty optimistic we nabbed 3 players that will play 40% of the snaps at their position in Cook, Elfein, and Jaleel Johnson. I think we will see some other contributors. If these guys woudl have complained about not taking a DB I could see it. There was options available taht could have been key depth for the team this year. I think that is really our biggest area of concern that could have been addressed that we didn't coming out of the draft.

bleedspeed177 wrote:Thank yo for saving our time. I have heard how if we don't make the playoffs everyone is getting fired. I don't see it. I think we are doing a solid job by both GM and coach. It would be a huge step in the wrong direction, in my opinion, to start over. I also would have loved to get a development LT, but those guys typically don't pan out. We need to invest an earlier pick in the future. Hopefully we have some better options next year. I am pretty optimistic we nabbed 3 players that will play 40% of the snaps at their position in Cook, Elfein, and Jaleel Johnson. I think we will see some other contributors. If these guys woudl have complained about not taking a DB I could see it. There was options available taht could have been key depth for the team this year. I think that is really our biggest area of concern that could have been addressed that we didn't coming out of the draft.

They did complain about not taking any DBs. They offered no names of guys they wanted and only mentioned Tocho's name and how it may or may not be pronounced.

I think generally speaking it would be a negative to start over with a new coach and GM etc. It would be really unfortunate for Zimmer. I wouldn't dismiss Spielman losing his job if say this team did go 7-9 missing the playoffs. You would have to wonder if his team was heading in the right direction at that point. However...there are things to knock Spielman for but let's also remember that 2 key players he drafted at this point are non-factors. Kalil was a no-barber pick arbitrary LT and was expected to be the guy by pretty much everyone Vikings or whoever for the next 10 years. It didn't happen. That's not on Rick. 2nd they draft Teddy he at least looked like a game manager that can extend plays which works well enough with a team based on defense. He was young with potential to get better. He goes down with a possible career ending injury. That's not on Rick either. So on the podcast Zulgad and Coller said the trade for Bradford was clearly a failure upnto this point and brings down the grade of the draft. What's insanely dumb is that they leave out what the hell the team would have done last year or more important to this year's draft grade what the Vikings would do at QB for this season. Cutler would have been available for this year. I don't feel super confident in the QBs they would have gotten in the first round this year solving the issue either long term or short term.

To me this team has been improved over last year's team on paper. The only real drop off is Captain gone (and Greenway) and they could still sign a vet if they need one. Also It gets annoying when folks bring up Winfield leaving and Josh Robinson playing nickel comparing it to Alexander. That was a different coaching staff that was not as well regarded as Zimmer. It was also a secondary that had below average players except the 8 games Harrison Smith played. Also Winfield being let go was probably the right move and that's coming from a guy that loved Winfield. If the team isn't better than last year my guess is something has gone tragically wrong in terms of injury or chemistry or something of that nature. I'm not suggesting this is a Super Bowl team but it should be in the playoff hunt and that's not really a homer take imo.

Also why not talk about a developmental tackle like Aviante Collins the undrafted guy that ran a 4.8 innthe 40? When it comes to defensive tackles the different between mid round guys and undrafted ones...sometimes doesn't feel that big. No pun intended.

I am with you on these items. I don't get all of the haters. Zimmer and Rick seem to like working together. Let them figure it out for at least 2 more years before pulling the plug. The whole AP thing has been a big issue here. The switch mess and then last year not getting back on the field. That hurt this team a lot along with the other injuries. My only concern with Rick is some of his moves or picks don't seem to be playing long term or giving us plan B's. He did a good job last year trying to build a deep OL. It fell apart. I think we have a few development guys ready to help this year. My concern is backup QB and DB's. It just seems we need to be setup with more depth or we are screwed. Lots captain and Newsome is 40. I know we have Waynes and Alexander, but what happens if one of them goes down. Same thing at safety. That is my biggest regret about not getting King and picking up a guy like Pitt QB Nathan Peterman that seems to have as much upside as Bridgewater.

Anyways I don't get the gloom and doom. The offense should be much better based on the draft and signings OT with no injury history and strong track records before last year when they were forced to switch sides.

(I was pro Aviante Collins and glad we got him. I hope we can coach these guys up. It makes me wonder if Tice was a good OL coach or just had good players. )

bleedspeed177 wrote:I am with you on these items. I don't get all of the haters. Zimmer and Rick seem to like working together. Let them figure it out for at least 2 more years before pulling the plug. The whole AP thing has been a big issue here. The switch mess and then last year not getting back on the field. That hurt this team a lot along with the other injuries. My only concern with Rick is some of his moves or picks don't seem to be playing long term or giving us plan B's. He did a good job last year trying to build a deep OL. It fell apart. I think we have a few development guys ready to help this year. My concern is backup QB and DB's. It just seems we need to be setup with more depth or we are screwed. Lots captain and Newsome is 40. I know we have Waynes and Alexander, but what happens if one of them goes down. Same thing at safety. That is my biggest regret about not getting King and picking up a guy like Pitt QB Nathan Peterman that seems to have as much upside as Bridgewater.

Anyways I don't get the gloom and doom. The offense should be much better based on the draft and signings OT with no injury history and strong track records before last year when they were forced to switch sides.

(I was pro Aviante Collins and glad we got him. I hope we can coach these guys up. It makes me wonder if Tice was a good OL coach or just had good players. )

Was Tice a good coach or have good players? It was some of both. I remember one year he was with the Bears they had an average line to begin with and then they had a couple injuries and they were somewhow competing with guys of the street and players playing different positions every week. That may have what got him the OC job the next year which was a mistake.

Now he has good player with the Raiders but it doesn't surprise me they are putting it all over her under him. Good assistant position coaches can make a big difference. I hope the Vikings added at least one of the right ones this offseason. I'm most intruiged with the WR coach they got from the college ranks. He will have a young group to work with we know that.

Good point on the AP thing that wasn't a small deal.

I think Spielman is out of time. We need a good showing this year as a team and from his recent draft picks or he needs to go. Keep in mind he took over as GM in 2012. Zimmer got here in 2014. I don't see them as a tandem firing if someone gets fired. Zimmer turned one of the worst defenses in the league into one of the best in very little time. I'd say depth and draft quality is really what's held us back recently and that's mostly on Rick and his 10 picks.

It's interesting they are keeping Tommie Armstrong around as a safety. I'm not all that surprised he is getting a shot at that position it's just a bit surprising that's one of the 90 they plan to keep around. I'm a little biased towards him but also plenty realistic but the guy is a pretty good athlete and pretty tough. He mentioned they like what he did on special teams and my guess that's a decent chunk of why he is sticking around. It will be interesting to see how some of the roster with fringe players shakes out over the next few days and weeks.

Thanks for mentioning Tommie. I love these type of guys on a team that are not so defined to a position, but more as football player. I like how Bucky Hodges was a former QB. It would be interesting to see a wildcat lineup where he play either TE/WR or QB.

http://www.twincities.com/2017/05/07/ex-nebraska-qb-tommy-armstrong-says-vikings-want-to-keep-him-around-at-safety/