2023 Off-Season Thread

[vikingsfan0845]

It's that time again. Have at it

[herdapop]

Where they going with their number 1? I heard CB again. That will piss some people off because that's what Zim and Rick always went for.

[vikingsfan0845]

A couple thoughts I have:

I wouldn't touch Za'Darius Smith's contract. His cap hit will be 15.49 million, which IMO, is well worth the play he provided last year. 2024 his cap hit jumps to 21.6 million but only 1.6 in dead money. Leave his deal alone and reassess next year. He slowed down a bit in the second half but part of the reason the sacks weren't there is because WR were running open non stop. Hard to get a sack when the ball comes out so quick. His 78 pressures were the 2nd most of his career. He can still play at a high level.

I'm not trading Danielle Hunter either. He got off to a slow start but that was mostly because he went against some of the best OT's in the entire league. If anything, I'm signing him to a long term deal. 70 pressures and 11 sacks in a new scheme. He's a stud.

Pass rush wise, our starters are good but we have zero depth. We have zero inside pass rush as well. I like Tomlinson but for the money I think we should move on and let Tonga have his snaps. Use some of that money to find a DT who can rush from the inside. Smith and Hunter are studs but the rest of our defense offered basically zero rush all season. Patrick Jones and DJ Wonnum stink. We need depth, badly.

Adam Thielen, Dalvin Cook, and Jordan Hicks are no brainer cuts. Thielen's new deal was dumb when it happened and looks even worse now. Cutting those 3 saves about 19 million.

I'm unsure on Eric Kendricks. He's coming off two straight down years and cutting him saves almost 10 million. However, that leaves ILB as a hole with only Asamoah left to step in as a starter. While Asamoah flashed, he played limited snaps. A restructure here might make sense but a straight up cut wouldn't surprise me. Cutting him on top of Thielen, Cook, and Hicks pushes our saving up to about 29 million.

Draft wise, I'm hoping we go WR. A big issue with our offense was whenever Jefferson was limited we had no other place to go with the ball. The Hockenson trade helped but we're still lacking play makers. Osborn is a decent #3 but he's not a legit threat. Would love to see this team add Jalin Hyatt or Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The NFL is pass first so let's stack up this offense first.

If Pat Pete is willing to come back on another cheap deal then I'm for it. Give Shelley another shot as well. Go find a real slot corner in FA and let Sullivan walk. He stinks. Hopefully Booth and Cine can stay healthy. Bynum was a disappointment and stunk in coverage. Hopefully Cine lives up to the hype and takes over for him.

Cousins is going no where so we all just need to accept that now and move on with it.

[herdapop]

Agree with most. Bynum was horrible. His angles killed us against the run game vs the Giants. Not a Kirk guy but more not a Kirk contract guy. It will be an interesting off season and being 19 million in the hole to start sucks!! Hopefully the young guys on D that were hurt can come back and help, that would be a huge boost. Hopefully a new D cordinator goes back to a 4-3.

[mngopher35]

I would do essentially the same thing I would have last season. Move on from all the aging high paid vets we can (including cousins but that won’t happen). At the very least stop extending cousins and pretending there is a championship window we are close to with him. 1 playoff win in 5 years should be very telling after coming off an nfc championship appearance. Stop repeating the same mistake, if we didn’t have a good enough roster with a great defense and lots of weapons then, we won’t with a bad defense and being over the cap with limited draft capital as our older guys decline.

Kendricks/Hicks/Thielen/Cook should all be gone and I would move on from both smiths as well. Not sure any can get us draft capital but get rid of the cap hits now so that the following year we can target a much younger group of players (while moving on from cousins). The goal should be completely revamping this roster on defense while setting us up to get a qb of the future (probably next draft given limited resources this one). JJ, Hockenson, Darrisaw, Oniell is a good core offensively but on defense Hunter is probably the only guy on defense right now.

[vikingsfan0845]

Everything I've read suggests this would be a really good hire

[vikingsfan0845]

I would do essentially the same thing I would have last season. Move on from all the aging high paid vets we can (including cousins but that won’t happen). At the very least stop extending cousins and pretending there is a championship window we are close to with him. 1 playoff win in 5 years should be very telling after coming off an nfc championship appearance. Stop repeating the same mistake, if we didn’t have a good enough roster with a great defense and lots of weapons then, we won’t with a bad defense and being over the cap with limited draft capital as our older guys decline.

Kendricks/Hicks/Thielen/Cook should all be gone and I would move on from both smiths as well. Not sure any can get us draft capital but get rid of the cap hits now so that the following year we can target a much younger group of players (while moving on from cousins). The goal should be completely revamping this roster on defense while setting us up to get a qb of the future (probably next draft given limited resources this one). JJ, Hockenson, Darrisaw, Oniell is a good core offensively but on defense Hunter is probably the only guy on defense right now.

Agreed but we both know a tear down isn't going to happen lol

[vikingsfan0845]

[vikingsfan0845]

[mngopher35]

Agreed but we both know a tear down isn't going to happen lol

Which is the real problem with the Vikings at the end of the day. Nothing is going to change until this team/franchise is run better and it starts at the very top with ownership unfortunately. Hopefully one day we can to try to put together a roster with legit Super Bowl talent as opposed to being asked to patch together holes to try and get a mediocre team get into the playoffs. Not with the current route pushed by the owners though.

At the very least I hope we don’t extend Cousins again and don’t push too much cap down the road. For me the key is going to be adding as much young talent as possible even if we aren’t allowed to actually go for a real rebuild. The most important aspect of this off-season is going to be how well we set up our future, not whether we likely get enough talent to win 11 games and get knocked out without a playoff win again.

[carter80]

I Wouldn’t be surprised if we get OBJ.


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[goingfor28]

I Wouldn’t be surprised if we get OBJ.


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Would definitely be an upgrade over Thielen/Osborn, but the dude seems very obnoxious and self centered.

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[Vikes_Fan04]

We just need to get more athletic and faster on defense. I love Kendricks but damn just doesn't have it that quick jump he used too. He missed a lot of easy tackles. I really hope Cine pans out because as of right now it sure looks like with all that trading back we sure could have used Kyle Hamilton or Jameson Williams.

[bigvikingfan]

I Wouldn’t be surprised if we get OBJ.


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I would not want him. I'd rather see what Nailor can do.

[vikingsfan0845]

Vikings are in a bit of a holding pattern with their DC. They want to interview Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero but at the moment he's still under contract. The Broncos already blocked a DC interview for him with the Falcons I believe. Evero, along with Flores, are HC candidates too. Until those other situations are resolved, the Vikings will be without a DC. Sounds like it'll either be Evero, Flores, or Sean Desai getting the job. I'm hoping we hire Flores.