General Sports Thread

Looks like Smith will be traded as I think he's good enough for someone to offer draft picks for him. We could do with stocking up some draft picks for either this draft or next year so it will be interesting to see what happens with Cook as well.

 

The problem is that right now draft picks have their highest value as the draft is just round the corner, and players have the least as most teams are trying to get under the cap.

The only team who would trade for Cook would be a team with a real chance of the Super Bowl and want that experienced running back to help them get over the line, he is due to earn a lot this year so not sure if any team like that would have the cap space to do it/be willing to make room for Cook when they know the Vikings most likely release him and they can get him cheaper as a free agent (although this means they would probably face competition from other teams). He is from Florida and has said about going home a lot so the Dolphins makes a lot of sense

Smith is different as he he earning very little this year compared to his market value. This is probably why he wants to be released so he can negotiate a new deal elsewhere. Could see a team sending a late round pick for him. Hunter also falls into this category as well. I’m fully on the tank train for next season tbh, the signing of Davenport suggests the Vikings aren’t though

 

It's a tricky one for Vikings front office. One hand we've got Jefferson, who is the best WR in the NFL IMO and is only getting better. Plus we've got the likes of Hockenson and KJ Osborn who looks like he could emerge into a very good WR. Which we need to happen otherwise teams will be happy to put 2 or even 3 guys on JJ and literally mark him out of the game. Also Darrisaw is great when healthy and it was unfortunate that 2022 draft pick Lewis Cine suffered that horrific injury in the UK game quite early on in the season.

But the defence is garbage and you won't win play off games with a bad defence (as proven against NYG). It's no fun supporting an uncompetitive NFL team but one or two seasons of crap is better than constantly staying in the middle of the pack with no hope of reaching the SB.

 

It’s not really tricky at all in my view. They simply have to do a rebuild, they spunked a load of money at the old guard to try and win a Super Bowl in the last 3 years and didn’t get close. As I mentioned before they only have 4 top players who they should be doing everything they can to keep. They will need money to do this which they don’t currently have. Jefferson is going into his 4th year, they will exercise his 5th year option so they have 2 years to get enough cash to pay him, and probably overpay him as I doubt he will too interested to stay at market value when he could earn a fortune elsewhere/go to a team with a real shot of winning a Super Bowl

Everyone has to be behind a tank as obviously the coaches and GM won’t want to lose their jobs after a bad season (even if it was enforced with having a weak roster). The Vikings owners have consistently proven they value winning just enough over really going for it so I can’t see this year being any different

 

I'm not behind a tank, you don't reach Valhalla by deliberately losing!

But I am upset about losing Thielen. All our defensive players, not so much.

 

Im not saying deliberately lose, I’m saying they should be looking at how to save money to pay Jefferson, Hockensen and Darrisaw next year to keep them on the team. This will mean not spending right up to the cap this year or kicking money into next year which, with the amount of starters who are leaving and minimal draft picks available, will mean that the roster this year is weak. Throw in a much harder schedule than last year due to winning the division and it would seem very likely they will have a poor year.

This should be factored in for the coaches and GM and the owners should basically say that they understand if the team has a bad year their jobs are safe (unless they go something like 3 wins or less I suppose). The players will still be giving their all as it is their careers on the line as ultimately the average NFL career is like 3 years or something. They can’t have one year where they give up. It just has to be understood at the higher level that the roster could be weak and therefore a losing season is on the cards

 

I know it's a results business, but I imagine KOC's position is fairly safe even if we have a poor season, especially coming off the back of a pretty successful season. I'd like to think the Wilfs are intelligent enough to realize several of our wins could have easily gone the other way so hopefully expectations are tempered. I probably also need to temper my expectations tbh, but the fire sale that's started may be helping with that.

Sounds like the Vikings may be moving off from Kirk after next season, so we'll probably need to draft a QB in this year's draft, or next year if we have a bad season and get a high pick. Not sure what the college QBs coming up in the next two years are like. We'd probably need to trade up to get one of the top prospects... But then if mr irrelevant proved anything last year, it's that gems can be found in later rounds. Shame Kellen mond didn't work out...

 

Vikings have re-worked Cousins' contract so they are now under the cap. No extension though.

 

Which they’ve spent on bringing Bradbury back

H Smith is the big one, didn’t realise his cap number was so big this year, almost $20m. Need to do something with him, restructure or cut him

 

Bradbury is fine. He had a good year last season and he's on a fairly cheap deal.

 

Last year he was OK, so 1 good year in 5 since he was drafted. The meltdown over him, Hicks and Joseph coming back is Saints levels which is nice to see

I do like the Murphy deal on paper, they really need some help at linebacker though and all the top ones have already gone. Very annoying that Edmunds has gone to the Bears, seemed a perfect fit

 

Murphy could be a steal. Only 25 but has had health issues. But I'd rather go down this route than signing veteran players who are past their best.

 

Joseph has been our best kicker in years. He was good the season before last and last season he had a blip but the Vikings kept faith in him (as did I) and he repaid it. His late season form was great, and after adjusting his extra point attempts (moving to the left hash or something from the Patriots game onwards), he missed one more extra point in the remainder of the season. He also set a franchise record kicking distance against the Giants and was two time NFC special teams player of the week and unlike Blair Walsh who imploded after the Seahawks miss, Greg has proved he has the mental toughness to bounce back from adversity. The amount of disrespect he gets from Vikings fans is unreal.

 

He can't keep missing XP's. They are literally chip shots. He also hasn't got the weather to worry about in home games. He should have one of the best kicking records in the NFL playing in a dome.

 

But if you look at his stats by game and not just the season as a whole, once the adjustments were made (the first game he moved to the left hash was the Patriots game), he did not keep missing. He actually hit 16 of 17 extra points, which isn't a bad record. And the one miss was in an outdoor stadium at Soldier Field. Clearly the adjustments did work. Plus, we can't just keep chopping and changing kickers every time they have a rough patch, in recent years we've ditched Kai Forbath, Daniel Carlson, Dan Bailey and Blair Walsh. We've finally got a kicker now who's pretty decent (okay he's not Justin Tucker but no one is) and has shown he has the mental fortitude to bounce back from adversity.

Also in terms of field goals he made 16 out of 18 from the Commanders game onwards. The two misses were against Green Bay and absolutely nothing went right in that game.

Getting rid of Greg the leg would have been a ridiculous decision and that is a hill I will die on if need be

 

Grid penalty for Leclerc already.

Formula 1: Ferrari's Charles Leclerc faces grid penalty at Grand Prix - BBC Sport

 

Good old Ferrari...

 

Vikings have agreed to re-sign Mattison. Wonder if that means Cook will be traded as Mattison surely won't have come back to be back up RB.

 

Cook wasn't great last season. His stats were overly inflated by two runs v the Dolphins and Bills. Take those two runs out and where would our run game have finished, it was already near the bottom of the league...

 

Max has got the ****s as well!