Vikings Message Board.Com

dead_poet wrote: Yeah, but how much of that is lip service/motivation? It's pretty clear all but Boone are competing for the starting job on the line. It'd be shocking if Kalil wasn't the starter over an UDFA that's played in all of two games. There's also (gulp) Clemmings who has more experience and a higher draft pedigree. It's I retesting if he's not even in that conversation.

If draft pedigree and salary are going to be factors then this off-season has already been a total failure.

Wasn't Boone himself a UDFA? I'd hate to think they wouldn't give a guy a chance because he's undrafted or because nobody else has given him a chance yet. It would be a devastating condemnation of their own approach to addressing the position.

edit* Certainly, its more likely that Kalil starts than any other particular inexperienced LT prospect on the roster, but obviously it needs to be because he wins the job.

fiestavike wrote: If draft pedigree and salary are going to be factors then this off-season has already been a total failure.

Wasn't Boone himself a UDFA? I'd hate to think they wouldn't give a guy a chance because he's undrafted or because nobody else has given him a chance yet. It would be a devastating condemnation of their own approach to addressing the position.

edit* Certainly, its more likely that Kalil starts than any other particular inexperienced LT prospect on the roster, but obviously it needs to be because he wins the job.

I don't care about salary. I'm only saying there's a reason they both were drafted (or not) where they were. The chances of an UDFA not only getting a starting job, but unseating a top-10 pick "in his prime" are not very good. If he plays better than Kalil, great, start him. Maybe Kalil's knees are shot. Who knows. We can certainly use and upgrade and I know it's tempting to put in the unknown guy that hasn't been a disappointment. But he's facing long odds.

Boone was an UDFA in large part due to his alcohol-related issues coming out.

Kalil is so bad it wouldn't surprise me if someone else wins the job, plus he's probably already banged up / dealing with knee pain knowing him.

Yeah, but how much of that is lip service/motivation? It's pretty clear all but Boone are competing for the starting job on the line. It'd be shocking if Kalil wasn't the starter over an UDFA that's played in all of two games. There's also (gulp) Clemmings who has more experience and a higher draft pedigree. It's I retesting if he's not even in that conversation.

Yeah I agree play the best player... I just wish we wouldn't have played him 11 million if he wasn't the clear starter is all. I have always liked
guys who beat the odds like John Randle... I am hoping Cirles becomes a pro bowl guy...

I am hoping the same thing for Moritz Bohinger(sp) too

Hopefully Sparano will get Kalil more consistent . If not, I wouldn't be surprised he see's bench time.
From what I have been reading Sparano will have the top 5 playing.

Hopefully Sparano will get Kalil more consistent . If not, I wouldn't be surprised he see's bench time.
From what I have been reading Sparano will have the top 5 playing.

the way it should be .. if he isn't the best... go sit down re're mgee

so what has changed for kalil from march until now? they had a chance to release him and not pay the 11 mil, but they decided he was worth it and kept him in his 5th year option. now he has to compete with sirles? something just isn't adding up to me. if they honestly felt he had to compete to win his job then why pay him the 11 mil? if you are going to pay a guy top 5 tackle money I would assume you have some sort of confidence in him. Plus there were plenty of free agent and draft options for replacement left tackles. for the life of me i don't see why they keep screwing around with kalil when it's been proven over and over how important it is to have a solid blind side protector for your qb.

slapnut19 wrote:so what has changed for kalil from march until now? they had a chance to release him and not pay the 11 mil, but they decided he was worth it and kept him in his 5th year option. now he has to compete with sirles? something just isn't adding up to me. if they honestly felt he had to compete to win his job then why pay him the 11 mil? if you are going to pay a guy top 5 tackle money I would assume you have some sort of confidence in him. Plus there were plenty of free agent and draft options for replacement left tackles. for the life of me i don't see why they keep screwing around with kalil when it's been proven over and over how important it is to have a solid blind side protector for your qb.

Lack of legitimate (better) options. It's really as simple as that. He may be "competing" with Sirles but he's the incumbent until proven otherwise.

It would've been stupid to release him outright without a legit backup plan. As inconsistent as he has been, it can absolutely be worse. It could be a Clemmings replacing him on the blind side. I want an upgrade there but at least the same level of play. The last thing we/Teddy can afford is WORSE tackle play.

dead_poet wrote: Lack of legitimate (better) options. It's really as simple as that. He may be "competing" with Sirles but he's the incumbent until proven otherwise.

It would've been stupid to release him outright without a legit backup plan. As inconsistent as he has been, it can absolutely be worse. It could be a Clemmings replacing him on the blind side. I want an upgrade there but at least the same level of play. The last thing we/Teddy can afford is WORSE tackle play.

there were better options, they chose not to pursue them. i get giving him one more shot, but now they are paying 11 mil for a guy who isn't even good enough to start otas as the #1 left tackle. i also understand making him compete and earn the job, but what other assumed starter on the team is going through a similar situation. the guy obviously lacks motivation or isn't healthy enough. either way it's not a good sign for our pass protection.

slapnut19 wrote:
there were better options, they chose not to pursue them. i get giving him one more shot, but now they are paying 11 mil for a guy who isn't even good enough to start otas as the #1 left tackle. i also understand making him compete and earn the job, but what other assumed starter on the team is going through a similar situation. the guy obviously lacks motivation or isn't healthy enough. either way it's not a good sign for our pass protection.

You may be looking too much into depth chart position at the first series of voluntary OTAs. Coaches experiment, send messages, etc. I'm not sure Kalil not starting there for a few reps necessarily means there's going to be a changing of the guard (er...tackle). I think it just means pretty much the entire o-line is on notice. But being on notice doesn't assume a demotion.

Which options were there? Remember that signing Osemele ($60 million/$12 million per year) may have prevented us from important moves in the short and long-term). A lot of other potential options were re-signed before free agency opened (Whitworth, Glenn, etc.)

osemele is the one that sticks out to me. subtract the 11 mil cap hit for kalil and he would have fit in nicely. there were a few others out there like okung, penn, beachum. ryan clady was also traded for a mid round pick. i'll admit i'm very biased against kalil at this point and would have moved on in march when we had the chance. imo it wouldn't have been that hard to find a tackle to play above average as opposed to the below average play we had gotten from kalil from 2013-2015.

slapnut19 wrote:osemele is the one that sticks out to me. subtract the 11 mil cap hit for kalil and he would have fit in nicely. there were a few others out there like okung, penn, beachum. ryan clady was also traded for a mid round pick. i'll admit i'm very biased against kalil at this point and would have moved on in march when we had the chance. imo it wouldn't have been that hard to find a tackle to play above average as opposed to the below average play we had gotten from kalil from 2013-2015.

They also could have traded some picks.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

osemele is the one that sticks out to me. subtract the 11 mil cap hit for kalil and he would have fit in nicely. there were a few others out there like okung, penn, beachum. ryan clady was also traded for a mid round pick. i'll admit i'm very biased against kalil at this point and would have moved on in march when we had the chance. imo it wouldn't have been that hard to find a tackle to play above average as opposed to the below average play we had gotten from kalil from 2013-2015.

I think most Vikings fans feel that way against Kalil.. honestly,the problem is so many teams had OL issues and there are not a lot of good left tackles out there..

Notes worth reading:

Notebook: ‘Back at home,’ Brandon Fusco out to prove himself again at right guard

http://www.1500espn.com/vikings-2/2016/ ... ght-guard/

Turner speaks. Not the news I wanted to hear on Loadholt. Seems confident with Sully, though.

"Getting Sully back is big - a veteran player who is a really good player," Turner said. "Phil's missed a lot of time, and I think he's handled it extremely well. He's got a long ways to go to where I think he can handle to go play in games. If anyone can do it, Phil can, and he's worked awfully hard to get that done."

http://m.vikings.com/news/article-1/Vik ... 559e35b029