Vikings Message Board.Com

jackal wrote:I wish we would have drafted another tackle early Loadholt leaving gives Smith a job with
no competition, at all (honestly).. I don't think Smith has ever been called a hard worker, in the
NFL (from what I saw of the hard knocks with Bengals).

That's probably why Smith only got a 1 year deal....So he can prove his worth. Or one and done.
We will see how he performs againest the Seahawks. Hopefully better.

Harris on the IR also hurts.

Sooner or later Rick is going to have to come up with better talent.

Andre Smith with the 1's today, Krease with the 2's

http://www.espn.com/blog/minnesota-viki ... ackle-spot

We have a lot of people banged up as it mentions in the article.

I just don't see what else they could have done in the draft that wouldn't have taken away from somewhere else. They got one of the top free agents and built a "Farm system" if you will and should have at least one injured starter back. I think the line will be better this year and I agree that it will need to be a continued focus but I think we did about as good as we could do in one off season while still needing to address other issues.

IrishViking wrote:I just don't see what else they could have done in the draft that wouldn't have taken away from somewhere else.

We hear the same thing year after year. At some point, they need to take away from somewhere else and build a better o-line. I don't think Spielman has taken that unit seriously enough.

Mothman wrote: We hear the same thing year after year. At some point, they need to take away from somewhere else and build a better o-line. I don't think Spielman has taken that unit seriously enough.

So... what in this offseason specifically would you have done different that wouldn't have possibly been a reach or a gamble? Not trying to be argumentative but I feel like they did about all they could do.

IrishViking wrote:So... what in this offseason specifically would you have done different that wouldn't have possibly been a reach or a gamble? Not trying to be argumentative but I feel like they did about all they could do.

Any move is a gamble.

I would have done the same thing I suggested earlier in the offseason (and during the previous offseason): I would have drafted a quality o-lineman within the first 3 rounds, probably within the first 2.

This year, I might have even drafted 2 of them.

IrishViking wrote:
So... what in this offseason specifically would you have done different that wouldn't have possibly been a reach or a gamble? Not trying to be argumentative but I feel like they did about all they could do.

We traded a 3rd away. And personally I feel that Mac Alexander was a luxury pick. Seeing that we had Wayne's from last year. So now we have Wayne's, Mac and Krease.
And our investment to our OL future is Beavers...which a lot of sports people thought was not a good pick. And he has been struggling...

Smith they only offered a 1 year contract. Which tells me he was a gamble. Only time will tell.

Mothman wrote: Any move is a gamble.

I would have done the same thing I suggested earlier in the offseason (and during the previous offseason): I would have drafted a quality o-lineman within the first 3 rounds, probably within the first 2.

This year, I might have even drafted 2 of them.

Or 3! I hear ya. Time to hone in on this dead horse.
Does it seem that the Vikings have been rebuilding since '99 or '00?

CbusVikesFan wrote: Or 3! I hear ya. Time to hone in on this dead horse.
Does it seem that the Vikings have been rebuilding since '99 or '00?

Since at least 2000...

I have more hope now that I have had in a while even though the offense is still stumbling. The QB position and the Oline have been a mess for years. It has been tough watching draft after draft and solutions to problems go by. No hindsight is needed and players that would be quite sufficient to fill a need are passed up for project players. I could give examples but I am sure that everyone has plenty of their own. I feel that Zim is headed in the right direction if everyone would stay out of the way. I also feel that people have gotten in the way already.

CbusVikesFan wrote:I have more hope now that I have had in a while even though the offense is still stumbling. The QB position and the Oline have been a mess for years. It has been tough watching draft after draft and solutions to problems go by. No hindsight is needed and players that would be quite sufficient to fill a need are passed up for project players. I could give examples but I am sure that everyone has plenty of their own. I feel that Zim is headed in the right direction if everyone would stay out of the way. I also feel that people have gotten in the way already.

We'll see what happens. Zimmer seems to have them going in the right direction but I'm already concerned that he could even be getting in his own way a little (that's a reference to the offense, in case it's not clear) but we'll see how far he can take them. Hopefully, he can guide them to a championship.

You and I are on the same page regarding the other stuff you mentioned.

Someone asked the question, what else would you have done?
I think going after Osemele and not losing out on him and still adding Boone would have been priority #1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8......
Not sure exactly what the salary cap situation was but I didn't think that we needed to address a lot anyways.
Taking Treadwell was a no brainer and other players would have been reaches. Mackenzie was not just a luxury pick but a great one. Offenses run 3 WR sets now all the time. Probably next year, 2017, we will be running Rhodes, Waynes, and Alexander all the time on D. That's as formidable of a trio of CB's as there will be... period !!! With Smith and maybe Kearse, where will the ball be thrown to?

Thus again, addressing the OL. FA was the key and we did not get what we needed.
Spielman believes in drafting "athletes" and then plugs the fatties and let's them gel. Problem is that they haven't gelled as a unit and their talent is overwhelmed by DL talent.

I agree 100% that OL has to be addressed. Spielman will just find another athlete that slips to him in the draft every year. This is my take. Eventually a HC that says OL is priority #1 will get it fixed. Hopefully Zimmer says that in the offseason next year !!!

I would love to see Clemmings, Bykowski, or Sirles become "that guy".

Don't get me wrong...I'm happy to have Mac. But I feel a decent OL pick would have balanced things a little better.
Heck in FA I would have been happy picking up Donald Penn for a LT.

Zimmers Defense is pretty much in great shape.
You can't quite say the same about the offense.

halfgiz wrote:Don't get me wrong...I'm happy to have Mac. But I feel a decent OL pick would have balanced things a little better.
Heck in FA I would have been happy picking up Donald Penn for a LT.

Zimmers Defense is pretty much in great shape.
You can't quite say the same about the offense.

Penn, Boone, and trading up for Tunsil/Decker/Stanley would probably have been my preferred option to address OL in the offseason, but, here we sit.