LaFleur is supposed to be this offensive genius and clearly that’s not the case lol. There’s some roster construction issues with a bad offensive line and the book is still out on Love (not exactly convinced by what I’ve seen thus far) but this particular coach’s area of expertise is supposedly offense and it’s terrible. He also hired a complete trash can for D coordinator and a team that spends every first round pick on D for like a decade now shouldn’t be this mediocre/bad and special teams is consistently bad.
Least I have Addison for fantasy and the packers winning games this season probably isn’t ideal for the long term anyhow.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Tom Brady come out of retirement and throw to Jefferson (could be back in a few weeks) Addison, and Hockinson the best group of pass catchers in the NFL. ? ?
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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I always want to beat the Packers, but honestly this game & the rest of the season is totally meaningless for the Vikings at this point. Tank every game going forward to get one of those top QB’s in the 2024 draft
This was the first time I watched a most of a packer game this season and it's eerily reminiscent of watching the Gophers when coached by Tracy Claeys, undisciplined & stupid penalties.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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I always want to beat the Packers, but honestly this game & the rest of the season is totally meaningless for the Vikings at this point. Tank every game going forward to get one of those top QB’s in the 2024 draft
BS... they are not tanking the season. The Vikings have a good defense any there is couple QBs out there that won't cost much. I remember all the doom and gloom from Viking fans and even here on GPL when Bridgewater went down in 2017 and Case Keenum stepped.
If I were Cousins I’d fly to California early this week and have the same surgeon ARog used perform the same procedure. Hopefully he’s back playing next season, although whether it’s for the Vikings appears questionable.
The worst thing Kwesi can do is over value where the team is at currently and panic to overpay for a QB. If we pay anything more than a third rounder, we got fleeced.
The worst thing Kwesi can do is over value where the team is at currently and panic to overpay for a QB. If we pay anything more than a third rounder, we got fleeced.
4 weeks ago I wanted them to tank. Now I'm 70/30 still leaning towards tank. I'm not in-tuned enough to call where it should be drawn, but you're right it's a tricky line between doing too much and not enough.
The Vikings D has become more and more legit under Flores, and the O has been better with protecting the ball. Going 4-1 with the only loss coming to KC is not a terrible stretch. It's too bad their first game against Detroit isn't before the trade deadline.
I always want to beat the Packers, but honestly this game & the rest of the season is totally meaningless for the Vikings at this point. Tank every game going forward to get one of those top QB’s in the 2024 draft
BS... they are not tanking the season. The Vikings have a good defense any there is couple QBs out there that won't cost much. I remember all the doom and gloom from Viking fans and even here on GPL when Bridgewater went down in 2017 and Case Keenum stepped.
while I like your attitude Rube. this isn’t 2017 where Keenan was already on the team & knew the offensive system. If they can trade for somebody decent in the next two days, they have an outside chance at making the playoffs. Short of that…they DONE for 2023. And I realize there’s 52 other players on the team, so they won’t intentionally TANK. Kwesi faces a real dilemma now, he needs to find a competent QB no later than 2024 to throw to JJ, Addison & Hock. And he’s shown no signs yet that he has a clear plan to do that (beyond re-uping Cousins). And now that looks iffy. Kwesi totally blew a #1 pick on Cine, but hit an HR on Addison. He needs to find an answer or we can kiss JJ goodbye in 2 years, he isn’t extending if there’s no one to throw to him. And finally, being a MN team pro sports fan is literally akin to lingering death…it’s painful and frustrating. lol
At this point I'm 50/50 on how they should approach the season.
Part of me wants to see what Hall can do (they're almost certainly going to find out on Sunday against Atlanta) regardless. There are a couple FA options (Wentz and Matt Ryan being the two that come to mind) that have been NFL starters that could potentially be viable starters with the weapons they have to throw the ball to. Sign one of those and get them up to speed and if Hall can't handle it then give them a shot. The other option would be a trade for a guy like Jacoby Brissett (currently backup for Washington). This would make logical sense. He's been a competent starting QB in limited duty (had 18 TDs and 6 INTs for the Colts in 2019 in 15 starts, and 12 TDs with 6 INTs in 11 starts with Cleveland) and likely wouldn't cost more than a 5th or 6th round pick which is certainly a value worth taking a risk on if they want to make the playoffs.
The other part of me says "Load up on the defensive side, trade for another CB and maybe another pass rusher" and try to win games 17-10, 17-13 and hope that Hall/Mullens are competent enough to move the ball with the WR group we have. You'd certainly think having JJ and Addison, with KJ and TJ as 3rd and 4th options, would make a lot of QBs better than they otherwise would be. The defense has come a long way over the last handful of weeks and seems to be improving weekly under Flores. Adding another quality CB and/or pass rusher could move this defense to the upper echelon of the NFL IMO.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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You have to get someone. You can't not, it's a horrible message to the team to say we've given up on all of you because of 1 player.
Unsure who or at what cost, but they have to do something.
The options aren't exactly great. Bringing in Matt Ryan or Carson Wentz is giving up with another name. (see also: Newton, Cam and about a dozen other names I have seen floated) Those guys are way past done...hell Wentz was overrated from day 1 anyways. Andy Dalton? Maybe 10 years ago. And none of those guys will be here next year even if they go on a Keenum like run.
If they go after someone it has to be a QB who has even an outside chance of being the QB the next few years. A one year stopgap is out of the question this team isn't good enough for that. They would be better off letting the backups play.
Honestly, I would rather let Hall play, see what they have and then likely get a very high draft pick. Play it out as is and hope you either see something in him that points to a future or if he is so awful we get a top 8 pick and go from there. The last thing this franchise needs is to get Matt Ryan, go 8-9 and get a pick in the middle of the first round while not having a QB for next year. Hell I would rather bring back Dalvin Cooke than do that...
My prediction is the Vikings resign Cousins in the off season. Cousins throwing to Jefferson, Addison, and Hockinson was and is Kwessi's plan. If Kwessi's wanted to replace Cousins he would have drafted a QB earlier in one of the last two drafts. IMO the reason Kwessi hasn't resigned Cousins to a multi year deal yet is he doesn't need/want to over pay for him. In the NFL at times teams are cool with players becoming free agents because they feel it will help the player realize what they are offering is the best (aka the team feels no need to meet the player/agents asking price).
This injury may speed up the need to replace him depending on how he recovers but I will be surprised if Cousins isn't the starter next season. If they sign him to a 2 year deal (2024 & 2025) I would expect them to draft a QB in the first 3 rounds likely in 2025 to play behind Cousins in 2025 and if he develops take over as starter in 2026.
As a far as this season I'm not worried about who plays QB because it is a 9 game problem with Cousins likely back as the starter next season.
One issue with bringing Cousins back (and I'm a fan of his) is how quickly can he be fully game ready? Now by all accounts he's always been very serious with his conditioning. Yet a realistic timetable is ~12 months.
So who is the stopgap they get that doesn't bury the team record wise the first several weeks next year without killing the cap? The team is marginally thin on depth already.
In that regard I think they roll with Hall and then decide later with them leaning toward moving on. Of course now that I type it that means they'll do something completely different. ?
Obviously time will tell but I think there is a good chance he will be ready by Week 1.
The injury was certainly bad but the one thing that could end up working out in the Vikings favor is it will likely cause other teams to be less eager to out bid the Vikings because they would be bringing in a new QB who will be limited all off season and pre season (missing chances to play with new team mates/get reps with a new offensive scheme) so it would seem to make more sense for Cousins to stay with the team/offense he is familiar with so he can step in next season a lot easier and try to pick up where he left off which was playing really well even without his best receiver. From the Vikings perspective this would seem to increase the Vikings chances of signing him to a reasonable deal.
A question for everybody who thinks the plan was never to bring Cousins back next season:
So Kwessi's plan was to hopefully get a high enough draft pick (aka suck this season) to get a QB who would warrant starting as a rookie next season? That doesn't seem like something an analytical mind like Kwessi would plan for knowing the most likely scenario for this season was to be around a .500 team getting a mid 1st round pick where the top QBs would likely all be gone.
I too would like to have a superstar QB but most of the time you have be really bad or trade up and give up a boat load of picks. When you have a good QB most teams try to build a good team around him. Kwessi's first two drafts seem to indicate this is his plan.
What do people think of this as a possibility? I wouldn't give up much for him but he would likely be an upgrade to what we currently have. He is will be a free agent after the season.
On March 13, 2023, news broke that Winston was restructuring the final year of his contract to stay with the Saints. He'll be on a one-year/$4 million deal that includes incentives to get the deal to $8 million. This comes after Winston originally signed a two-year/$28 million deal with the franchise last year.
I don't think the plan was ever to have Cousins back next year unless this season went very well.
I mean he was playing at a borderline MVP level through 8 games. Lead the league in TDs and was second in yards, despite playing 3 games without the best receiver in the NFL. I tend to agree that he was going to be back even if only on a 2-3 year deal. JJ obviously wants him back, and judging by the reactions of guys in the locker room after the game, he's pretty beloved by most everyone.
What do people think of this as a possibility? I wouldn't give up much for him but he would likely be an upgrade to what we currently have. He is will be a free agent after the season.
On March 13, 2023, news broke that Winston was restructuring the final year of his contract to stay with the Saints. He'll be on a one-year/$4 million deal that includes incentives to get the deal to $8 million. This comes after Winston originally signed a two-year/$28 million deal with the franchise last year.
He's certainly an interesting name but New Orleans may ask for a pretty hefty return for him considering they are in the playoff hunt.
At this point in the year, anything more than a 4th round pick is too much IMO.
“When your best friend is the son of God, you get tired of losing every argument.”
― Christopher Moore, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
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First of all, I am not a Cousins hater. He has been exactly what we needed him to be and gets a lot of crap cause fans in this town hate whoever the qb is...been that way since Rich Gannon.
Here is why I don't think the original plan was to bring Cousins back...I don't think they thought there was any chance the team would be good last year certainly not a playoff team. We won a lot of games we had no business winning. I think they were prepared to lose and start the rebuild. Then, we go on one of the most fun runs I have seen. There was no way they could not bring him back but it set their plan back at least a year. Cousins playing well again was putting another monkey wrench into the plan. Now his injury might force us to start over anyways.
The problem isn't Cousins really...but our cap issues and that we have too much money tied up in players that are rather long in the tooth. KOC is a QB guy, it would make sense to bring in someone to take over. If we had been worse last year that is likely what they do. JMHO. If they bring him back and he is healthy and the team plays well I wont be upset.
As for Winston...unless we get him for a later round pick I want nothing to do with him. He has talent, but he doesn't have the brain for the game and let's just say with him the "ball isn't the program". I would rather roll with what we have.
I think if Cousins took a massive, but not insulting, pay cut, he was coming back. Now, he still may come back because of this injury. 37YO QB who tore his Achilles? Those contract offers just got smaller in pay.
When you tell somebody somethin', it depends on what part of the United States you're standin' in... as to just how dumb you are.
I originally expected Kwessi to draft a QB in the first 3 rounds in his 1st draft or at least his 2nd draft. When he didn't IMO that was telling on what he thought of Cousins. Using both the 2023 1st round pick (Addison) and the 2nd round pick (Hockenson via trade) on pass catchers IMO was an indication that he wanted to keep the QB and get him more/better weapons since Thielen and Cook were going to be gone. If he was looking to replace Cousins I think he doesn't trade the 2023 2nd round pick for Hockenson at mid season last year in order to keep all the draft capital to try to increase his chances of getting a QB he wants in the 2023 draft.
Regarding Winston if he were to be traded I would expect it to be a late round pick. If the Saints want a 4th round pick I would think the Vikings say no. If the Vikings offered a 6th round pick the Saints likely say no so I think if a trade was made it would be for a 5th round pick. The Vikings making no trade is probably the most likely scenario.
