The Best Fix is the Most Painful

by Maybe next year on Nov 23, 2011 4:32 PM CST

All of us "Experts" will agree that the Vikings are broke and need fixing. What we won't agree on is the best way to fix them. If you are drinking the Purple Kool Aid, your answer will be a couple guys getting healthy, a couple back ups getting a chance to play and a good draft and the Vikings are back in the playoffs. If you are in the middle, they need the above and a couple free agents. But if you are a realist the Vikings have huge problems that are not going to go away. They have 7 players ( Peterson, Harvin, Ponder, Rudolph, Greenway, Robison and Allen that any team would love. And arguably two of the seven are the best at their positions in Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen. Then you have 5 players that are serviceable, but starting to show their age or are hurt, who may have 2 years left in them ( Winfield, Williams, Henderson, Shiancoe, and Hutchinson. Then 10 guys that would not be starters for most teams ( Erin Henderson, Johnson, Griffith, Remi, Abdullah, Johnson, Sullivan, Berger, Loadholt, Jenkins). The Vikings biggest problem in rebuilding isn't that they have no stars. The biggest problem is besides those stars the 10 other players are career back ups. And besides that, they are playing in a division with the best team in the NFL (Packers), one of the best up and coming teams (Lions) and one of the most underrated teams (Bears).

The league goes in cycles, so you are looking at 3 years of excellent Packer teams before they start loosing guys to free agency and injuries. Detroit is in a window where they could go up or down. But luckily in 3 years Chicago should be where we are now. Our division has to play into how they go about rebuilding. If we were in a bad division, then we could try and get 1 or 2 big free agents and try and win the division. But we are in arguably the best division.

So the fact that you can pencil in Green Bay for 3 years of excellence, and that the Bears will be rebuilding in 3 years, gives the Vikings alot of answers. That means if there are any players that have trade value that you do not expect to be contributing after 3 years or that will be on the down side of their careers should be traded to the highest bidder. In most cases that would be any player that is now 28 years or older. This is where the tough calls come in. That means trading your 2nd & 3rd best players in Jared Allen and Chad Greenway. They are awesome and 2 of my favorites. But in three years there is no predicting if they will have anything left and they are two players that we can demand and get 1st rounders for . Adrian Peterson is still young enough to make it through the rebuilding process. That is two or three high draft picks that will be 25 in 3 years compared to 2 players that will be 31 and 32 in 3 years. That also means saying goodbye to Hutchinson, WInfield, Kleinsasser, Williams, Shiancoe, and Henderson. We have three years to draft as many young players as we can, and they will need all of the playing time they can get.

Who do we draft. The league is a passing league and our 4 brightest players all play offensive skill positions (Ponder, Rudolph, Harvin, and Peterson). What we don't have is an offensive line to block for them. I know this is fantasy football here, but I then use my next 5 picks on the 5 best offensive lineman available and plug them in as starters and let them gel for 3 years. That would be 3 1st round OL and 2 2nd round OL (assuming we would get a 2nd rounder in the Allen trade). With the 2 3rd rounders ( 1 a compensatory pick) I would draft 2 wide receivers. With the rest of the draft i would take players to help the defense.

Free Agents - Knowing that your are under a 3 year plan, you would not sign any big free agents in year 1 or 2. In year 3 though, you would sign 2 to 3 big time free agents to fill out your roster.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.

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I think you could even pencil the Packers in for five years of excellence and then a bunch more very good years due to Aaron Rodgers. The Lions are an up and coming team in the same boat and Chicago is going to get their roar in every now and then. I agree with what your saying about the fix being painful. That is why we have been discussing whether or not the Vikings should trade players such as Allen, Greenway, Henderson, Shiancoe, and even Peterson because by the time the Vikings are ready to think about the playoffs again these players will be really old in football years.

by Timothy Bryce on Nov 23, 2011 5:20 PM CST reply actions

There are many elaborate scenarios you can come up that will put us back in contention, so this:

The league goes in cycles, so you are looking at 3 years of excellent Packer teams before they start loosing guys to free agency and injuries. Detroit is in a window where they could go up or down. But luckily in 3 years Chicago should be where we are now

is not fact. While some of these things are likely (I think the Bears are more on the upswing than Lions), look at the 2011 Rams and 49er’s. Both are heading in the exact opposite direction as everyone thought they would at the end of the 2010 season because of the impact of variables such as the NFL draft, FA, and just plain time and age. Like I said, there are endless scenarios.

I think pretty much everyone is aware that our O-Line needs to be solved for us to be in contention again, but I have some major problems with your solution to our offensive problems.

We don’t need 5 stars on the offensive line to have a successful offense.

Try to think all of any other team’s offensive line starters. You most likely can’t (I sure as hell can’t, except for Green Bay). While it would be very nice to have 5 stars, the way we’d get them would negate the addition, which brings me to my second point:

Our defense would be complete shit.

A good D-Line and LB covers up a weak secondary which we have, and we STILL get torched. Replacing Greenway and Allen with low draft picks or young FA’s would further expose our horrible D-Backfield AND we’d give up more yards on the ground (which is our strength with them). Odds are, we’d have damn near the worst defense in the league.

"Let's go our there, and stick our fists through their ribcages, rip our their hearts, eat them, and shit them back out on the field!!" - Blue Mountain State

by Alittlemore_cowbell on Nov 23, 2011 7:42 PM CST reply actions

Agree with Bell

If it was that simple of a formula teams would be doing the 3 year gig. Some patterns are there yes..but a play here and there changes all that …ie: 12 men on the field…a missed field goal.
The Vikes need to rebuild …how and in a decent amount of time? address the O line in the draft but not all top picks its been tried and died. You start with 1 guy and you build off his beat. LT should be the start.

@}-----You've been Touched-----{@

by Velvetouch on Nov 23, 2011 11:09 PM CST up reply actions

Matt Kalil anyone?

by bender26 on Nov 24, 2011 9:00 AM CST up reply actions

Well put and I agree.

For several years we were last or near the bottom in pass defense. The Vikes tried to find a pass rushing RDE many times until they traded for JA – problem solved. A good pass rush reduces the exposure to a weak secondary.

Jared, Adrian, Percy, and Chad sell jersies and put people in the stands. JA is a huge fan favorite. To trade your stars risks not selling out games and having TV black-outs. If you trade away stars and go full-blown rebuilding can you charge the same ticket price for no-names? I don’t think so – if you want to sell out.

However, if you plan to move the team to LA, there’s no harm in trading stars because the new city will turn out just to see the NFL even while you’re in rebuild mode.

by Caretaker QB on Nov 27, 2011 2:41 AM CST up reply actions

No offense but

I hate you and you suck.

"Winning isn't everything but losing is nothing" - Ace Bricka coach of the Galaxy Aces

by FFXVIKE on Nov 24, 2011 9:49 AM CST reply actions

I disagree with your evaluation of some of our players

Joe Berger, Erin Henderson, and Michael Jenkins are all very capable of being starters in this league.

Berger has proven to be very good at times in his play with us and if given a full offseason I believe he or Fusco will push Sullivan from starting center, and if Fusco wins center Berger will most likely be guard.

Erin Henderson has been a special teamer on this squad for years and finally got his shot in the youth movement we had in the offseason and he has been very capable, in his starting role and will be a starter for years to come.

Jenkins was a starter in Atlanta and they decided to go in a new direction. He has proven to be very solid in his role in our offense. He has almost everything thrown his way, runs exceptional routes and has fought for the ball and positioning very well.

There are more players I would make a case for but these guys are the most capable of the ones you listed that shouldnt be starters on any team. Also, you forget that there are not 32 solid starters for all 22 positions in this league, and there will be teams in dire straights for a position as there isn’t always enough talent to go around, or enough cap space either.

by nmatt71 on Nov 24, 2011 5:18 PM CST reply actions

Going into the 1998 season,

if you had told me we’re one great wide out from being an elite team , Id’ve said you were nuts. We had, at that time, a lot of the elements we have now. We just couldn’t put it all together. It may not take a complete blow-up to get to the level we know this team is capable of.

by dvsccn on Nov 25, 2011 2:41 PM CST reply actions

LOL what?

No disrespect, but where does this come from? In 98 The Vikes set every offensive record on fire matter of fact I think I read the Vikes of 98 are like the 2nd most successful team in a season to end up losing. This years team is ahh 2-8 and years from am NFC championship game.

@}-----You've been Touched-----{@

by Velvetouch on Nov 25, 2011 3:17 PM CST up reply actions

I said going in

leading up to ‘98, we had a pretty mediocre team. Even with Robert smith, Cris Carter etc…
It took a Randy Moss to get over the hump.
I realize this team has a lot more weak spots. I’m just saying that it can turn around in a heartbeat.

by dvsccn on Nov 25, 2011 3:32 PM CST up reply actions

No,

It took Randall Cunningham to get over the hump.

"Let's go our there, and stick our fists through their ribcages, rip our their hearts, eat them, and shit them back out on the field!!" - Blue Mountain State

by Alittlemore_cowbell on Nov 25, 2011 11:58 PM CST up reply actions

Thank u Bell cause RC was off the charts that year he was the man !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by cali viking on Nov 26, 2011 12:31 AM CST up reply actions

Randall was great that year

But the reality is he wasn’t till Moss got there. Through 13 years he averaged about an 80 passer rating. With Moss , the number inflates to 106. I didn’t like the man much (Moss) , but there’s no doubt that he re-defined the position.

by dvsccn on Nov 26, 2011 12:38 AM CST up reply actions

A fire sale typically doesn't work in the NFL

The problem with using hard and fast rules to ship out players en mass is that a football roster is a fickle thing that requires more than just measurables to fill out. Size and speed count about as much as heart, discipline, and intelligence. In short, a guy has to fit.

So it’s tough when you have players that do fit, and fit very well, and then trade them off for draft picks. In order to really come out ahead in this deal you have to draft extremely well in order to find a player that fits in as well as the player you traded out the door. Sometimes this works, often it doesn’t. It becomes even harder when you have an elite player who is a leader in the locker room that you show out the door. This would be the case of trading Allen.

Really when you look at the teams that have tried the fire sale approach to rebuilding, I would highlight the Chiefs and the Broncos here, there really isn’t much success. The Chiefs tried it, but didn’t really get the talent replaced that they let walk out the building until years later and a coaching and front office change. The Broncos have had a bit of a fire sale as well after the failure of the McDaniels coaching time. Now they are a good defense, but the offense is terrible. the offense also is the area they have gutted the most with the trades of Cutler, Marshall, and others. Now they are clinging to the illusions of Tebow and running an offense based on smoke and mirrors.

by PackApologist on Nov 25, 2011 3:33 PM CST reply actions

Agreed PA

In baseball its worked with a team like the Florida Marlins but I don’t recall it working in the NFL. A good pass rushing RDE is hard to find. We spent several draft picks on RDEs over the years without success until we traded for JA. There were several unproductive years at that position between JA and Chris Doleman.

by Caretaker QB on Nov 27, 2011 3:02 AM CST up reply actions