Monday Open Thread: March 1, 2021

Merry Monday, everyone!

Another fun-filled work week awaits us in this NFL off-season, which has already lasted for an eternity, but will continue to last for another eternity. Lucky us! I’m really looking forward to the draft, or whatever it is they’re creating to replace the usual NFL draft. With 17% of the salary cap being allocated to one player, having a solid draft is imperative for Rick Spielman and the front office if they want to compete. In the Zimmer/Spielman years, they’ve had some solid drafts, and Rick has hit the jackpot on some picks in both the early and later rounds, with picks such as Jefferson, Diggs, and Griffen. They’ve also had some drafts that were not good, and they’ve crapped out on some picks, such as Treadwell (I still say he could be a great WR) and there were others. Let’s hope this next draft is more Jefferson and less Treadwell, otherwise there’s a chance that this long off-season might only become a long disappointing regular season. SKOL!

Around the DN since our last open thread:

Rob has a rundown of his Zoom meeting with Coral.

Chris brings you v2.0 of the Minnesota Vikings Mock Draft Database.h Coral.

Football Outsiders proposes a ‘daring move’ for the Vikings to attempt.

Other Vikings/NFL news and random oddities and annoyances:

After taking last year off via the league’s Covid opt-out option, Nate Solder intends to play this year, according to NFL.com. Let’s hope Pierce makes that same decision.

From msn.com, former NFL player and analyst Irv Cross died at the age of 81. Man, that stinks, I remember watching him from my football fandom infancy. If you read the story, it sounds like he was plagued in his later years by symptoms that could be CTE-related.

DeMaurice Smith is rumored to have lost some trust within the NFL Players Union, according to ESPN. It’s about time, that deal he negotiated during the lockout was not a great deal for the players.

We come to today’s media selection:

Here’s a great one by Red Soveign, this is Teddy Bear, I love this song. Enjoy!

Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:

-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-Take the gender hatred elsewhere, it won’t be tolerated
-Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
-If discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tags
-No pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employer
-If you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go away
-While navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasm.

With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up & tie one on, don’t forget to tip the cows and settle in, this part of the season gets long and boring.