The Daily Norseman Mailbag, March 17th, 2021

Good Morning!

I did comb Twitter looking for #DailyNorsemanmailbag, and I found one! I was all set to burn my Twitter account down (cause I’m old and don’t trust social media) but I’ll keep it going for now.

For salary cap questions I’ll continue using overthecap.com so I’m consistent with the numbers I throw out there.

Any trades involving draft picks I’m using the updated NFL Trade Value Chart developed by Rich Hill available at https://www.drafttek.com/NFL-Trade-Value-Chart-Rich-Hill.asp
For evaluating or looking up draft prospects my go to is thedraftnetwork.com

If I can’t come up with what I think is a legitimate answer, I’ll ask someone who I think can provide one.

Enough from me, let’s see what was on everyone’s mind.

Our very first Twitter question comes from: @RingoNo4 who asked:

Why does Zimmer despise Brett Jones? Is it because he’s Canadian? He grades well when he plays but we always stick with BullDozier or some other fill-in instead. Any idea on who our next starting guard will be?

The Brett Jones saga was season long on Twitter and here at The DailyNorseman. I realize that a lot of people blamed Mike Zimmer for Jones not playing, but let’s be realistic for a moment; the OC/Assistant Head Coach Gary Kubiak was calling all the shots on the offensive side. Jones overall PFF grade was 77.6 (translates to “starter” according to PFF) but his running blocking grade was worse than his pass blocking. (I don’t have access to PFF subscription data, I’m going by memory). Kubiak/Zimmer whoever seemed to devalue his pass blocking and keep him on the bench in favor of Dozier. Obviously, Jones needed a fall guy and FWIW, per Twitter, Jones is getting some looks by teams in free agency.
Thus far, I’ve been disappointed in the Vikings and free agency. I didn’t think they’d be heavy players early on, but the interior offensive line needs an upgrade in talent, in the worst way. I’d stay tuned to free agency to see if anything pans out, if not join me in buying torches and pitchforks from Amazon.

HefnerGOAT pondered:

Do you see Kubiak Jr. doing anything drastically different with the offense than his dad did? i.e...more TE passes, more passing and less running, deeper pass routes, more play-action etc...?

I won’t take much to improve the offense IF (big if) the running game continues as it did last year. If I were to be in a position to tell Kubiak Jr. how to run the offense, I’d list the following.

-Mix up the playcalling more on first down, there is no law dictating that the Vikings have to run on 1st down.
-Stop running on second/third and long.
-Get Dalvin Cook more involved in the passing game earlier in the downs, and I’m not talking about just swing passes and screens.
-Speaking of getting more involved, Irv Jr. can be a mismatch for LB’s or smaller CB’s trying to cover him, throw him passes.
-Move the damn pocket so the edge rushers and DT’s don’t have a certain spot they have to rush and find Kirk.

HefnerGOAT had two questions:

If reincarnation was a real thing, who would you want to come back as?

Hugh Hefner
Elvis Presley
Mozart
Tom Brady

Tom Brady, he’s still alive and younger than I am.

Rickap asked:

The Vikings have just past their 60th birthday (anniversary) soon - which makes the parts of my body that don’t ache usually ache.

Pick one player from each decade (played the majority of their career in that decade) to put on the current team (cap free!), but the team still plays its current offensive and defensive styles, and the picked player would play at their average Viking career level and not like an 80 year old.

My picks would be:
1960s - Mick Tinglehoff
970s - Paul Krause
1980s - Steve Jordan
1990s - Randall McDaniel
2000s - Steve Hutchinson/Kevin Williams
2010s - Everson Griffen

My picks would be:
1960’s- Jim Marshall (who should be in the Hall of Fame)
1970’s- Ron Yary
1980’s- Tommy Kramer
1990’s- John Randle
2000’s-Randy Moss
2010’s- Adrian Peterson

DayGloJones pondered:

We need more talent at guard. There is no question about that. However, coaching is a problem, too. Dennison didn’t seem to get anything out of they guys he had, and Zimmer was beyond stubborn in his refusal to change things when it was obvious a player wasn’t working out (I’m looking at you, Dozier). I’m skeptical that we will see any significant improvement along the O-line until there are either new coaches or a new coaching philosophy. Am I just being pessimistic?

“Am I just being pessimistic?” No. As the Big Tuna is quoted as saying “you are what your record says you are.” So far can you name an offensive lineman the Vikings have developed in the last seven years? I can’t. I know they have used draft selections galore in the last seven years (that spans my time on The Daily Norseman) but very few have worked out or fit. Whether the Vikings will have any significant improvement by the offensive line as a unit remains to be seen but has been a question almost every year for the last seven years, it will probably take a regime and coaching change to fix the offensive line.

bbadger222 asked:

If the Vikings were to trade Anthony Barr this year, what would be a reasonable expectation of trade value ?

bbadger222 asked this question before the Vikings re-worked Barr’s contract, however I would have said a 4th or 5th round pick in this year’s draft.

Mn-Fan-Outwest pondered:

Besides the Vikings... Who are your favorite spots teams ? I think the Bills have become my favorite recent AFC rivals... ( Josh Allen and Diggs fan ) Favorite FF team is the Chiefs. Favorite hoops is March Madness !! I play golf but rarely watch it !! ( Majors )

I quit watching the NBA when Michael Jordan retired, for the most part I stopped watching the NHL when the North Stars moved, except I did take mrs_rob to a couple of Avalanche games when we were going to college and living in Colorado. My sports watching now consists of the disappointment known as the Vikings but I’ll watch the NFL playoffs and bandwagon for a team if I like the players or their fanbase (last year was Bills and Chiefs). I spend most of my free time outdoors hunting or with mrs_rob more than anything.

purpleskolaid asked:

Would you rather have 2 very good linebackers or one very good quarterback?

One very good mobile QB on a rookie contract, please and thank you.

Finally, for all you “Angry Steve” fans, here is his question in its entirety.

Hello again, Rob. Thanks for continuing to support my diatribes. There is a question for you at the end of this, I promise and please, hang in there. This is dedicated to you and the TankCommander with a tip of the hat to MarkSP18:

When I was 9 years old in 1977, I remember fondly this restaurant where I used to eat. Inside the restaurant was all dark, plush royal purple and the restaurant had this strong, Nordic atmosphere, rife with marauding & pillaging themes of Norseman. Viking horns adorned the walls, that type of thing. The place embodied strength to me as a youth. I LOVED IT! OMG, the color purple of the uniforms was simply beautiful and menacing at the same time. The restaurant was always cold, but I always remember the vibe it gave off. I was hooked. My older brother liked this other restaurant called “Steelies”. This place always won awards for “Best This” or “Best That”, but even though I was jealous of that success, I supported and rooted for MY restaurant.

I’d go to there all the time even though mostly they always screwed up. I kept going back, even though this restaurant ALWAYS let me down. For example – and mind you I have like 29forty examples - in 1983, a new guy was managing the joint, his name was Sless Leckel. He was a complete idiot and would screw up his own wet dream. I hated him passionately, but I continued following well after he was fired.

I seem to recall in 1988, the GM of the restaurant at the time, made a trade with a competing restaurant in Texas. They served BBQ or something like that. Anyway, this GM foolishly traded about 97 of his employees – some he’d never met yet – for ONE new staff member who was supposed to be hot shit. Well, the 1st day on the job, the new guy lost his shoe delivering food to customers and although it looked promising for a second, that’s about as exciting as it ever was. Yet another failure for my purple restaurant.

Next, came some fun times in the 1990s to the 2000-otts, where the team had a fantastic roster of some of my favorite staff members: Meith Killard, Dis Coleman, Grobert Riffen, Krommie Tamer, Mandy Ross, and my favorite, Cris Carter, … man, I remember all of their faces. I cherish some of these guys. Although none of these guys really could get it done either and at times there were horrific failures, I continue the support. Even later on when they remodeled and removed the cool dark purple interior and went with a light purple theme that is totally lame, I still was a supporter.

Flash forward to 2009. There was this German fellow who was like a spitting image of Colonel Klink from the old show “Hogan’s Heroes” (but he was even more annoying). At first, I was excited but quickly realized he was an idiot too. This one time at a really critical dinner event for me, I ordered dinner for myself and my 10 family members. Klink was such a moran that even after he deliberated my order for 5 minutes, he brought food out for 12. Ruined my entire meal. Uggggh, I’m still pissed about it and yet I press on.

However much I loved this restaurant, it seemed that they made a series of stupid, stupid mistakes that made me really not want to eat there anymore. I am a gluttonous pig so I continue to patronize.

And here we are in the now: The current GM of this restaurant, Slick Notarealman, has failed to deliver on ANY promises and he’s been here virtually since 2012. He’s promised better tasting food, but the food sucks. He orders substandard ingredients and doesn’t provide adequate training. Slick should author a book called “How to Keep Your Job When You Suck At It”. Further, I don’t think the chefs he hires aren’t very good teachers either. Slick’s head waiter is an idiot named Ike Zeroman, who claims he’s the Lord’s gift to waiter-hood - alas, he’s not. He’s fool’s gold, I saw it way early on, but whatever. If I was so full of bluster over non-results like his, my face would be red all the time too. To make matters worse, the current maître d’ of the restaurant is being paid like $49 gazillion dollars. His name is Kwirk Poopsinhispants. Kwirk folds like origami whenever there’s pressure on him. I will say this though: At closing each night when there’s only say 2 people in the place, he looks great. And for this, the GM Slick Notarealman pays him like 25% of the restaurant’s entire allotted salary and the rest of the work staff suffers. It is mind boggling to say the least. The place is really going downhill and I don’t see it getting any better.

Now, off topic, there’s a competing restaurant in Criscoconsin, that serves mostly cheese. I DESPISE THAT PLACE but in the recent past, I’ve realized that my favored restaurant exists for the sole purpose of making the Cheese restaurant look better and keeping them #1.

Now that you’ve been ever-so-patient, onto my question:

TRUE OR FALSE (please circle one):

Am I a complete IDIOT for rooting for this restaurant (whose current management sucks the big one & will NEVER achieve success) because I fell in love with them and their dark purple uniforms in 1977.

Most people have a favorite restaurant; you know the place, the servers, most likely you have a favorite place to sit and people watch while you eat. Sure the food seems to have taken a step back to the 70’s at times, but that restaurant is more than just a place to eat, it’s people like you who make the restaurant what it is.

At some point, every restaurant gets to the Superb Owl of restauranting, some just take longer than others. A lot of it is selecting the right Maître d’ and Head Chef along with the support staff, but some of it is luck. Remember the year the pastry chef Bary Manderson didn’t have a souffle, cake or pastry fail during the entire season but finally had one fail while serving the Hotlanta Dirty Birds party?

Time will tell, your favorite restaurant is due, but it may not be soon enough for some to enjoy. Meanwhile, have another beer on the house.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to pose questions either via email or in the mailbag post. I’ll solicit for questions for the next mailbag on Tuesday the 23rd of March and post the mailbag on Thursday the 25th of March for your excellent questions and my mediocre answers. (Note my work schedule is changing and I’ll be working on the 22nd of March)

Skol!