The Daily Norseman Mailbag, May 20th, 2021

Good Morning!

This is the future of the mailbag going forward with my new schedule, article on the front page soliciting for questions on Monday, with the follow up post on Wednesday or Thorsday depending on what’s going on in my life.

No Twitter questions this week but we got one via email!

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 or rookies 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.

Via email Matt ponders:

In Arif’s article on Darrisaw in The Athletic, he notes that Dane Brugler said he “shows the technique and torque to be an NFL starter at either tackle or guard”.

Given that Cleveland projected as only a tackle when drafted, and has struggled at guard, could you see a configuration with Cleveland at LT, Darrisaw at LG, and Davis at RG?

We may lose some positional value of having Darrisaw at LT, but as a “protector” unit, it seems to me there’s more value in having Cleveland play at a higher level in a position that matches his strengths, and having great guard play, than there is in necessarily getting the best LT possible. I’d love your thoughts on this.

I do have a subscription to The Athletic but I don’t remember reading that particular article by Arif. In the above scenario I would lose my mind; one of the things that bugs me about the last couple of years of the lineup along the offensive line is they keep moving guys around to meet need but isn’t necessarily in the best interest of the player. I do realize Cleveland played left tackle in college but has been playing guard for the Vikings (and probably projected as a guard in the NFL) but the Vikings need to stop effing moving guys around. Put Darrisaw at left tackle, Wyatt Davis at right guard and find a left guard, (in this case it’s likely Cleveland getting moved over or Cole).

NorCalViking said:

San Francisco (Santa Clara) game, I’ll be there with my son and possibly my wife. Thankfully it’s not the season opener on a Monday night like last time. I wanted to go to that but the tickets were damn near the cost of Super Bowl tickets.

NorCal’s comment was in response to my query “are you going to a game this year?”
Just for fun I did look at some away game ticket prices and after discussion with mrs_rob decided I’m going to hold fast on my decision to not go to a game this year but go next year....but I really want to go.

But here’s some deals via SeatGeek:
(I put the parameters at 2 tickets)
Vikings at Bengals: 50 yard line. Row 14 $389
Vikings at Cardinals 50 yard line Row 11 $464
Vikings at Panthers 20 yard line. Row 10 $389
May the odds be ever in your favor.

szlip pondered:
which is the worst scenario that could happen to the Vikings?

1. Dozier starting at LG
2. Cole starting at LG, but after few games we want Dozier back
3. they move Dozier to C and Bradburry to LG
4. Rick Dennison gets an extension

The answer to any multiple choice question here at The Daily Norseman is always “yes.”
However, the worst scenario would be they move Cole to LG, after a few games we want Samia moved to left guard and starting. Sidenote: I was really hoping Samia would pan out as a 4th round pick, it doesn’t look like he will.

Skollvikings69 asked:

Do you have a opening day 53 man guess yet?
Who do you think will be a surprise cut a surprise keep.

I think it’s too early to legit project a 53, there are still four open roster spots to fill out the 90 man roster and I still think the Vikings can add a veteran WR3 or Edge that will see playing time this year.
However, I looked through the replies and J-dog’s looks reasonable so I’m reposting it here:
Offense (24):
QB: Cousins, MondRB: Cook, Mattison, Nwangwu, Ham
WR: JJ, Thielen, Bisi Johnson, ISM, Beebe, Chisena
TE: Irv Smith, Tyler Conklin, Brandon Dillon/Zach Davison
OT: Darrisaw, Hill, BON, Udoh
OG: Cleveland, Davis, Dozier, Cole
C: Bradbury

Defense (24):
DE: Weatherly, Patrick Jones II, Robinson, Hunter, WonnumDT: Pierce, Tomlinson, Watts, Twyman
LB: Barr, Kendricks, Vigil, Surratt, Dye, Smith
CB: Pat Pete, Cam Dantzler, Mack Alexander, Harrison Hand, Kris Boyd
S: Smith, Woods, Metellus, Bynum

ST (3):
K: Patterson
P: Colquitt
LS: Bernard/DePaola

“That’s only 51, but I feel fairly confident in saying that there’s a good chance we add two veterans currently on the FA market between now and the start of either the season or training camp and that would fill up your remaining two spots.” -J-dog.

I liked that he put Twyman on the 53.

HiVike pondered:

You answered a question last Mailbag about Mond getting playing time this season with “if Kirk is playing poorly, Zimmer should get the hook and pull him from the game.”

My question is: If this does happen. How are all the Cousin enthusiasts going to justify him being a top 10 QB when he won’t be able to throw for 200+ yards and 2+ TD’s in “Garbage time”?

Ah, the “king of garbage time narrative” @how I love it so.@ If you remember my answer to your previous question “pull Kirk” because he’s QB1 and if the game is out of reach there’s no reason to risk injury to him because there isn’t another QB1 on the roster, not even Mond at this point.

Rickap asked:

How surprised were you when after the first round, Trader Rick went home, grabbed a beer, and left the rest of the draft to his alter ego, Stand Pat Spielman?

Sadly I was working through draft weekend so I got all of my information from either Twitter or here (duh). On a scale of a brick to Jerry Burns I was 2+ Burnsie shocked, from what I read here and other places it sounds like moving back into the 2nd round was cost prohibitive and the two 3rd round picks looked solid so I won’t complain....for now anyway.

Norsecoder pondered:

When will I receive my $10,000 DN Bucks for winning the gamble on the over/under of Rick’s 7th round picks?

Check is in the mail along with your Publisher’s Clearing House winnings.

Mn-Fan-OutWest asked:

Hey Rob !! Hope all is well with you... with Memorial Day coming up ( RIP Burnsie and others) Two part questinaire. Do you have a annual tradition for the holiday ? What’s the fishing like down south... no Walleyes or Muskies I imagine !! Thx for the mailbag !!

With my schedule they way it is, one week on one week off I don’t put much effort into holidays unless it’s either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Since I was active duty for so long my family has adapted to me being gone on holidays so we generally celebrate when I’m home.

To answer your question specifically, the only Memorial Day tradition I have is to remember the people I personally knew who were killed in action and say their names early in the morning on Memorial Day. Is it dumb? Probably, but it’s my tradition and no one can take it away from me.

The fishing is Florida is great, I live near an inlet to the St. Johns river, have a kayak that I can fish from in the inlet. Most of what I catch is either bluegill, crappie or largemouth bass on dry flies, but I do catch and release only as the pollution is makes me wonder what I’d get if I ate anything I caught. It’s fun, the fish are released unharmed and I’m out in nature having a good time. I haven’t been deep sea fishing since I was stationed in Okinawa, but want to go one of these days.

vhcadet pondered:

Hey Rob, question how long before Jordan Love supplants Blake Bortles as the Packers starting QB or do the packers panic when Bortles goes down in week one and trade a 1st round pick and a conditional 4th round pick to buffalo for Mitch Trubisky?

As much fun as we’re having with the Green Bay - Rodgers divorce proceedings no one in their right mind views Bortles as anything more than either a stopgap vet or 2nd tier backup. If the unthinkable happens with Rodgers forcing his way out of Green Bay via trade or retirement it’s going to be the Love Boat for Green Bay, in that case the division is wide open....I hope this happens tbh.

Benjaman asked:

Hey just_rob, the Vikings still have a couple holes to fill on the roster imo. Do you think they’ll will use some cap space to fill the gaping hole at RE by signing Ingram or Houston? Do you think they’ll bring in Westbrook or Tate at WR3? I know they drafted a WR and a couple DEs but none of those players are likely to contribute much outside of ST and both Weatherly and the current crop of WRs behind JJ and Thielen are... let’s go with uninspiring, unless you’re talking about Weatherly’s barrel roll ability, which is top notch.

I agree with your assessment regarding the roster. Weatherly doesn’t move the needle for me as a starter, he’s a good role player primarily on third down. Rudolph was designated as a post 1 June cut so more money gets freed up to look for veteran players. I’d like Westbrook and Ingram, Tate will be too pricey I think .

Finally, GA Skol pondered:

Is “A Human Turtleneck” the best possible description of Kirk Cousins?

The narrative here regarding Cousins makes me laugh, I’m not sure how or when it got started but it’s persisted and likely will continue here as long as he’s with the Vikings. “Beaker” “Pants Pooper” “Spazz” are some that I remember, but his supporters are called “Korkstans” whatever the heck that means. I find it elementary and pedantic.

None of it is true, but as always the answer to your question is “yes.”

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to pose questions either via Twitter, email or in the mailbag post. I’ll solicit for questions for the next mailbag on Tuesday the 1st of June and get the mailbag questions with my mediocre answers out that week.

Skol