The Daily Norseman Mailbag, June 4th, 2021

Good Morning!

No Twitter or email questions this week. SAD!

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.

Pirateflip77 asked:

Okay real question. I don’t expect to see Mond unless there are a couple injuries at quarterback, from what you’ve seen and heard do you think he could be the one, or is he likely more likely to be a Case Keenan?

Let’s start with 2017 Legend Case Keenum, he came out as an UDFA and bounced around until he signed with a the Vikings and helped give us that really fun 2017 season (shoutout to the defense that year). He’s since moved on, made some good money off QB whisperer John Elway and is currently a backup in Cleveland. As we’ve all seen his ceiling is journeyman backup, although QB2 is a great job if you can get it.

Now current fan heartthrob Kellen Mond. He was at least drafted which maybe gives him an edge over Keenum but Mond has a long way to go. Right now I’m not sure he’s the backup to Cousins and probably shouldn’t be for another year. Based on his draft position Mond’s basement should be at least career backup but we really won’t know for another two or three years.

Blake Donlon pondered:

It’s June now, which means we are now sitting on a usable amount of cap space. How do you think we should use it? Any free agents you like? Get some extensions done?

I try not to be a Debbie Downer about the team, especially when I write and post on the front page. One thing I’ve learned over the years here if one person posts a negative comment it tends to cause an Avalanche of negativity -see what I did there GA Skol? I try and keep neutral or if I’m down on a player or position group (offensive line) I’ll try and back my words up with stats that enhance my point.

tl;dr-I don’t think there’s a free agent out there that can make the Vikings a Superb Owl caliber team, I do think the Vikings should look at an edge player since we don’t know Hunter’s status and RDE is a bunch of guys at this point. Here’s some guys though, one year deal only though, all of them are on the wrong side of 30.
Tyrone Crawford
Trent Murphy
Alex Okafor
Not on this list: Everson Griffen, he burned his bridge with the team with his tweet about Cousins.

TimothyK asked:

If Rodgers doesn’t play, or at least doesn’t play for the Packers this upcoming year... do you think that might change how the front office uses their post June 1 cap room? Meaning if something happens might they go a little more all in spending more money on veterans for this year and less on extensions or pushed forward to next year?

Whether A-a-ron plays for the Packers, Broncos or hosts “ Wheel of Fortune” shouldn’t affect what decisions the Vikings front office makes in regards to personnel. I do think they’ll look at extending guys, O’Neill or Hunter and sign a veteran defender.

Sleepy15 pondered:

Hey, Rob!
Your thoughts on a “What if...”
What if the sun goes supernova and sends us all to instant death? Does Kirk still get a four-year extension?

Depends on the timing of the supernova, if the Vikings have a deep run in the playoffs this year or next (I doubt it) then the front office might put more money in Kirk’s bank account.
I will say this, I do think the Vikings front office is making plans to move on from Kirk when his current contract expires. Why, because I think Kirk has outpriced himself and will be forced to move on and sign with a new team.

Surly Viking asked:

Hi Rob!
Your thoughts on “What if”
What if A-Aron is traded to Denver for a bunch of picks plus Teddy. Teddy then goes on to win a SuperBowl with the FTP and have worse qb stats than Kirk, because, of course he would. Does Kirk still get a 4 year extension?

Wouldn’t that be the ultimate kick in the nards for Vikings fans? The combo of Teddy leading the Packers to a Superb Owl win combined with a Kirk extension, that’s too much sadness for me to contemplate.
Yes, Kirk gets extended.

Almost Canada pondered:

Which is the worst QB move by the Vikings in recent history and why?
Ponder in the 1st
A 1st round pick for Sammy Sleeves
Not resigning Teddy
Kirk “Brinks Truck” Cousins

Hind sight answers encouraged.

Let’s take a journey down the path of sadness, in reverse order.
4) Not resigning Teddy-if we go back in time there were a lot of questions about whether Teddy would even be able to walk much less play QB again at the NFL level. He’s answered those questions but now at this point he appears to be a career backup....and maybe that was his ceiling all along. I don’t blame the Vikings from moving on from him based on the medicals that were available at the the time. Conclusion: probably a good decision.

3) Kirk “Brinks Truck” Cousins-journey back to 2018 with me and the Vikings let Case “I’ll buy that guy a beer anytime” Keenum and Teddy go in favor of a human stats machine from the team now know by the soccer name WFT. I get that the front office thought they needed an upgrade at QB but in hindsight Kirk ain’t it. I’m quoting someone here but “Kirk can run the play that’s called, he can’t run the play that will work.” That’s a little simplistic but captures the essence of what Vikings fans are complaining about re: Kirk. Conclusion: blah.

2) Sam Bradford-Sam had the unfortunate fortune of injuries affecting his entire NFL career. When he was with the Vikings I remember an article somewhere that said he showed teammates video of him dunking a basketball in college, something he couldn’t do anymore after multiple knee surgeries. Healthy Sam Bradford never really played in the NFL, he wasn’t injured during the 2016 season but of course the offensive line fell apart. Remember that first game against the Saints in 2017 when he lit them up? You can’t convince me if Bradford and Cook stay healthy that year the Vikings wouldn’t have been the #1 seed in the NFC and would have won the Owl that year, as usual, what could have been. Conclusion: wasn’t a good decision.

1) Christian Ponder- SB Nation draft profile Ponder. I wanted to alert the SB Nation writer that I was linking his article but it doesn’t look like he’s been active for 6 years. I did look for Ponder’s NFL.com draft profile but couldn’t find it. It’s funny, he’s become the butt of a lot of jokes on the Open Thread “I blame Ponder” but looking back at his his draft profile on several sites he’s listed as a day 2 or 3 pick, but even homer me can’t see that.
Looking back at QB’s draft in 2011:
Round 1:
#1 Cam Newton
#8 Jake Locker
#10 Blaine Gabbert
#12 Christian Ponder

Others:
Round 2:
Andy Dalton
Colin Kaepernick
Round 3:
Ryan Mallett
Round 5:
Ricky Stanzi

Cam Newton has had a very good career but was riddled with injuries later, Andy Dalton has been good but not great, Kaepnerick....had a good career going, let’s leave it at that.
My football following coincides with what’s going on with my family life, that year everything was going okay so I was tuned in: when the pick was announced I said “WTF” because I had seen him play at FSU and knew it was an overdraft. At the time I hadn’t found The Daily Norseman but following Tom Pelissero and his work at 1500ESPN.com (rip) and asked for his thoughts, if I remember correctly Tom said at the time he thought the Vikings were targeting Jake Locker, who was a bust and out of football after his rookie contract. Of course the Vikings missed out on Russell Wilson a year later. Conclusion: Phyre Ryck.

pikestabber asked:

Short and sweet, who suits up as WR3? A guy on our roster or do we dip into the (now very thin) FA pool again?

Chad Beebe, although I’m hoping one of this year’s rookies can supplant him eventually. I like Beebe but he seems to have a limited route tree and has been hurt a lot in his career.

NorthwoodsVF pondered:

The Vikings have shown a willingness to make ridiculous signings in the past (Babs, MoBo, Lesnar).
Daniel Kabeya has a 48” vertical - how about we sign him to block FGs and PATs?

I had no idea who Daniel Kabeya was, so thank you Google. He’d need to be able to play special teams other than jumping up to block kicks so I don’t see it.

VikeMe asked:

What’s your favorite stat to cherry pick and correlate with winz?
Is Kirk Cousins really as good as Tom Brady?

I love me some volume stat heroes, my favorites are yards/game and season, completion percentage along with TD’s.

The easy answer to your second question is “lolnope” but let’s put it this way. Who do you want at QB down six with two minutes left in the game, ball on the 20 yard line?
Mahomes
Rodgers
Brady
Baker
Cousins

MidwinterViking pondered:

Hey Just-Rob - do you ever think of going deep on 1 answer rather than a bunch of quick hits?

You’re picking a QB, sight unseen based on 1 stat, what do you use? Passer Rating, Yards / attempt, TD%, INT%, completion %, team win %, beard size, voice pitch for that cool QB swagger sound, length & girth, something else?

Picking any player based on one stat would lead to a very short career as a GM. One think I have noticed is QB completion percentage does not increase from college to the NFL, that would be a place to start.

Droogville asked:

Rob do you think a spider monkey could make a good pet?

No, they are wild animals not domesticated pets.

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 15th of June and get the mailbag questions with my mediocre answers out that week.

Skol