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Minnesota Vikings News and Links, 21 February 2023

Wazzup?

South Carolina v Florida Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images

The NFL Combine starts on February 27th.

Here is link to the schedule

https://www.profootballnetwork.com/nfl-combine-2023-schedule-dates-for-each-prospects-workouts/
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/nfl-combine-2023-schedule.jpg

Here is a list of players by position

https://www.nfl.com/news/2023-nfl-scouting-combine-invited-prospects-by-position

Only 223 out of 324 combine invites in 2022 were drafted.

Since our last Open Thread ...

The former owner of the Vikings, Red McCombs passes away at age 95.

Rest in peace!

Vikings have two veteran contracts voided

Looks like we lost Dalvin Tomlinson and Patrick Peterson. I would have expected those two to be re-signed before their contracts expired. The team could have incorporated the dead cap money in the new deals. Now, it makes no sense to do anything with either one.

In the last open thread I did, I put in a few polls asking what should the team do with Thielen, H. Smith, and Z. Smith. The results reveal a lot about the majority of the fan base.

For Thielen ...

6% want to kick the can via simple restructure
60% want him to take a pay cut
34% want a trade/release

For H Smith

10% want to kick the can via simple restructure
70% want him to take a pay cut
20% want a trade/release

For Z Smith

9% want to kick the can via simple restructure
37% want a short extension
54% want a trade/release

Minnesota Nice is really a thing. Keep the fan favorites as long as they take less money. Get rid of the best graded player from 2022.

I think that with any pay cut for Thielen and H. Smith, the team really should ask to remove the final years of the deals to basically make it a one year deal. I do not see either player being a fan of this though. I know the Vikings did this with Anthony Barr and it went as you would expect. He was inactive or 6 games in 2021 and went to Dallas in 2022 where he was inactive for 3 games. Obviously, he is a different case because he missed most of 2020 before taking the cut whereas Thielen played all last year and Smith played most of last year.

I loved the players over the years but am in the camp of time to move on. If they do not this year then the drums will beat stronger next year. So why bother for only one more year? I cant see two more years with either player going very well. They may be OK but we probably will start to see more decline. The youts need to get snaps to see what they can do.


Yore Mock

Per usual some moves first ...
Cap Space: ($23,485,007)
Redo Thielen by reducing pay down to 6M and voiding remaining years: Saves $5,817,647
Redo Smith by reducing pay down to 7.7M and voiding remaining years: Saves $7,000,000

...

Trade Z. Smith to Browns for 4.9: Saves $12,156,861
Trade Cook and 5.41 to Dolphins for 3.21: Saves $5,898,727

...

Cut Kendricks: Saves $9,500,000
Cut Hicks: Saves $5,000,000
Cut Ham: Saves $3,050,000
Cut Reed: Saves $2,500,000

...

Extend Hockenson 4 yr 58M: Saves $5,000,000
Extend Hunter 4 yr 88M: Costs $4,000,000
Extend Jefferson 4 yr 128M: Costs $8,000,000
Extend Shelley 2 yr 9M: Costs $1,329,167
Extend DePaola 2 yr 2.875M: Costs $545,000
Extend Schlottmann 2 yr 4.5M: Costs $780,000
Extend Bradbury 3 yr 30M: Costs $3,130,000

...

Sign LB Bobby Okereke 3 yr 24M: Costs $2,130,000
Sign A’Shawn Robinson 2 yr 10M: Costs $2,130,000
Remaining Cap Space: $12,305,826

TRADES
Trade Partner: Miami Dolphins
Sent: Dalvin Cook; Round 5 Pick 41
Received: Round 3 Pick 21
...
Trade Partner: Cleveland Browns
Sent: Za’Darius Smith
Received: Round 4 Pick 9
...
Trade Partner: Dallas Cowboys
Sent: Round 1 Pick 23
Received: Round 1 Pick 26; Round 4 Pick 27
...
Trade Partner: New England Patriots
Sent: Round 3 Pick 21; Round 5 Pick 24
Received: Round 3 Pick 13; Round 6 Pick 7
...
Trade Partner: Kansas City Chiefs
Sent: Round 4 Pick 17
Received: Round 4 Pick 32; Round 5 Pick 32
...
Trade Partner: Las Vegas Raiders
Sent: Round 4 Pick 32
Received: Round 5 Pick 10; Round 6 Pick 37
...
Trade Partner: New England Patriots
Sent: Round 5 Pick 32
Received: Round 6 Pick 10; Round 7 Pick 40
...

26: R1 P26 QB Anthony Richardson - Florida 6’4” 232


76: R3 P13 EDGE Adetomiwa Adebawore - Northwestern 6”1.5” 284


87: R3 P24 CB Eli Ricks - Alabama 6’2” 190


111: R4 P9 LB Daiyan Henley - Washington St 6’0.7” 230


129: R4 P27 RB Kenny McIntosh - Georgia 5’11.7” 210


146: R5 P10 G Jaxson Kirkland - Washington 6’6.4” 322

Colorado v Washington Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

184: R6 P7 WR Jonathan Mingo - Ole Miss 6’1.3” 226


187: R6 P10 DL Jerrod Clark - Coastal Carolina 6’3.4” 343

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: NOV 28 Coastal Carolina at Texas State Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

214: R6 P37 S Kaevon Merriweather - Iowa 6’0.1” 207


259: R7 P40 EDGE B.J. Thompson - Stephen F. Austin 6’5.3’ 238

NCAA Football: East West Shrine Bowl Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports


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