Minnesota Vikings News and Links, 21 February 2023

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.

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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

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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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

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

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

Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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

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

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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