| OT | T.J. Clemmings |
| CB | Jabari Price |
| TE | Josiah Price |
| LB | Noor Davis |
| CB | Tre Roberson |
| WR | Morit Boehringer |
| DE | Sam McCaskill |
| DT | Will Sutton |
| CB | Sam Brown |
| DT | Chunky Clements |
| OL | Freddie Tagaloa |
| RB | Terrell Newby |
| TE | Nick Truesdell |
The surprise for me was Will Sutton. He was a defensive terror at Arizona State but never really played "his" position with the Chicago Bears. I thought that he could return to being that "gap-penetrating terror" with the Vikings. Perhaps they didn't have enough time. Cracking the defensive line depth of this team is a tough task no matter how much time a player has.
T.J. Clemmings started a stunning 30 games in his two years with the Vikings. It's stunning due to his level of play. He had some difficulties in those 30 games. His having to start sums up perfectly the Vikings' offensive line struggles of the last two seasons.
The Moritz Boehringer experiment just goes to show that no matter how physically gifted a player is the difference between a German professional football league and the NFL is vast. So vast.
Jabari Price has shown a decent amount of promise since the Vikings selected him in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of North Carolina. Injuries have hampered his development in his three years with the team. He showed enough talent to stick to the roster in those three years. He might've stuck for another season if not for a trade that the Vikings made yesterday.
The Vikings traded a seventh-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for cornerback Tramaine Brock. A seventh-round pick seems like a fairly slight price to pay for a skilled, experienced corner. His addition to the roster gives the Vikings a deep, talented cornerback group.
Xavier Rhodes
Trae Waynes
Mackensie Alexander
Terrence Newman
Tramaine Brock
Marcus Sherels
The Vikings have never gone 5-deep like this before. There was much debate around the Viking campfire as to where Brock fits into the equation. My guess is that he was added simply to improve the overall depth of the group. Nearly all of his playing experience has been on the outside but I'd like to think that can transition into being a solid nickel corner. That was Mackensie Alexander's job to lose this offseason. While I believe that Alexander has the talent to make that role his own and excel he's had some rough moments. His ridiculous taunting penalty in the final preseason game might've been his roughest. A mental meltdown like that simply showed that he might not be ready for the big stage. This is also Trae Waynes's first year year as a full-time starter. If Alexander or Waynes struggles, Brock is there. The ageless Terence Newman can't play forever. Can he? This trade gives the Vikings position strength and flexibility at corner, an extremely critical position in today's pass-happy NFL, this year and potentially beyond.
The downside to the trade is Brock's off the field issues. That's why he was available this offseason. While with the San Francisco 49ers he was arrested for domestic abuse. The 49ers released him. The charges were dropped this summer, he became available to teams, many were interested, and the Seahawks signed him. The Vikings were one of the interested teams. For all we know they've been trying to pry Brock away from the Seahawks ever since. Since the Wilf family bought the team in 2005 the Vikings have done a tremendous job of cleaning up the team. It's been good to see. It felt as if every other day some Vikings player was stepping into some puddle of shit of their own creation. It was sad to see. No one needs Brock, Michael Floyd, or anyone bringing that sort of chaos back.
No comments:
Post a Comment