Some Football Thoughts

Here are some of my football thoughts as we creep further into the 2020 offseason.

1. The league-wide question following each Super Bowl is how each team that didn't win the game can be like the team that did. It's a foolish question as there have been 54 different paths to a Super Bowl title and 100 different paths to an NFL title. Even the teams that have won it more than once usually won it differently each time. Sometimes a moderately talented team just gets on a roll at the right time. There's no one way to win a title so why try to copy what's been done before. I've always been a big fan of originality.

2.It's difficult to tell where the CBA negotiations stand. When positive news pops, usually from the owners side, more sobering reports follow, usually from Richard Sherman. I find it to be good news that the two sides are talking more than a year in advance of being forced to talk. The biggest hurdle to a new CBA appears to be the 17-game season. The players don't want it. The fans don't want it. The owners are the only part of the football equation that want an extra game. They know that it will eventually lead to another extra game and the coveted 18-game season. Roger Goodell routinely spouts that it's all about the fans. Well, it's not. It's all about the money. The quickest way to more money is forcing labor to play an extra game. I've come to realize that the only way to avoid a problematic CBA negotiation and probable lockout is for the players to cave on the 17-game season. The owners will never budge from grabbing more money. There's never enough money. And there's always more players.

3. I sure do hope that Tom Brady is playing for the New England Patriots next season.

4. After the mind-numbing 2015 offseason in which every clown with a platform had Adrian Peterson moving on to this team or that team, I lost all patience for such sad speculation. Despite the endless chatter, Peterson remained in Minnesota, just as he and the team had been saying for months. Not only did he play football for the Vikings in 2015, he led the league in rushing. And he played football for the Vikings in 2016.

5. Free Agency 2020 is supposed to be extra saucy because of the quarterbacks that could be in it. Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Dak Prescott. The way I see it, only one of those is likely to move to another team. Philip Rivers.

6. There's a report out there, from Larry Fitzgerald Sr. of all people, that the Las Vegas Raiders are prepared to offer Brady a 2-year, $60 million contract. If the Raiders are so deep into this happening that they have actual numbers and those numbers are being reported, isn't that tampering?

7. Tyrann Mathieu has been one of my favorites since his LSU days. I recently saw this breakdown of his defensive snaps for the 2020 season.
Safety: 406
Slot CB: 457
Outside LB: 139
Inside LB: 42
Perimeter CB: 18
Incredible. He's always been such a fun to player to watch. The first part of that fun is finding him on the field.

8. Since 2015, Vikings GM Rick Spielman has done a fine job of finding talent in the second round:
2015: Erick Kendricks
2016: Mackensie Alexander
2017: Dalvin Cook
2018: Brian O'Neill
2019: Irv Smith Jr.

9. Speaking of Vikings draft picks, the following probably top my current first round want list.
(in no particular order)
Josh Jones, OT, Houston
Cameron Dantzler, CB, Mississippi State
Trevon Diggs, CB, Alabama
It's early.

10. As for free agency. Despite limited cap space, I'd like to see the Vikings find a way to re-sign, at least, the following:
Anthony Harris, S
Steven Weatherly, DE
Dan Bailey, K
Britton Colquitt, P
C.J. Ham, FB
Eric Wilson, LB
Harris is the tough one. In a single full season of starting he played like one of the better safeties in the league. The Vikings have been looking for a talented safety to pair with Harrison Smith since Smith was drafted in 2012. They finally found that safety and they need to find a way to keep him.

11. In each of the last two offseasons Mike Zimmer has done something a little out of the ordinary with his coaching staff. Last year, he hired Gary Kubiak as assistant head coach/offensive adviser. The move had an immediate, positive impact on the offense. Zimmer was so pleased with the results that he decided to make a similar move this offseason on the defensive side of the ball with the hiring of Dom Capers as senior defensive assistant. It was hilarious to see the general meltdown of fans and some beat writers to each move. Last year it was: "Who's calling the offensive shots: Stefanski or Kubiak?" There was so much confusion over something that could be solved simply by looking at the titles of each coach. The hiring of Capers was even more mind-bending for some as it came on the heels of Zimmer naming Andre Patterson and Adam Zimmer co-defensive coordinators. What the hell! No team does such a thing! Exactly. What's so wrong with doing things a little different? If Zimmer felt that offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski might need some guidance in his first year in the role, why not bring in a coach with the experience and accomplishments of Kubiak? Reportedly it was Stefanski's idea from the start. The Vikings defense stumbled last season. The voices in the room and coaching on the field might've gotten a little stale. Why not shake things up a bit? Why not bring in new voices, new eyes? Capers has coached a lot and seen a lot. He's had success. So what if his defensive philosophies are different than those of Zimmer. The purpose was never to bring in more of the same. Teams often win titles when they do things that haven't been done before. Then other teams start copying it.