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It’s Tyler Conklin Time

Let’s Reid between the lines…

With Kyle Rudolph no longer a Viking, Minnesota’s remaining tight ends will need to step up big this season. Everyone is talking about Irv Smith Jr. having a breakout year, but fans shouldn’t sleep on Tyler Conklin either.

Conklin had plenty of success back in his college days at Central Michigan, and Minnesota’s scouts hoped it would translate well to the NFL when they drafted him back in 2018. The fifth round pick tallied over 500 yards and five touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons. Stats aside, he also had (and still has) a good build for a pass catching tight end at 6’3” and 254 lbs. Conklin is a capable blocker too!

It’s taken him a couple seasons to get his bearings in the NFL, but Conklin looked much more comfortable last year than he has in the past. He caught 19 passes for about 200 yards and also nabbed his first score. 200 yards is by no means gaudy, but that number should go up more now that Rudolph is gone and more reps are available. 

More importantly though, Conklin is a smart football player. He ran great routes last year and gave quarterback Kirk Cousins nice windows to throw into, especially on critical third downs. When the ball came his way, he was sure-handed with the catch and then used his body well to protect the ball from defenders.

As he enters his fourth season in the pros, Conklin will want to prove himself worthy of a long term contract. Conklin has indicated that he and his partner love the state and team that drafted him, and leaving would put his career in uncertain waters. Fans can expect to see some extra energy from #83 this year as he works to solidify his future as a Vikings tight end.

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Three Positions the Vikings Should NOT Touch This Offseason

Let’s Reid between the lines…

The Minnesota Vikings have many areas of need this offseason that will be addressed through the draft and free agency. Here are three positions the team should NOT spend capital on:

FULLBACK

In my opinion, CJ Ham has the most solidified position on the Minnesota roster. He puts in effort every play and sacrifices his body to block for Dalvin Cook. He is quietly critical in the run game, and his price tag is cheap. Don’t mess with perfection.

QUARTERBACK

Like it or not, Kirk Cousins will be the Vikings quarterback this year. Adding competition at this position would be the epitome of unwise, as it creates unnecessary controversy within the franchise.

I do not believe Minnesota will bring in anyone that even comes close to competing with Cousins. At most, the team could sign a cheap veteran quarterback to replace current backup Sean Mannion, but even that seems like a stretch. Cousins is very durable (knock on wood), and the team doesn’t have much cap space to work with. I expect Sean Mannion to walk, and Jake Browning or Nate Stanley to be Kirk’s backup.

CENTER

In his first two seasons, Garrett Bradbury has had his ups and downs. That said, it is way too soon to label him a bust. Last season he played alongside the worst guard in the league (Dakota Dozier), and it only made his job harder. The Vikings should leave the center position alone and plug a better guard on either side of Bradbury.

Behind Bradbury, the team has nice depth at this position. Former CFL star Brett Jones is on the roster, and he always impresses on the rare occasion he gets to play. Center is in great shape as it stands.

The Vikings have far more impending needs than fullback, quarterback, and center. Unless he wants to create controversy and land himself in the hot seat, GM Rick Spielman should leave these position groups alone.

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Top Priorities for 2021 Vikings

Let’s Reid between the lines…

Free agency and the draft are just around the corner, and everyone has an opinion on what’s most important for the Vikings. Based on the current roster and the value of various positions, here are Minnesota’s three biggest needs.

GUARD

This one is obvious. The Vikings front office will never know if Kirk Cousins is worth the money if they can’t protect him in the pocket. Dakota Dozier looked terrible at left guard last season, and there’s no reason to believe he’ll develop further as he nears 30 years old.

At right guard, Ezra Cleveland looked decent, but there are talks of moving him to tackle. Guard needs to be addressed immediately in free agency and/or the draft, as this position affects the entire offensive line’s performance.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

Even with Michael Pierce expected to play next year (he opted out in 2020 due to covid concerns), defensive tackle is a very weak position for the Vikings. It’s not the flashiest area of the defensive line, but Minnesota was repeatedly gashed last season by opposing running backs, and they need a new big man to plug up the middle.

Finding a defensive tackle who could also rush the passer would be even better. Mid to late round picks Shamar Stephen and Jalyn Holmes have not been able to do so for the Vikings, so the team needs to bite the bullet and use an earlier pick, or significant money in free agency to solve this problem.

SAFETY

Much to my dismay, Anthony Harris did not put on a resounding performance at safety last season. The Vikings had used the franchise tag to buy time in looking at his worth, and they got a pretty clear answer. With his poor play and the franchise tag expiring, he’s almost certainly headed out the door, so Rick Spielman has work to do in finding a replacement.

There is no one on the roster who can carry their weight alongside safety Harrison Smith, and this position is quietly critical to generating turnovers and preventing big plays on defense. Free agency may yield some experienced options for the Vikings. Some of these options include Marcus Williams (New Orleans), Daniel Sorensen (Kansas City), and Marcus Maye (New York Jets). Whether it’s via free agency or the 2021 draft, Minnesota needs a new safety to pair with Smith.

As it stands, the Minnesota Vikings have many needs. The team does not have the luxury of going after auxiliary players or strengthening already solid positions – they must face and fix their biggest problems.

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21 Questions for the 2021 Vikings

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When looking at Minnesota Vikings future, there are literally dozens of unanswered questions. The team earned a losing record of 7-9 in 2020, so fans can expect major and minor changes during the offseason. From the most obvious, to some of the more subtle ones, here are 21 pressing questions for the 2021 squad:

  1. Who will be the starting quarterback week one?
  2. Will tight end Kyle Rudolph be on the roster?
  3. Who will be the next offensive coordinator?
  4. Can Ryan Ficken get special teams up to par?
  5. Will safety Anthony Harris be given a new deal?
  6. Will Riley Reiff start at left tackle for another year, or be cut to save cap?
  7. Is corner Mike Hughes a bust, or can he stay healthy and finally prove himself?
  8. Who will be the number three wide receiver?
  9. Will linebacker Anthony Barr be kept around another year despite his overvalued contract?
  10. Will defensive end Danielle Hunter be back from injury by week one?
  11. Who will play left guard?
  12. Does tackle Oli Udoh’s raw potential earn him a roster spot, or is he destined to be cut?
  13. Will center Garrett Bradbury finally show the talent of a first round pick?
  14. Is running back Mike Boone worth a roster spot?
  15. Is Michael Pierce a long term solution at defensive tackle?
  16. Will Dan Bailey be the Vikings kicker for another year, or will the team bring in yet another?
  17. What position will the Vikings use their first round pick on?
  18. Will defensive end DJ Wonnum develop as quickly as Danielle Hunter?
  19. Can Mike Zimmer raise the defense from the ashes and be top-ten again?
  20. Will defensive end Everson Griffen be brought back to Minnesota?
  21. Will the Vikings win their first Super Bowl?

Some of these will be answered before opening kickoff, while others (question 21) will hopefully not be answered until February 2022. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: this will be a captivating team to watch.

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Vikings Biggest Offseason Need

Let’s Reid between the lines…

The Minnesota Vikings have several needs this offseason, but the biggest is their offensive line. It’s easy to see that the line needs work, but the problem is deeper than one player, one coach, or a rearrangement. It’s all three.

Right off the bat, it’s questionable that the Vikings have five starting-caliber offensive linemen on their roster. The unit as a whole struggled most of last season, but the most glaring weakness was at left guard, where Dakota Dozier was at times the lowest ranked guard in the league. Having five all-pros is a lot to ask, but having someone who is the worst ranked just shouldn’t happen. 

My next concern is coaching and management. The Vikings offensive line coach Rick Dennison and general manager Rick Spielman aren’t very flexible. They started Dozier at guard week after week with poor results. When the line saw some injuries, backup guard Brett Jones came out of the woodwork and looked solid in action. Jones’ overall blocking grade was a 77.6, while Dozier’s was only 44.6. You would think that would earn Jones a promotion from the bench long term, but it did not.

Overall, I think Spielman is a good general manager, but he has his flaws. Offensive line strategy is one of them. Going forward, Spielman must orchestrate faster change when things aren’t working, and hire a coaching staff with the same ideology. If the front office can find an up and coming offensive line coach who would be more flexible than Dennison, it may be smart to add them to the staff for another perspective.

The Vikings offensive line has been sub-par for nearly a decade. Dennison and Spielman need to open their minds, play the players who are performing best, and rearrange the line when nothing is working.

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Vikings Should Be Much Better Next Season

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The Minnesota Vikings just had their first losing season in six years. Despite the disappointment fans are feeling right now, the future is bright for next year’s squad.

Before looking to the future, it’s important to understand what happened to the 2020 team. There was a massive amount of roster turnover leading into the year. Below is a partial list of player losses to free agency:

FREE AGENCY LOSSES: 

  • S Jayron Kearse
  • S Andrew Sendejo
  • CB Mackensie Alexander
  • CB Trae Waynes
  • CB Xavier Rhodes
  • DT Linval Joseph
  • DE Everson Griffen
  • WR Stefon Diggs

And if those free agency losses weren’t enough, the 2020 season brought boatloads of injuries.  Professional football teams are expected to prepare for and overcome injuries to some degree, but this was an abnormal amount of losses to account for. Below is a list of the more significant injuries, so this is just the tip of the iceberg:

INJURIES (SEASON ENDING OR SEVERAL GAMES MISSED)

  • DT Michael Pierce (covid opt out)
  • DE Danielle Hunter
  • DE Kenny Willekes
  • LB Anthony Barr
  • LB Eric Kendricks
  • CB Mike Hughes
  • CB Kris Boyd
  • CB Mark Fields
  • CB Cam Dantzler
  • S George Iloka

Besides the return of injured players next year, there’s plenty more to be excited for. Most notably is the continued development of the 2020 draft class. With so many vacancies on the starting roster, this year’s rookies saw more playing time than they usually would in the Mike Zimmer system. All things considered, they played pretty well for being fresh out of college. When they are called upon next year, they should be ahead of the game and will really be able to contribute in starting or relief roles.

Shifting away from players, it will be exciting to see what changes come to the coaching staff over the offseason. There are multiple openings on staff.

At offensive coordinator, Gary Kubiak has officially retired (for the second time). He helped orchestrate a top-ten Vikings offense in the category of scoring, but fans questioned his usage (or lack thereof) of quarterback Kirk Cousins. Others (myself included) believed he overly relied on running back Dalvin Cook. 

With Kubiak out, there is opportunity for an offensive facelift. Whoever fills the void will hopefully give the unit more balance between rushing and passing, and maybe introduce more modern concepts in each area.

Special teams coordinator is another seat that will need to be filled. The Vikings already released a statement saying they will not renew Marwan Maalouf’s contract. It’s no surprise considering Zimmer was caught on camera yelling at him numerous times this season.

I’m optimistic that the newcomer will bring stability to the kicking and return game. They can’t be much worse than coach Maalouf… The 2020 special teams unit was sixth to last in average kick return yardage, and dead last in field goal make percentage.

The Vikings first losing season in a while was no fun, but sometimes you have to get worse to get better. With coaching changes and continued development of last year’s rookies, the 2021 Vikings should be dangerous.

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Dalvin Cook’s Character Concerns

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Before Dalvin Cook was drafted in 2017, concerns about his character ran rampant in the media. But the Vikings scouting department did their due diligence, and they got a top-notch football player and man because of it.

The Vikings have a highly regarded scouting department. Former Viking Scott Studwell headed the unit until the 2019 draft, and he and his staff were respected league-wide. Since Studwell’s retirement, Minnesota’s scouts have continued earning praise for bringing in mature and talented players.

Scouting is about more than what a player looks like on the field. Before draft day, there are dozens of interviews with the player themselves, coaches, and even former teachers to try to gauge the player’s character.

Some teams will turn tail and run at the first sign of controversy with a player. Others don’t seem to care at all, signing known troublemakers and convicts with little regard, only to see them suspended later. The Vikings land in the sweet spot of aiming to recruit high-class players, while also not writing someone off because of accusations that may not be accurate.

Before the draft, respected analysts indicated that the controversy around Cook was misunderstood, blown out of proportion, and in some cases, downright false. Having come from Opa Locka Florida, a city with some of the highest crime rates in the country, it was understandable that Cook had at times been with the wrong crowd. The only two charges that remained on his record were criminal mischief from when he was a teenager, and an animal mistreatment citation. 

After numerous great interviews with Cook, the Vikings trusted their scouts and the good reviews of people who knew and coached him. Minnesota selected Cook in the second round of the 2017 draft. It didn’t take long to see they made a great pick. 

In three and a half years in the league, Cook has proven himself as an elite player and person. He hasn’t had so much as a brush with the law, and Vikings-related drama rarely (if ever) revolves around him. The only drama to date came with a brief contract holdout, and it was resolved quickly.

We all know who Cook is on game day. Off the field, Dalvin is a spokesperson and volunteer with Vikings Table, a food-truck charity for Minneapolis youth unveiled in 2019. Last year, he also donated his $17,000 royalty check from the football video game Madden to a local hospital. That’s the kind of player you want in your locker room.

Congrats to Dalvin Cook for another awesome season on the gridiron, but perhaps more importantly, for proving draft skeptics wrong and showing great character over the years. Hats off also to the world-class Minnesota scouts who brought another amazing role model to the Vikings.

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Vikings Kickers Are Not The Problem

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The Vikings have employed more than four kickers in five years. Each has come to the team strong and then crumbled in Minnesota to the point where fans now believe in a kicking curse. Dan Bailey is one of the most successful kickers in NFL history who is perfectly healthy and getting good snaps, yet he is now having a complete meltdown as a Viking. The problem must not be with the kickers themselves, but with coaching and team culture.

It is unclear which link in the chain is broken. The special teams coordinator would be the natural place to look, but kicking problems have happened with two different coordinators now. 

One constant through these years of struggle is Head Coach Mike Zimmer. It’s possible he unintentionally instills fear into his kickers, but he isn’t known to be very involved with special teams, as is the case with most head coaches.

To diagnose the problem, the Vikings should bring in an outside specialist like a sports psychologist. According to the Vikings official website, the team does not have one on staff. This is very surprising for a professional team, as these specialists are known to be huge assets.

The Vikings have consulted with outside sports psychologist Dr. Cindra Kamphoff in the past. If you’ve ever seen Adam Thielen making a flushing motion, it’s from Kamphoff teaching him to “flush” memories of bad plays down the toilet. You can’t go so far as to credit Kamphoff for Thielen’s success, but clearly her input hasn’t hurt. Perhaps the team could benefit from someone like her looking at the kicking situation.

It would be a bold idea, but maybe someone like Kamphoff could also reach out to the team’s former kickers and ask for some input. They might not care to help, but a little monetary incentive from the Vikings might get them talking. There’s a chance each would say something consistent that points to the underlying problem. At this point, it’s worth a shot.

Whether it’s a sports psychologist, former players, or another outsider, the Vikings need a non-coach to analyze the special teams department and team as a whole. Unless there truly is a kicking curse in Minnesota, there should be a solvable culture or coaching issue. Until this is fixed, any kicker should be afraid to come play for Minnesota.

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How Vikings Can Maintain Postseason Position

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The Minnesota Vikings have battled to get back to an even record. Now, they control their own destiny and are currently in position to make the playoffs. So what does the team have to do to continue the hot streak and invade the postseason?

Much of the success the team has had as of late comes from the offense. Justin Jefferson, Dalvin Cook, and Adam Thielen are offensive weapons at the top of their class. And quarterback Kirk Cousins has looked more than comfortable distributing the ball to these playmakers.

The key for the offense from here on out will be balance. Even when one of the studs is on a roll, it’s important that the Vikings offense diversifies rather than becoming reliant on one player to carry the load. This keeps opposing defenses guessing and the players fresh.

On the other side of the ball, Minnesota must continue to call smart plays on defense. Zimmer and the defensive coordinators have generally been doing a good job… they put their players in position for sacks, picks, and big plays all around. However, there have also been moments and even entire quarters of questionable decisions. 

Last week against Carolina, there were long stretches of the game where the coaches inexplicably refused to send the blitz. They also put the team in precarious position by switching to the “prevent” defense too early. It nearly allowed Teddy Bridgewater and the Panthers to charge back and win on a last second field goal. More experienced quarterbacks will make the Vikings pay if they pull that kind of playcalling again.

Finally, we come to special teams… by far the sloppiest Vikings unit this season. Errors must be eliminated. The focus is no longer on making saucy plays like blocking punts and pulling off fakes. Instead, coordinator Marwan Maalouf has to go back to basics, clean up sloppy plays, and find some consistency. 

From kicker to long snapper to punt gunner, everyone in the special teams room is clearly shaken. This late in the season, the solution is unclear. Maalouf may experiment with different personnel packages, but that carries its own risk by putting players in new positions. Whatever the case, further errors in this phase could bump the Vikings out of the playoff spot they currently hold. This is the unit I’m most concerned about, so it’s time for special teams to sharpen up.

This scrappy team actually has a realistic chance to make a run to the playoffs. So long as the Vikings can play to their strengths and cut down the miscues, I believe they have the swagger to take down any team in the league.

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Kirk Cousins vs. Teddy Bridgewater

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The Vikings suffered a tough loss to Dallas last week. If Minnesota is to keep their playoff hopes alive, million dollar man Kirk Cousins must out duel the bionic legged Teddy Bridgewater.

Vikings fans were rightfully devastated after an unexpected loss to Dallas last week. Cousins put up 300 yards passing, three touchdowns, and no interceptions… but the refs prevented Minnesota from getting the win. Now, the Vikings’ backs are against the wall and this Panthers matchup is suddenly huge.

As for Teddy and the Panthers, their playoff hopes are essentially dead. Teddy has been sidelined for a couple weeks with a knee injury, and he didn’t have the best showing in his most recent game where he threw two interceptions.

As big as this game is for Minnesota, it may be even bigger for Teddy. He’s not the type to have bad blood with the Vikings, but he no doubt wants to get a win and make Spielman question letting him walk. Old narratives aside, he needs to show Carolina he can be their long term starter.

Teddy is a known commodity. He’s way more a game manager than a gunslinger. This sounds like a preferred opponent, but the Vikings underestimated a game manager last week in Andy Dalton and paid the price.

Kirk Cousins doesn’t have any secrets up his sleeve either. He can make big time throws, but he will likely lean on Cook and keep to more conservative passes as long as he can. 

The Vikings and the Panthers both have developing defenses, so I don’t expect this phase of the game to be the deciding factor. Rather, it will come down to Teddy vs. Kirk and who plays a better game. Less picks, more yards, and better game management. If both quarterbacks play their hearts out, we’re going to have a great game to watch.

Teddy will always have a place in my heart, and I know thousands of Minnesota fans feel the same. Of course we hope to get a triumphant win over the former signal caller. But if Teddy puts on a fresh pair of gloves and leads the Panthers to a comeback win in the closing two minutes, I’ll wonder if Spielman made the right call to let him go. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll always wish Teddy well.

This game is critical for the Vikings playoff hopes. Kirk Cousins must quiet the Teddy Bridgewater camp and get a resounding home win.

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