Bravo Spielman!!

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Spielman makes me laugh. He DOES indeed think hes the draft guru. Im not sure why he even has press conferences. The man says nothing.

Zep- where is this "upside" and "potential" you and spielman speak of about Chong Simpson?? He's been in the league like 5 years. There is no upside- he is what he is.

The way Spielman talked at the press conference all the fans are just gonna have to wait for the "guru" to fix everything thats broken with his masterful draft picks and shut our mouths. Good luck to ya Ricky!

[LMITOUT]

He can do flips. That's what got everyone's chili hot.

[zepman]

Spielman makes me laugh. He DOES indeed think hes the draft guru. Im not sure why he even has press conferences. The man says nothing.

Zep- where is this "upside" and "potential" you and spielman speak of about Chong Simpson?? He's been in the league like 5 years. There is no upside- he is what he is.

The way Spielman talked at the press conference all the fans are just gonna have to wait for the "guru" to fix everything thats broken with his masterful draft picks and shut our mouths. Good luck to ya Ricky!

I agree he is what he is...a #3 or #4 WR. We needed both a #3 and/or #4. I'm sure they signed him on the cheap again and it's almost impossible for him to be any worse than he was last year. He's a solid signing filling a depth need at a position of dire need.

If he stays healthy and "clean", he'll help the team this year.

[PurpleFloyd]

Spielman is doing a great job. Cast off the malcontent, put the old CB out to pasture and freed up cp room. They picked up another 1st round pick, locked up the RT and resigned their FB.

With the draft picks they have they will be in great shape to shore up the LB and WR positions. The team will be younger and stronger than it has been in years by the time the training camp rolls out.

[DrJuice1980]

With the 23rd pick in this years draft the Vikings select.... Manti Te'o. With the 25th pick the vikings select..... Tavon Austin.

I could see that happening, I will then be a Packers fan.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Spielman is doing a great job. Cast off the malcontent, put the old CB out to pasture and freed up cp room. They picked up another 1st round pick, locked up the RT and resigned their FB.

With the draft picks they have they will be in great shape to shore up the LB and WR positions. The team will be younger and stronger than it has been in years by the time the training camp rolls out.

It usually takes recievers a while to make an impact in the NFL. You cant just draft multiple rookies and expect them to contribute immediatly, especially where we're picking. Spielman needs to realize you have to add talent through FA, not just the draft every year.

He had a good draft last year and now everyone thinks he's a genius. If he doesnt pick up any recievers in FA, or gets another Jerome Simpson and calls it good, i can see this team taking a BIG step back this year. It took a historic season from AP for this offense to get to the playoffs last year- dont count on that happening again.

Then what is he gonna say about Ponder when hes got nothing but rookies to work with and has a bad year- "well, he didnt have anything to work with, we need yet ANOTHER year to see if he's the guy" I can see that one coming already.

[DrJuice1980]

We need to trade up and get Patterson, sign Jennings, pick up a LB in round 2 or if we trade our round 2 pick there will still be some talent in round 3, this is a deep LB draft we will get a decent player. There aren't many holes this team has but the holes we have are HUGE and that starts with the passing game. We need a premo #1 and good #2 we can pick up in the draft that will be able to make an impact. This trendy Gibson pick up everyone is throwing out there makes me want to puke. We don't need another #3 on this squad and he will never be a #1. It seems like something the vikes would do but why haven't we learned from that? I'm fine with the Simpson re-sign as long as he's not suppose to be our #1 or #2 guy he's a #4, I like Wright much better as a #3. This free agent and draft is going to make or break us. Adding talent at WR is going to be what takes to improve and if Ponder can't fling it with talent then we know that and we can make a move at QB later. It's much easier to get a good passing attack changing QBs then to not have anybody to throw to.

[BuckSutherland]

You mean add talent like the Bucaneers, Jets and Eagles did through free agency the last few years?? Would you like to add some talent like that?? Dumdi ASSumpuke, Vincent Jackson, the list goes on and on. How did those teams do last year? They were huge players in free agency.

U know the Bucs spent more than anyone last year in free agency. Those guys didnt do squat. U know who there best player was?? Doug Martin. The guy they drafted in the first round.

You cant fix the recievers if you dont have a QB. Ponder will have enough weapons for us to figure out if he is a starter or a career backup.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

You mean add talent like the Bucaneers, Jets and Eagles did through free agency the last few years?? Would you like to add some talent like that??

You cant fix the recievers if you dont have a QB. Ponder will have enough weapons for us to figure out if he is a starter or a career backup.

NO, talking about adding talent like Antoine Winfield and Pat Williams. Remember those FA additions? Worked out pretty well if i remember right. Just need to be smart about who you give the $$ too.

Vincent Jackson had 1350 yds and 8tds last year. I would say thats a pretty good season. What did our leading reciever have last year? hmmmmmmmmm... Oh thats right he plays for seattle now anyway. Pierre Garcon was also very good when he wasnt hurt, and he was a high paid FA.

I agree totally on the Ponder commentary, i dont think hes got near the arm to be a good starter in the NFL. But dont you think if you're Spielman and your job is tied to this guy, you may want to help him out a little besides adding a few rookies?????

Those of you who think Ricky can solve everything by drafting away every problem this team has, good luck to ya. You're gonna be waiting a while. NEVER said the draft isnt the most important way to improve the team, but you still need to add talent other ways- especially when you have a MASSIVE hole at wr like we do. There is no question at this moment the vikings have the worst recieving corps in the NFL

[BuckSutherland]

Quote:

NO, talking about adding talent like Antoine Winfield and Pat Williams. Remember those FA additions? Worked out pretty well if i remember right. Just need to be smart about who you give the $$ too

And do you see any of those types of players out there this year??? I sure dont. And as good as they were for us they still never helped us win a Superbowl. Why should we spend money on what someone has done in the past? Spielman has a lot of carp to undo from the Childress days. Give him a little time. Our team is going to be young for years to come. Meaning we have a chance to be good for a really long time like the 49ers or Patriots. The Qb is the biggest missing link. We have never even been to a Superbowl in my life so I can easily wait a couple more years to get there. We dont need to do it all this year. Thats what we tried to do with Farve and we have been trying to rebuild since.

[DrJuice1980]

Baltimore won a SB with Trent Dilfer.... BOX!!

We can win with Ponder as long as receivers can create space and catch a ball. We have the best running game in the league and we need to take a little pressure off that with averaging 200yrds a game passing. Our D isn't bad and will get better not being on the field 3/4ths of the time.

[BuckSutherland]

Baltimore won a SB with Trent Dilfer.... BOX!!

We can win with Ponder as long as receivers can create space and catch a ball. We have the best running game in the league and we need to take a little pressure off that with averaging 200yrds a game passing. Our D isn't bad and will get better not being on the field 3/4ths of the time.

Gee did u ever sit and think that one of the best defenses of all time might have had something to do with it. Pretty easy to win if you only need to score 13 pts a game. But we dont have that D and arent even close.

[FISHINGURU]

We'll see what Ponder can do this season, I feel this is the season to really grade him and see if there is improvement. We are not a Superbowl team so it really doesn't matter.

Chong Simpson what the heck not much to lose resigning him on the cheap, it's only a 1 yr deal not like we'll be on the hook for anything.

People always get their panties in a bunch this time of year about how the team is gonna suck when they don't even know who we will actually sign and draft. We are loading up on picks and making moves to free up money for a reason. There's nothing wrong with saving money either to spend when your closer to being a championship team.

Spielman did a great job last year for his 1st season as GM, that draft was mean period. You hope to a couple starter type players in a draft we got like 4-5. He got rid of a player that was unhappy and wasn't going to play for us anymore and got a 1st round pick for him with other picks that's pretty stellar. Now's he's getting rid of a few guys that make too much money. All luck? Maybe, maybe not.

Let's just sit back and see how FA and the draft play this year, there's quite a long time yet before the finished product of this offseason is on the field. We could be in the works with a team for a trade no one has even been talking about, there's a second wave a FA sometimes better then the 1st.

If it were me my main concern would be getting Ponder as many targets as possible to make him be better, then if he is still a pie stain it will make it that much easier for our new QB.

[DrJuice1980]

Gee did u ever sit and think that one of the best defenses of all time might have had something to do with it. Pretty easy to win if you only need to score 13 pts a game. But we dont have that D and arent even close.

They scored 34 to win the Super Bowl. Aikman averaged about 200yrds a game throughout his career, won a few super bowls didn't he? Oh yeah he had a solid run game and AP is way better than Smith. We may not have the Ravens D but you can't say that having legit WRs wouldn't have made us a much better squad. Teams didn't even bother defending the pass. Troy Aikman had targets, Ponder doesn't.

[hawgchaser]

I hesitate to even post in the company of all the experts with their stats, but as one who watches most televised NFL games, I've come to my own "eye test" conclusions. The teams that seem to consistently win don't keep putting themselves in a "Cap" bind by selling the farm for "role players". Green Bay seemed to win it's Super Bowl with "hungry" players; New England traditionally goes for hungry over high ticket. Even Seattle and San

Fran went from laughable to contenders with an abundance of "hungry" role players. My eye test says that free agency bidding wars produce far more regrets that treasures. The cap space for losers vs winners seems minimal compared to the performance differential. Am I missing something?

[Fish Head]

Even though Winfield is one of my favorites, you can see why they did it. It's not like the move doesn't make sense. He'll be 36 year old this year and making over $7 million. Hopefully they can re-sign him for one more year. He doesn't even play starting corner anymore, he plays nickel.

Packers released Woodson, and the Ravens released Ed Reed. As much as we hate to see them go, it makes sense in the long run.

The Patriots have a long history of letting guys go at the end of their career with big salaries and they have been incredibly successful at building a competitive team for the long haul. Spielman appears to be on the right track. Keep the faith!

[Fish Head]

I hesitate to even post in the company of all the experts with their stats, but as one who watches most televised NFL games, I've come to my own "eye test" conclusions. The teams that seem to consistently win don't keep putting themselves in a "Cap" bind by selling the farm for "role players". Green Bay seemed to win it's Super Bowl with "hungry" players; New England traditionally goes for hungry over high ticket. Even Seattle and San

Fran went from laughable to contenders with an abundance of "hungry" role players. My eye test says that free agency bidding wars produce far more regrets that treasures. The cap space for losers vs winners seems minimal compared to the performance differential. Am I missing something?

100% correct. The Redskins have tried it for years. Look at Philly last year. High priced free agents are not the way to build a winning team.

[maros91]

I agree with the above statements. Teams need to gel together and that doesn't happen by bringing in a lot of other pieces. Although I do think we need a #1 WR. We made the playoffs last year without one so who knows what Rick's plans are. Maybe he's waiting a couple days for the WR's asking price to drop.

[Bryce]

Don't get the Henderson resigning. Special teamers not that hard to pick up in the draft or FA.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Don't get the Henderson resigning. Special teamers not that hard to pick up in the draft or FA.

You're not the only one thats puzzled Bryce... Count me in

And by the way, how dare you question a move by the guru rick spielman!

[zepman]

+1...agree on Henderson signing.

Brinkley is/will be gone though...he's out visiting teams so apparently the Vikes aren't interested in him coming back. That's good news.

Look for an early round draft pick at MLB...Spielman sure does like his Notre Dame guys....

[Bryce]

Watch us end up with both Te'o and Honeybadger in the draft. Our coaching staff struggles with troubled players but yet keep picking them up. Not that far out there. We've got the worst lb crew in the league and Te'o potentially falls to our pick. Honeybadger replaces Harvin.

[JP Z]

I could see Te'o coming in as one of our first round picks. I still see them picking up a nice WR with the first pick though. Then I wouldn't be horribly opposed to grabbing the honey badger with say our 4th or 5th round pick

[FutbolGuru]

...

[CaptainMusky]

Watch us end up with both Te'o and Honeybadger in the draft. Our coaching staff struggles with troubled players but yet keep picking them up. Not that far out there. We've got the worst lb crew in the league and Te'o potentially falls to our pick. Honeybadger replaces Harvin.

I wouldnt go so far as to say Te'o is a "troubled" player.Maybe naive or something, but he seems to have his head on straight when it comes to life, football. Just his common sense may be lacking a bit when it comes to "girlfriends".

Honey badger is intriguing and no doubt a 1st round talent, but do you risk it?

If they can resign Winfield, I would be more apt to say take a chance on honey badger.