Sloter To Move On To ... ???

You guys keep making my point for me lol. Thank you.

No! That's exactly what didn't happen. What don't you guys understand about proving yourself and not getting the opportunity? This is pretty simple. It's not up to Sloter which team (2's or 3's) he gets to play with, that's up to the coaches. And the coaches only asked Sloter to play with the 3's, where he did PROVE himself. 11 TD's 1 INT, 76% completions, 4 or 5 game winning TD drives. How is that not proving yourself? Was he supposed to have 12 TD's an 0 INT's? The Vikings never asked him to prove himself against the 2's until that very last game when they already knew they were going to cut him or try to trade him. So I'll ask for 20th time, when did he get an opportunity to prove himself at the next level? I'm more frustrated that you guys can't figure out this simple argument than I am in the Vikings cutting him lol.

Based on what? What evidence do you have that I don't that make you say he can't do it? How do you know if he was never given that opportunity? I would like to see your crystal ball.

Why do you guys overlook the fact that he also had to play WITH guys who are now unemployed? But ok, again, for the 21st time. As you just said, "he played well against a bunch of scrubs" ... and for some reason that's good enough for you, but what's the logical thing to do when a guy plays well against a certain level of competition? You move him up to see how he does at the next level. Why is this so difficult to figure out for some of you? The Vikings didn't do that. They kicked him out the door after he excelled at the highest level they asked him to compete against. In what world does that make any sense?

Exactly?!?! That's all we knew, so then what's all this about you saying "he can't do it, and most likely never will"? How do you know that? Is that your feelings talking? Or where's your evidence? That's the difference between you and I. I want to see evidence that he won't do well at the next level. That's all I was ever asking for. Evidence. I'm not here to say Sloter is the next Tom Brady, or even a decent NFL starter, I just wanted to find out one way or the other. How can anyone, Vikings fans especially, be happy about a good QB prospect walking out the door given our history of bad luck at the QB position? It's maddening. I sometimes think we get what we deserve. I mean why find out if a guy is the next Tom Brady when you can just cut him for nothing? Cuz Vikings!!

Oh right, no other team claimed him so I guess they know what they're doing. Just like they knew what they were doing when they passed on Brady 6 times each in 2000. And Kurt Warner 10 times each. Yeah go on and tell me how great teams are at evaluating QB talent in this league lol. Then I can talk about Ryan Leaf, and JaMarcus Russell, and Johnny Manziel. Teams don't know jack squat about the QB position and they can't know unless they give a guy a shot, and the Vikings didn't do that with Sloter. The End. The rest is nothing but feelings.

The evidence is that guys paid millions to evaluate QB talent, who's jobs depend on finding and keeping QB talent, said he wasn't getting the basics and was struggling against any sort of complex offense.

Then there is pretty much every report out of training camp from pretty much every media guy covering the team.

Finally, and this is a big one, there is the fact that not a single team wanted him on their active roster. Not one.


The fact is, the Vikings gave Sloter plenty of opportunities in training camp and practice to prove he was capable of being at least a backup. You just never saw them. The only time you did see him and the only time he ever showed that he was capable of playing well, was when faced with very basic defenses and not forced to read complex ones.  It is understandable seeing only that part that you would think he had potential, but for Zimmer, if a guy struggles a lot against the complex defenses, and only succeeds against bad players in very basic defenses, what does that tell him about that player?

 

My thoughts on Sloter are well known: he is rough around the edges, but he gets it done in games.

The Vikings are stuck with a dead albatross and a mediocre stiff.

Sticking with this theme, here are the top 10 highest rated QB's the past 3 preseasons (minimum 43 attempts).

RK  YEAR SCRUB           CMP ATT   PCT  YDS    AVG TD INT RATING
 1. 2017 Cooper Rush      38  51  74.5  398   7.80  6  0  135.9
 2. 2017 Kyle Sloter      31  43  72.1  413   9.60  3  0  125.4 <-- clue #1
 3. 2018 E.J. Manuel      40  56  71.4  477   8.52  4  0  120.9
 4. 2019 Kyle Sloter      39  51  76.5  443   8.69  4  1  120.0 <-- clue #3
 5. 2018 Kyle Sloter      41  56  73.2  366   6.54  4  0  114.1 <-- clue #2
 6. 2019 Mason Rudolph    28  43  65.1  368   8.56  4  1  113.3
 7. 2019 Tim Boyle        34  57  59.6  356   6.25  6  0  112.9
 8. 2018 Joshua Dobbs     29  43  67.4  434  10.09  4  2  112.0
 9. 2017 Patrick Mahomes  34  54  63.0  390   7.22  4  0  109.3
10. 2017 C.J. Beathard    26  45  57.8  401   8.91  4  1  107.7

Anyone see any potential clues there? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Now how can a guy end up in the top 5 3 times if it's so easy? No prospect to see here folks.

And the top 10 best totals over the past 3 preseasons (minimum 55 attempts).

RK  S SCRUB              CMP ATT   PCT  YDS    AVG TD INT RATING
 1. 3 Kyle Sloter        111 150  74.0 1222   8.15 11  1  119.4
 2. 3 Patrick Mahomes     79 116  68.1  960   8.28  7  1  109.8
 3. 2 Ryan Tannehill      54  75  72.0  523   6.97  4  0  108.9
 4. 3 Tom Brady           57  80  71.3  590   7.38  5  1  107.8
 5. 3 Russell Wilson      69 106  65.1  956   9.02  4  0  106.5
 6. 2 E.J. Manuel         64  95  67.4  693   7.29  5  0  106.2
 7. 2 Bryce Petty         41  61  67.2  537   8.80  4  2  103.0
 8. 1 Jarrett Stidham     61  90  67.8  731   8.12  4  1  102.6
 9. 2 Austin Davis        44  66  66.7  566   8.58  3  1  102.2
10. 2 Mason Rudolph       52  87  59.8  683   7.85  7  2  101.8

Just call him Mr. Preseason. Not too shabby for a guy who can't get anything right in the huddle, or at the line, or whatever nonsense Zim has said that don't even come close to explaining away these results.

Are any of these scrubs still employed? The top 10 worst the past 3 preseasons.

RK  S SCRUB              CMP ATT   PCT  YDS    AVG TD INT RATING
10. 2 Danny Etling        37  69  53.6  371   5.38  2  2   66.8
 9. 1 Will Grier          34  61  55.7  385   6.31  2  3   65.3
 8. 3 Ryan Fitzpatrick    55 100  55.0  502   5.02  1  2   63.8
 7. 3 Davis Webb          75 132  56.8  726   5.50  1  4   62.2
 6. 1 Ryan Mallett        31  58  53.4  248   4.28  2  2   61.6
 5. 3 Alex Tanney         73 146  50.0  877   6.01  3  5   61.4
 4. 2 C. Hackenberg       49  90  54.4  441   4.90  2  4   56.8
 3. 2 Garrett Grayson     22  54  40.7  259   4.80  0  0   56.0
 2. 2 Kurt Benkert        47  98  48.0  532   5.43  1  4   51.1
 1. 1 Clayton Thorson     30  62  48.4  266   4.29  1  3   45.5

How bad must these guys suck if they can't tear up 3rd stringers?

I’m not going to go in circles arguing this with people willing to bend any fact to avoid being wrong about minute detail (like ya, the Patriots just handed their backup job to 6th round rookie they weren’t even impressed by).


Either you:

A - believe that preseason statistics and performance are the only measurable quality a player can present to an organization, regardless of context of that play and conveniently the only aspect of a player’s tryout we as fans get to see. And refuse to accept that there is more to evaluating a player than simply those performances. And even though every NFL team is privy to said performances, they simply are too incompetent to recognize what you, a fan, can clearly see, and there’s no deeper evaluation process than mere statistical success that might suggest that teams are recognizing flaws that you may miss watching once, live, from home on your Television.

Or...

B - you recognize that the evaluation process is complicated, and while mistakes certainly can be made by organizations, you as a fan are limited to a very small percentage of a larger process. So even though, from what you’ve seen in your limited window might suggest one thing, you accept that viewpoint is incomplete when those with access to more information tell you otherwise. So when a player you like is released, and the coaches and media tell you that that player struggled consistently in practise, and no other team in the league is interested in signing that player to their 53 man roster, you accept the logical conclusion that said player may not be what his preseason stats suggest he is.