Post by whoskmoon on Feb 28, 2020 11:03:40 GMT -6
Don't worry Iowans, I am talking about Kirk. Your love lives are safe.
Cousins isn’t going to be traded. He has a no trade clause and has very little value to any team that he would be willing to be traded too. So, while a bad Miami team with a ton of cap might be willing to give up a 2nd for him, Cousins would refuse to go to that terrible team.
However, as we consider extending Cousins, I think it is important to consider what this team would look like without Cousins massive cap hit and Cousins himself, and see if this team would be better or worse. If it is worse, extending him makes sense. If it is better without Cousins this year, I don’t know why we would extend this cap hell into 2021 and beyond.
So here is my offseason plan based on a hypothetical Cousins for 7th rounder trade:
Cuts/cap savings:
Rhodes/8.1
Joseph/10.5
Reiff/9
Total Cap Available: 60 million
Restructures/Cap Savings(Note: These are restructures that convert salary to signing bonus. It does not affect how much these players are paid each year and they do not even need to give consent to the restructure. It only gives us more cap space):
Barr/5
Kendricks/5
Hunter/5
Total cap available: 75 Million
Viking Major Free Agents signed/Cost in 2020/Total Contract/Length of contract
Mac/7/35/4 - 4 million
Bailey/3/12/4 - 1 million
Harris/9/48/4- Could be the same but 11.4
Ham/2/8/3- 1.75 million
Colquit/1/3/2- 2 million
Extend Cook 5/35/3 - Didn't extend, 2 million and he will holdout if he is not extended
Griffen/10/50/4 - ?
Total Cap Available: 42 million
Free Agent Signings/Cost in 2020/Total Contract/Length of contract:
DJ Reader 10/60/5 - 9/53/4
Pierce 5/27/3
Suh/5/5/1 - 8/8/1
Byron Jones 12/70/5 12/82/5
Logan Ryan 6/18/2
Conklin/6/40/5 8/42/3
Glasgow/6/40/5 8/44/4
Keenum/4/8/2 -4/18/3
Total Cap Available: 3 Million
Our starting lineup now looks like this:
Offense:
LT: ONeil
LG: Glasgow
C: Bradbury
RG: Kline
RT: Conklin
QB1: Case Keenum/Jordan Love
RB: Cook
WR1: Diggs
WR2: Theilen
TE: Rudy
FB: Ham
Defense (nickle):
RDE: Griffen
NT:Reader Pierce
3Tech: Suh
LDE: Hunter
OLB: Barr
MLB: Kendricks
CB1: Jones Logan Ryan
CB2: Hughes/Hill
CB3: Mack
SS: Smith
FS: Harris
K: Bailey
P: Colquit
I am not much of a mock drafter, so I won’t get too much into the draft, but honestly, all we need is some depth at this point. The one thing you probably noticed above is I have the Vikings taking Love as the QBOTF. That probably means we don’t have a 1st next year as we used it to trade up, but that is worth it to get your franchise guy.
You will also notice that I am pushing a lot of cap down the road. Lots of smaller salaries in year 2020 at the expense of larger ones in 2021, 2022, etc. Normally that isn’t a good plan, but with a QB on a rookie contract, the Vikings can afford to do that. If Cousins is extended, that isn’t possible.
So what do you all think? No holes anywhere in that starting lineup and at least on paper that looks like one of the best rosters I have seen the Vikings put together in my lifetime. Is the downgrade from Cousins to Case worth getting that much better everywhere else?
Cousins isn’t going to be traded. He has a no trade clause and has very little value to any team that he would be willing to be traded too. So, while a bad Miami team with a ton of cap might be willing to give up a 2nd for him, Cousins would refuse to go to that terrible team.
However, as we consider extending Cousins, I think it is important to consider what this team would look like without Cousins massive cap hit and Cousins himself, and see if this team would be better or worse. If it is worse, extending him makes sense. If it is better without Cousins this year, I don’t know why we would extend this cap hell into 2021 and beyond.
So here is my offseason plan based on a hypothetical Cousins for 7th rounder trade:
Cuts/cap savings:
Rhodes/8.1
Joseph/10.5
Reiff/9
Total Cap Available: 60 million
Restructures/Cap Savings(Note: These are restructures that convert salary to signing bonus. It does not affect how much these players are paid each year and they do not even need to give consent to the restructure. It only gives us more cap space):
Barr/5
Kendricks/5
Hunter/5
Total cap available: 75 Million
Viking Major Free Agents signed/Cost in 2020/Total Contract/Length of contract
Mac/7/35/4 - 4 million
Bailey/3/12/4 - 1 million
Harris/9/48/4- Could be the same but 11.4
Ham/2/8/3- 1.75 million
Colquit/1/3/2- 2 million
Extend Cook 5/35/3 - Didn't extend, 2 million and he will holdout if he is not extended
Griffen/10/50/4 - ?
Total Cap Available: 42 million
Free Agent Signings/Cost in 2020/Total Contract/Length of contract:
Pierce 5/27/3
Suh/5/5/1 - 8/8/1
Conklin/6/40/5 8/42/3
Glasgow/6/40/5 8/44/4
Keenum/4/8/2 -4/18/3
Total Cap Available: 3 Million
Our starting lineup now looks like this:
Offense:
LT: ONeil
LG: Glasgow
C: Bradbury
RG: Kline
RT: Conklin
QB1: Case Keenum/Jordan Love
RB: Cook
WR1: Diggs
WR2: Theilen
TE: Rudy
FB: Ham
Defense (nickle):
RDE: Griffen
NT:
3Tech: Suh
LDE: Hunter
OLB: Barr
MLB: Kendricks
CB1:
CB2: Hughes/Hill
CB3: Mack
SS: Smith
FS: Harris
K: Bailey
P: Colquit
I am not much of a mock drafter, so I won’t get too much into the draft, but honestly, all we need is some depth at this point. The one thing you probably noticed above is I have the Vikings taking Love as the QBOTF. That probably means we don’t have a 1st next year as we used it to trade up, but that is worth it to get your franchise guy.
You will also notice that I am pushing a lot of cap down the road. Lots of smaller salaries in year 2020 at the expense of larger ones in 2021, 2022, etc. Normally that isn’t a good plan, but with a QB on a rookie contract, the Vikings can afford to do that. If Cousins is extended, that isn’t possible.
So what do you all think? No holes anywhere in that starting lineup and at least on paper that looks like one of the best rosters I have seen the Vikings put together in my lifetime. Is the downgrade from Cousins to Case worth getting that much better everywhere else?
Ouch! 
... and neither is this Chris guy.