Is the Vikings' roster better now than last year?

I imagine on obvious passing downs that Pierce will not be on the field. Perhaps they will continue to put Odenigbo on the inside in these situations and hopefully Watts & Lynch will step up. I'd like them to add a rotational DE so they could let Odenigbo or even Hunter (like vs NO in playoffs) play some 3T every once in a while.

You and I are on the same page with this.

Pierce wont be in on obvious passing downs I would guess,so we can put more guys in that can get upfield.

On a standard down I think pierce will hold up to double teams better, and I think that will allow the 3T to get more pressure than Linval allowed last year.

You're right though if we cant generate consistent pressure with the front 4 we are in trouble.

I'd say the only position more plug and play than a run stuffing DT is RB. The system doesnt matter IMO.

I loved Linval but you could tell he was slowing down and the injuries were taking their toll. Hes taken a lot of wear and tear. I'm not saying Pierce is better than peak Linval, but I think hes better than 2019 Linval.

Come on man. Every coach plays the players they think will help them win games. If Rhodes was hurting the team as much as some on here believe he was, or rather, if he was clearly that much worse than Hughes that we know a rookie or Hughes is going to be an upgrade, he would have played week 17, and Hughes would have been sitting on the bench.

Coaches don't risk winning playoff games because they personally like one CB better than another. That is absurd.



This is a case of perception becoming your reality. If a corner is not a shutdown corner, if you are watching, waiting for them to get beat, you will have 2-3 times every game where you can go "See, that guy sucks, he just let his guy wide open". That is what happens to mediocre corners (what Rhodes was last season) in every game. You watched Rhodes with a bias towards him, and so you saw his mistakes while mitigating the ones of the rest of the secondary. We all do it, and it is fine, but the actual reality versus your perceived reality aren't always the same thing.

I will also say that Rhodes is only 1/3 of the starting CB equation in the secondary. We also lost a CB that a team was willing to pay top 6 money, and a very good nickle CB in Mack.

No we don't.

I won't claim to know how good Pierce will be, but I just love that guys enthusiasm about playing for us. There should be some early growing pains on the DL with the influx of all the new guys.