Best Moves By Spielman?

The Vikings traded back one spot with Cleveland and then drafted Barr. At the time, I liked C.J. Mosley better, and Mosley is the better player.

In hindsight, Spielman left Aaron Donald, Zack Martin, Taylor Lewan, Odell Beckham, and Kyle Fuller on the board. Rick Spielman could have done worse, but I wouldn't say the Barr selection was a great one considering the players he passed on to select Barr.

Spielman did trade up to Draft Bridgewater, but indicators suggest that Spielman was trying to trade up for Johnny Manziel before the Browns beat the Vikings to him.  After drafting Christian Ponder in the first round and watching him bust almost immediately, drafting Manziel likely would have given Spielman his walking papers.

Drafting Cook was a good move, as I thought he would be off the board by then, but Alvin Kamara was another option that would not have forced a loss of a draft pick. In any case, Spielman saw the opportunity and took it. The Saints made a similar move to pick up Kamara a round later.

Drafting Diggs was a good move, but how well did Spielman like the player when he waited until the Viking second pick in the fifth round to select him? He obviously thought MyCole Pruitt was the better player. After seeing what Diggs could do for a season, Spielman was so high on him that he drafted Laquon Treadwell in the first round the very next Spring. On a side note, Diggs has never been selected to the Pro Bowl, but he did receive the award as the player that other players least likely wanted to have date their sister.

Trading Diggs for a first round pick in a deep receiver draft may have been a good move. That fourth round pick next year will be nice as well, and Justin Jefferson is a better prospect than Diggs was. Jefferson has good tools, but the book is out on him, so we will see. Being forced to trade Diggs makes drafting Diggs in 2015 more questionable. Then again, maybe Diggs was smart enough to want out of a Vikings offense with revolving door coordinators, a head coach that kneecaps the passing game, and a quarterback who takes as long as a package from China to get the ball out. 

Getting Cousins? Instead of signing one of the other options and drafting Lamar Jackson? Kirk Cousins has handcuffed the Vikings' cap, being paid like a top five quarterback while playing like a second tier player, while Jackson became the NFL MVP in his second season in the NFL. How was that a top five move?

Very well put. Diggs was more or less a blind squirrel finding a nut. Esp if he took Pruitt before him. 

Pruitt and Clemmings.  I know GM's have a pretty good idea of where guys will go in the draft, within a round or two, but risking Diggs going to someone else to draft bad prospect in Clemmings and Pruitt means Rick didn't think much of Diggs.  

Diggs was the only receiver on the team considered a starting WR coming into the 2016 offseason, as Thielen hadn't emerged and WR was a clear need.

Also, if you're going to use Pro Bowl berths as a metric, then you have to admit that Barr was a good pick, as he's been to 4 Pro Bowls! (Don't use Pro Bowl berths to judge how well players have played. Xavier Rhodes went to the Pro Bowl last year!)

Best move by slick rick.... getting the Vikes to hire him and keep extending him after NO playoff success

It was clear at the time that Zimmer had fallen in love with Barr and it being his first draft there was a lot of push to give him what he wanted. In fact Sid Hartman wrote that they would take Barr about 6 weeks prior to the draft and I won a bet based on trusting that info, with someone who interestingly enough was sure they would pick Bridgewater at that first spot.

But I would have rather had Aaron Donald myself. Donald is a game-changing talent, Barr is a guy we should have let walk to the Jets.