Post by comet52 on Oct 24, 2020 13:03:54 GMT -6
Most newspaper guys are very measured in their "critiques" which usually are milquetoast to non-existent, I assume because their access matters more than laying it on the line. However this guy from the St. Paul paper doesn't seem to have that issue:
www.twincities.com/2020/10/23/dane-mizutani-all-aboard-rick-spielmans-train-of-excuses-for-1-5-vikings/
Dane Mizutani: All aboard Rick Spielman’s train of excuses for 1-5 Vikings
PUBLISHED: October 23, 2020 at 1:08 p.m.
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman talked to reporters for nearly 30 minutes Thursday, stumbling his way through multiple excuses to explain how his team has gone from Super Bowl contender to NFL laughing stock in no time flat.
He started off talking about how devastating it was to lose defensive end Danielle Hunter and linebacker Anthony Barr, a point that would have been far more impactful had he not immediately followed it up with lumping those losses in with second-string linebacker Ben Gedeon’s injury and third-string linebacker Cam Smith’s heart surgery.
The train of excuses had left the station at that point, then Spielman made stops at the coronavirus pandemic, the lack of preseason games and the inexperienced secondary along the way, as he tried to rationalize a 1-5 start that has the Vikings in a race with the New York Jets for the worst record in the league.
At no point did Spielman bring up the most obvious reason for the struggles: the fact that he severely misjudged the roster this offseason.
While most outsiders could see the Vikings were going to be a team in transition in 2020 — especially after losing star receiver Stefon Diggs, veteran defensive end Everson Griffen, hulking nose tackle Linval Joseph and longtime cornerback Xavier Rhodes, among others — Spielman tried to rebuild the roster on the fly.
Instead of taking his medicine and realizing the Vikings might have to take a step back to make a leap forward, Spielman convinced himself they could still contend at a high level. That was his biggest mistake to date.
He extended quarterback Kirk Cousins’ contract to create enough salary cap space to give running back Dalvin Cook a big-bucks extension. He then traded a second-round draft pick and a fifth-round pick for defensive end Yannick Ngakoue in the preseason.
It was a series of win-now moves for a team that was no longer in position to do that.
Whether that was done out of individual stubbornness or organizational hubris, it has backfired immensely, and the Vikings are now staring at what looks to be a lengthy rebuild that probably could have been avoided.
Like the aging defense continues to show on a weekly basis, Spielman, too, appears to be past his prime.
Perhaps finally realizing the Vikings are in no position to contend this season, he suddenly traded Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday for a third-round draft pick and a fifth-round pick. That helped the Vikings recoup some draft capital, though not even close to all of it. They will have to live with trading a pick that likely will end up in the late 30s or early 40s of the draft for a pick that very well could be in the 80s. All to get six games out of Ngakoue.
The more pressing issue here is that the Vikings are saddled with Cousins for the foreseeable future. While Spielman was able to partially right his wrong by offloading Ngakoue this week, he is in no position to do that with Cousins.
It would cost the Vikings $41 million against the salary cap next season to cut Cousins. Which means they are stuck with him until after the 2022 season when his contract finally runs out.
Spielman tried Thursday to shift the focus to the rest of this season, reminding us the Vikings can get back on track next Sunday by beating the rival Green Bay Packers. It was a tone-deaf statement from Spielman amid the worst start in nearly a decade and a glaring example of how the Vikings got to this point in the first place.
With this season already in the tank, Spielman should be taking ownership for his previous missteps and laying out a plan for the future. Not talking about how a special-teams player having heart surgery somehow played a role in this 1-5 start.
www.twincities.com/2020/10/23/dane-mizutani-all-aboard-rick-spielmans-train-of-excuses-for-1-5-vikings/
Dane Mizutani: All aboard Rick Spielman’s train of excuses for 1-5 Vikings
PUBLISHED: October 23, 2020 at 1:08 p.m.
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman talked to reporters for nearly 30 minutes Thursday, stumbling his way through multiple excuses to explain how his team has gone from Super Bowl contender to NFL laughing stock in no time flat.
He started off talking about how devastating it was to lose defensive end Danielle Hunter and linebacker Anthony Barr, a point that would have been far more impactful had he not immediately followed it up with lumping those losses in with second-string linebacker Ben Gedeon’s injury and third-string linebacker Cam Smith’s heart surgery.
The train of excuses had left the station at that point, then Spielman made stops at the coronavirus pandemic, the lack of preseason games and the inexperienced secondary along the way, as he tried to rationalize a 1-5 start that has the Vikings in a race with the New York Jets for the worst record in the league.
At no point did Spielman bring up the most obvious reason for the struggles: the fact that he severely misjudged the roster this offseason.
While most outsiders could see the Vikings were going to be a team in transition in 2020 — especially after losing star receiver Stefon Diggs, veteran defensive end Everson Griffen, hulking nose tackle Linval Joseph and longtime cornerback Xavier Rhodes, among others — Spielman tried to rebuild the roster on the fly.
Instead of taking his medicine and realizing the Vikings might have to take a step back to make a leap forward, Spielman convinced himself they could still contend at a high level. That was his biggest mistake to date.
He extended quarterback Kirk Cousins’ contract to create enough salary cap space to give running back Dalvin Cook a big-bucks extension. He then traded a second-round draft pick and a fifth-round pick for defensive end Yannick Ngakoue in the preseason.
It was a series of win-now moves for a team that was no longer in position to do that.
Whether that was done out of individual stubbornness or organizational hubris, it has backfired immensely, and the Vikings are now staring at what looks to be a lengthy rebuild that probably could have been avoided.
Like the aging defense continues to show on a weekly basis, Spielman, too, appears to be past his prime.
Perhaps finally realizing the Vikings are in no position to contend this season, he suddenly traded Ngakoue to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday for a third-round draft pick and a fifth-round pick. That helped the Vikings recoup some draft capital, though not even close to all of it. They will have to live with trading a pick that likely will end up in the late 30s or early 40s of the draft for a pick that very well could be in the 80s. All to get six games out of Ngakoue.
The more pressing issue here is that the Vikings are saddled with Cousins for the foreseeable future. While Spielman was able to partially right his wrong by offloading Ngakoue this week, he is in no position to do that with Cousins.
It would cost the Vikings $41 million against the salary cap next season to cut Cousins. Which means they are stuck with him until after the 2022 season when his contract finally runs out.
Spielman tried Thursday to shift the focus to the rest of this season, reminding us the Vikings can get back on track next Sunday by beating the rival Green Bay Packers. It was a tone-deaf statement from Spielman amid the worst start in nearly a decade and a glaring example of how the Vikings got to this point in the first place.
With this season already in the tank, Spielman should be taking ownership for his previous missteps and laying out a plan for the future. Not talking about how a special-teams player having heart surgery somehow played a role in this 1-5 start.
... and neither is this Chris guy.