Spielman press conference today at 3:30

[dead_poet]

Point being I'm waiting till after the draft to see how I feel about where the team is.

You clearly don't get it. The sky is falling. Run!

[mondry]

You clearly don't get it. The sky is falling. Run!

It certainly could be! These are definitely risky moves by Speilman but they are the exact same steps i'd try and take myself for building a long term winner. Of course if it doesn't pan out he'll look like an idiot!

[PurpleKoolaid]

You clearly don't get it. The sky is falling. Run!

You are right! We lost 2 great players, but we keep Carlson (what a gem!) Load and Sanford. Progress!

[saint33]

You are right! We lost 2 great players, but we keep Carlson (what a gem!) Load and Sanford. Progress!

tis the nature of the beast.

I don't know why anyone's upset about Carlson. This was good news. We didn't resign him, we restructured him. He was under contract regardless, however his restructure gives us more cap room and less money in his pocket. How can someone be upset with that?

As for Sanford/Loadholt the name of the game is youth and continuity. Resigning Loadholt and Sanford are very good deals, neither likely broke the bank, and they are both very solid contributors, can't have a roster full of Adrian Petersons, you need quality contributors like these two.

And Winfield was a shock for me, but I suspect there's something in the woodworks after this move. At his age, he is likely not worth 7 mil and he refused to restructure. If we were looking for cap space to make a move for Revis, or sign Jennings, etc. then Winfield was a very logical spot to find that cap space.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Not sure how to do the quote thing.

Because of the utter waste of money signing Carlson in the first place (and KNOWING he was injury prone) and not needed a TE, and because if the need was high we should have drafted a TE, we lost Winfield. Because the original money would have still been there this year to pay Winfield more. And hes worth it. We saw what the secondary looked like without Winfield.

And Sanford is puke. Everyone agreed he was till Smith came along and made him and the rest of the secondary look like they could play.

[saint33]

Not sure how to do the quote thing.

Because of the utter waste of money signing Carlson in the first place (and KNOWING he was injury prone) and not needed a TE, and because if the need was high we should have drafted a TE, we lost Winfield. Because the original money would have still been there this year to pay Winfield more. And hes worth it. We saw what the secondary looked like without Winfield.

And Sanford is puke. Everyone agreed he was till Smith came along and made him and the rest of the secondary look like they could play.

This is just sour grapes from the signing last year. It's time to put it to rest, Carlson is on the team, no matter how much you kick and scream, it won't change that. Honestly, his restructure is good news, he's a backup TE who now makes backup TE money. What more do you want?

As I said, I was surprised by the Winfield release as well, but it's the way the NFL works. We're hardly the first, nor will we be the last, to release a player close to the end of their career who is making a large amount of money. It's not always easy decisions, and eventually you have to let go of every player. I'm sure Winfield's injury history played into this as well.

Sanford is a quality player. Maybe not as a starter, but his impact on special teams alone is worth keeping him. And he did improve significantly on defense this past year. Again, he's not an ideal long term starter, but as competition and a STs guy, he's a good signing. Who else would you rather have in his place for the money we'll be giving him?

[Mothman]

One thing in favor of Spielman's draft day philosophy: FA doesn't always pan out. Reggie Bush has been on 3 teams and never stuck. He is basically still riding on his draft day hysteria to fans, NFL GMs obviously see things differently. I get wanting to find guys via the draft in that respect, they are "cheaper" to make mistakes on, plus you get time to make them produce.

At this point things look bleak, but I think we need to ask what FO/Coaches know about the current roster that we do not. They obviously still want to win games, so why do all of this? My guess is they think they see something somewhere. I don't know what it is, but that seems just as likely as their being totally out to lunch. I know, wishful thinking.

Not necessarily... I think you have a point and after all, we're only a few hours into free agency. Early, high profile signings often mean overpaying players and big free agent busts and disappointments are as common as big free agent successes. It might have been reassuring for the Vikes to follow up trading Harvin and releasing Winfield by signing Wallace to an expensive contract and snagging Nnamdi Asomugha after he was cut by the Eagles but would those moves have proved to be wise in the long term? Fans were pretty excited when the Vikes jumped in and spent big FA money to sign Berrian as a much-needed deep threat but in the end, that didn't work out well at all, just like signing Asomugha didn't pan out for Philly.

I have no doubt the Vikes will sign some free agents but they may not be the expensive high-profile guys. That won't please fans but as we saw with the Felton signing last year, sometimes big improvement comes from the signings that fit the team best, not from the big stars everybody wants.

Of course, Carlson and Simpson are examples of how that can go the other way...

[DanAS]

You are right! We lost 2 great players, but we keep Carlson (what a gem!) Load and Sanford. Progress!

We signed Sanford? Awesome. What about his son Lionel? Did we sign him too? Those guys were really funny.

Honestly, if the team is looking for a place to put all the money that they are not spending on quality football players, they can give it to me and my colleagues at work. We are about to get furloughed.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Its a good thing Spielman is saving the Wilfs cash, they are only billionares after all. That will soon have a ton of 19-23 year olds as their team.

[Mothman]

If I recall correctly, when asked about cap room during the press conference, Spielman said something like "Cap room can be deceptive". I wonder if some of the money the Vikings have freed up might be earmarked toward signing a couple of their DEs to extensions. If I remember correctly, Griffen, Robison and Allen are all in the final year of their contracts.

[PurpleMustReign]

I hate listening to the press conferences because all you hear is "mumble mumble mumble mumble"... Then you hear the speaker "Well, you have to realize, blah, blah, blah..."

Is it that hard to make sure there are enough microphones that everyone in the audience can be heard?

[losperros]

It certainly could be! These are definitely risky moves by Speilman but they are the exact same steps i'd try and take myself for building a long term winner. Of course if it doesn't pan out he'll look like an idiot!

The sky isn't falling but the sun got harder to see. Even Kevin Williams admits to wondering why the team is going backward.

Seems to me that losing both Harvin and Winfield is big. I don't care about Carlson, though I'm happy that Loadholt and Sanford are re-signed.