Q&A with Leslie Frazier

[Mothman]

Here's a link to a great Q&A with Leslie Frazier. It's long, it covers a lot of territory and to me, it seems like Frazier's answers are very candid:

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/QA_w ... _key032013

Frazier discusses Winfield, the Harvin trade, the "crown of the helmet" RB rule and how it might affect AD, young players, the draft, the secondary, the importance of the offseason program, Brandon Fusco, the d-line and much, much more. It's good stuff.

This was very interesting:

Antoine aside, are you concerned with the overall age of your defense? Jared's over 30, Chad Greenway's 30, Brian Robison's 30, Kevin's over 30 -- you've got young players, too, but those are players who might begin declining soon if they haven't already.

As long as they're playing at a high level, you don't get concerned about the number, and Jared is still demanding double teams. People still have to chip him. They still have to keep a tight end in. He can still take over a game. Chad maybe had his best season of his career. But you do have to begin to infuse some young talent and that's where this draft will play a major role in that. We have to address some things on our defensive line, at the linebacker position and ... in the secondary as well.

Chad gets knocked a lot by some of the online scouting services for his coverage. But your defense is built to have a void in the short middle at times. Is there much he can do about that?

Unless you really understand the coverage, it's hard to knock a guy if you're just doing it based off of tape. You don't always know exactly what's required and what you're asking the defense to do. There are times we want the ball thrown underneath in certain coverages we're playing, and then it's a matter of our being able to be good tacklers. Other times, we don't want the ball underneath and we're playing more man or whatever and then there are other things required. So, it's hard to pay a whole lot of attention to some of those services unless you understand what we're trying to do in each situation and the down and distance matters as well. So, it's a lot of factors.

With Jasper Brinkley headed to Arizona, what's your plan at middle linebacker?

Well, we've got the upcoming daft to try to address it and we'll also look at what's available in NFL free agency. It's definitely a position we need to address. We have a void there and we've got to find the right guy. It's a big part of our defense. We have to get better at the middle linebacker position.

Erin's not an option to be the starter there or even the starting nickel, right? You'd like to find someone who can be a three-down mike.

Erin has done it in the nickel situations. But we'd like to find a three-down guy, as you mentioned. That would be ideal. What E.J. (Henderson) did for us is what we're looking for -- a three-down guy. We need to find that.

You want one guy who stays on the field in nickel.

We do. We're looking for a guy who can play the run and still help us in pass defense as well. If we could find that person -- just like finding Harrison (Smith) down the middle of our defense helped us -- finding that middle linebacker, if we could the right guy, our defense will take a big step this next season. We're obviously lacking there right now.

The comments about Greenway's coverage responsibilities were interesting to me in light of come of the things PFF has said about him in their analysis.

I'm betting the Vikes are targeting a particular MLB in this draft but I have no idea which one. It's going to be interesting.

[Eli]

No surprises there. That's Leslie.

[Purple bruise]

No surprises there. That's Leslie.

I was curious about your comment "That's Leslie". Is that meant to be derogatory and if so what do you mean?

[losperros]

I think Frazier is rather straight ahead on his answers, though he's polite enough not to throw anyone under a bus. That's probably one reason why there are no surprises.

I can see why players, even Percy Harvin, respect Frazier. He seems like a class act to me.

[Purple bruise]

I think Frazier is rather straight ahead on his answers, though he's polite enough not to throw anyone under a bus. That's probably one reason why there are no surprises.

I can see why players, even Percy Harvin, respect Frazier. He seems like a class act to me.

Yes I agree. He seems like a "players coach" and I have never heard of any players, other than Percy, having any difficulty with him.

[Mothman]

No surprises there. That's Leslie.

Were you expecting surprises?

I think Frazier is rather straight ahead on his answers, though he's polite enough not to throw anyone under a bus. That's probably one reason why there are no surprises.

I can see why players, even Percy Harvin, respect Frazier. He seems like a class act to me.

I agree and I hope he has another successful year. I feel good about him being the Vikings head coach so it would be great if he and the team could establish a successful, long term, championship-winning relationship.

[Eli]

Were you expecting surprises?

Absolutely the last thing anyone would expect from a Leslie Frazier interview or press conference would be a surprise.

[losperros]

Absolutely the last thing anyone would expect from a Leslie Frazier interview or press conference would be a surprise.

Well, yeah, Frazier could reveal secrets. He could talk about how he first lost his virginity or which player looks the most pathetic naked in the locker room. Personally, I'm glad he stuck with subject of football.

Frazier probably figures that any private conversation he has with a player should remain that way - private. It's probably one of the reasons why he has their respect.

Also, I don't see him stonewalling or outright lying like Childress did.

[ViciousBritishVike]

Here's a link to a great Q&A with Leslie Frazier. It's long, it covers a lot of territory and to me, it seems like Frazier's answers are very candid:

http://www.1500espn.com/sportswire/QA_w ... _key032013

Frazier discusses Winfield, the Harvin trade, the "crown of the helmet" RB rule and how it might affect AD, young players, the draft, the secondary, the importance of the offseason program, Brandon Fusco, the d-line and much, much more. It's good stuff.

This was very interesting:
The comments about Greenway's coverage responsibilities were interesting to me in light of come of the things PFF has said about him in their analysis.


I'm betting the Vikes are targeting a particular MLB in this draft but I have no idea which one. It's going to be interesting.

I'm so glad this has finally been cleared up, I had always assumed it was down to scheme. When locked up in a pure man to man concept, I always find Chad bottles up the receiver pretty comfortably, thought he had a lot of success against TE's last season, truly rangy guy.

As for Frazier, I think he's a breath of fresh air. What would you prefer? A genuine man who focuses solely on the team and their best interests or a Rex Ryan type, constantly making bold statements in order to cause headlines and ultimately bringing distraction to the locker room.

Lesley's doing a stellar job and I find his truth a pleasure to listen to.

[Eli]

Also, I don't see him stonewalling or outright lying like Childress did.

Different means to the same end: saying nothing. I doubt that Leslie realizes he's doing it, unlike Childress.

Actually, all of the recent Vikings head coaches have suffered from this. Denny Green was so whacked out that you'd swear he was asked a different question. Mike Tice was too dumb to understand the question, and Brad Childress thought he was smarter than everyone else whenever he unleashed his double-speak. Leslie Frazier just seems to be perpetually tranquilized.

[PurpleKoolaid]

I rarely listen to Fraizers Q&A or press conferences. He has a knack for saying nothing and takes a long time to say it. Im just not sold on him. But i think this year, like it will for Ponder, will prove if hes ready for his posistion.

[Demi]

Different means to the same end: saying nothing. I doubt that Leslie realizes he's doing it, unlike Childress.

Actually, all of the recent Vikings head coaches have suffered from this. Denny Green was so whacked out that you'd swear he was asked a different question. Mike Tice was too dumb to understand the question, and Brad Childress thought he was smarter than everyone else whenever he unleashed his double-speak. Leslie Frazier just seems to be perpetually tranquilized.

Isn't it the same for pretty much every coach in every sport?

[Mothman]

I'd rather talk about what Frazier said then go any deeper into discussing the entertainment value of his interviews and press conferences. I actually thought he had some interesting things to say. For example, with the draft coming up, his comments regarding the corners, DTs and the MLB position were intriguing (to me anyway). I posted what he said about the MLB position but regarding the other two:

Would you feel confident rolling with Chris Cook, Josh Robinson and A.J. Jefferson as your top three cornerbacks, as the depth chart stands now? Or does something have to be done?

Oh, no. We want to definitely add more competition at that position. Chris has been injured throughout his career or he's been off the field for different reasons, and then Josh is going into his second season, so you're hoping he'll continue to ascend, but you don't know. Then, A.J. hasn't proven he can do it 16 weeks in a row. So, no, we need to address that position in this draft, for sure.

Regarding one of Winfield's roles off the field:

Was he one of the guys you relied on when it came to discussing how hard guys were working in practice and whatnot?

Without question. I have a group of guys that help me from that standpoint. He's one of them. I meet with them once a week and then sometimes more to get a gauge on where things are in the locker room, what do we need to change, what's going well. And he's a guy I've trusted to give me good input, not always tell me what I want to hear, and he's been very, very honest and frank and that's important when you sit in the seat that I sit in, to have guys like that in the locker room.

The DT position:

As you look at the defensive tackles right now, is it more important to get better play out of your nose or your three-technique?

I thought the combination between Letroy (Guion) and Fred (Evans) worked pretty well. Fred really, really improved a year ago. He came on, which was encouraging. Kevin is at that stage in his career where he's not the Kevin of, say, four or five years ago, but he's still playing quality football. We'll have to see how much he has left this next season, but we need Christian Ballard to really step up and come along. He's at that point in his career where he'll have to really show that he can hold that position down. So, probably, the three-technique is of a little higher priority -- and it usually is in our defense. That guy has to be a big player for us in our defense. So, getting more from that position will help our defense be even better this season.

[ViciousBritishVike]

Different means to the same end: saying nothing. I doubt that Leslie realizes he's doing it, unlike Childress.

Actually, all of the recent Vikings head coaches have suffered from this. Denny Green was so whacked out that you'd swear he was asked a different question. Mike Tice was too dumb to understand the question, and Brad Childress thought he was smarter than everyone else whenever he unleashed his double-speak. Leslie Frazier just seems to be perpetually tranquilized.

I believe the term is stoned

This eventually caught up with him and lead to the infamous "the Bears are who we thought they were" press conference in the desert.

[losperros]

I'd rather talk about what Frazier said then go any deeper into discussing the entertainment value of his interviews and press conferences. I actually thought he had some interesting things to say. For example, with the draft coming up, his comments regarding the corners, DTs and the MLB position were intriguing (to me anyway). I posted what he said about the MLB position but regarding the other two:

I'm glad that Frazier feels this way. I couldn't agree more. Good to know they're looking at the CBs in the draft.

On another note, what the heck is vague about this? Seems like a direct answer with a defnite opinion to me.