Kyle Sloter Interview

[J. Kapp 11]

My attitude stems from thread after thread being started about a guy who has never taken a snap in a regular season NFL game. It comes from the implication that Spielman, Zimmer and company don’t know what they’re doing based on their cutting of Kyle Sloter. It’s a weird obsession.

But whatever.

An obsession I find weird is the hypersensitivity to critiques of team leaders. I was the one who questioned Zimm's handling of QB2, but I'm also the one who wrote about my opinion being changed by watching a TC practice. Please don't depict me as some frothing at the moth Sloter-head. OTOH, allow me to question the team leaders' handling of important positions. I liked your uncle Rico gif, BTW, bc it's an appropriate and funny connection... But please, chill out and tolerate other opinions. I nearly always enjoy reading yours, even if I don't share it.

I didn’t mean to single you out. In fact, I didn’t know I was. Sorry about that.

I’m not hypersensitive to criticism of team leaders. But I am sensitive to people continuing to use Kyle Sloter as the example of it. Virtually every two weeks, we get another Sloter thread. But you’re right. I don’t have to participate. Believe me, after this I’m done. I’ve gotten beat up enough over this.

My point ... if you want to criticize leadership (and believe me, I levy my share of criticism ... to claim otherwise is simply not true) that’s fine. I’ll chime in, and I’ll join the criticism if I think it’s warranted. But using the Kyle Sloter situation is about the single weakest example I can think of. Did he have a real shot at No. 2? Maybe not. Maybe Zimmer is old school and values having a veteran as a backup. But he WAS paid the most any practice squad player was ever paid at the time, so the Vikings DID see something in him and by definition gave him a shot. He didn’t make the most of it, just as he hasn’t with 3 other teams. He’s the No. 4 QB in Detroit. Do you honestly think he’s going to stick?

Again, I’m not afraid to criticize management. Giving up a 5th round draft pick for a kicker you cut a week later? Definitely worthy of criticism. Drafting Mike Hughes over Lamar Jackson, even if you have Kirk Cousins? Don’t know, but we can certainly talk about it. But cutting Kyle Sloter? Not even close.

Thanks for hearing me out.

[Texas Vike]

An obsession I find weird is the hypersensitivity to critiques of team leaders. I was the one who questioned Zimm's handling of QB2, but I'm also the one who wrote about my opinion being changed by watching a TC practice. Please don't depict me as some frothing at the moth Sloter-head. OTOH, allow me to question the team leaders' handling of important positions. I liked your uncle Rico gif, BTW, bc it's an appropriate and funny connection... But please, chill out and tolerate other opinions. I nearly always enjoy reading yours, even if I don't share it.

I didn’t mean to single you out. In fact, I didn’t know I was. Sorry about that.

I’m not hypersensitive to criticism of team leaders. But I am sensitive to people continuing to use Kyle Sloter as the example of it. Virtually every two weeks, we get another Sloter thread. But you’re right. I don’t have to participate. Believe me, after this I’m done. I’ve gotten beat up enough over this.

My point ... if you want to criticize leadership (and believe me, I levy my share of criticism ... to claim otherwise is simply not true) that’s fine. I’ll chime in, and I’ll join the criticism if I think it’s warranted. But using the Kyle Sloter situation is about the single weakest example I can think of. Did he have a real shot at No. 2? Maybe not. Maybe Zimmer is old school and values having a veteran as a backup. But he WAS paid the most any practice squad player was ever paid at the time, so the Vikings DID see something in him and by definition gave him a shot. He didn’t make the most of it, just as he hasn’t with 3 other teams. He’s the No. 4 QB in Detroit. Do you honestly think he’s going to stick?

Again, I’m not afraid to criticize management. Giving up a 5th round draft pick for a kicker you cut a week later? Definitely worthy of criticism. Drafting Mike Hughes over Lamar Jackson, even if you have Kirk Cousins? Don’t know, but we can certainly talk about it. But cutting Kyle Sloter? Not even close.

Thanks for hearing me out.

Appreciate the post. I understand and to an extent share your perspective on Sloter and Sloter mania, but I'd love to see a bit more brotherliness make a comeback on the board. I see no reason to criticize other Vikings fans for thinking Sloter offered more than Mannion. That's not such an absurd take. It seems to me that all posters in this thread agree on one really important point: The Vikes need to commit to bringing in better talent for QB2 and stop treating our QB1 as so mentally delicate that the mere presence of a somewhat competent backup is perceived as a threat.

[CanUDiggsIt?]

One offseason priority HAS to be finding a suitable backup QB! Mannion is utter garbage and I am not sure who we have on our PS. Perhaps a Teddy reunion? He looked pretty darn good this year.

[StumpHunter]

One offseason priority HAS to be finding a suitable backup QB! Mannion is utter garbage and I am not sure who we have on our PS. Perhaps a Teddy reunion? He looked pretty darn good this year.

Teddy was the highest paid backup this year and was offered a starting spot on Miami BEFORE he won 5 straight for the Saints. Someone is going to pay him a lot of money to start this season. Interesting stats from the season: if you project out Teddy's 5 starts to a 15 game season, his numbers look like this: 3615 yards, 27 TDs, 6 Ints. Those numbers are nearly identical to Cousins' 15 game season.

Mannion was not as bad as his stats said he was in that last game of the season. He played with backups against the Bears starters, threw 2 picks that were not actually bad throws, and had a number of drops that made his day look much worse than it was. I think I have said this before, but the guy didn't do anything really well, but he also didn't do anything poorly. A lot of the time that is the best you can ask for from a backup QB, and with our receivers, run game and defense, that is all we need to win.

[CharVike]

Sloter vs. Mannion illustrates my problem with Zimmer.

Sloter did look a bit lost in the TC practice I saw, but in preseason games it was clear he had far more future promise as a starting QB in the NFL than Mannion. Zimmer took a conventional, conservative approach to the QB2 position, siding with experience and ability to support QB1 over actual potential.

Future promise does nothing for a team right now. He couldn't get a snap this year.