PHP's Official Vikings Mock Offseason

[Pondering Her Percy]

That was a fun read PHP. I especially liked the Hooker/Hyatt combo. I also thought your defensive free agents were good additions. Hopefully we get Flores and aren't stuck with Pettine.

The only way that Vikings will get Flores if Flores bombs both interviews with the Broncos and Cardinals on Tuesday and Wednesday

Evero was interviewed for HC jobs in Indy (twice), Houston (twice) and the Broncos. And ended up with a DC job in Carolina. Nothing to do with bombing interviews, they might just simply like another candidate better. This could very well happen with Flores as well.

[CharVike]

That was a fun read PHP. I especially liked the Hooker/Hyatt combo. I also thought your defensive free agents were good additions. Hopefully we get Flores and aren't stuck with Pettine.

The only way that Vikings will get Flores if Flores bombs both interviews with the Broncos and Cardinals on Tuesday and Wednesday

Flores could go back with the Steelers also. I can't picture too many vet coaches wanting to come here with this pile. We lost the young guy to Atlanta and I liked him. That's a guy with energy. Be interesting to see how he does. Hopefully he sucks and we didn't miss out. It almost seems like they are going through the motions. Panthers jumped quickly. That's doing prep work before hand.

[MossCarterJefferson]

The only way that Vikings will get Flores if Flores bombs both interviews with the Broncos and Cardinals on Tuesday and Wednesday

Flores could go back with the Steelers also. I can't picture too many vet coaches wanting to come here with this pile. We lost the young guy to Atlanta and I liked him. That's a guy with energy. Be interesting to see how he does. Hopefully he sucks and we didn't miss out. It almost seems like they are going through the motions. Panthers jumped quickly. That's doing prep work before hand.

I really doubt Neilson will suck, he did a great job with the Saints defense and will probably do the same with the Falcons

[Pondering Her Percy]

The only way that Vikings will get Flores if Flores bombs both interviews with the Broncos and Cardinals on Tuesday and Wednesday

Flores could go back with the Steelers also. I can't picture too many vet coaches wanting to come here with this pile. We lost the young guy to Atlanta and I liked him. That's a guy with energy. Be interesting to see how he does. Hopefully he sucks and we didn't miss out. It almost seems like they are going through the motions. Panthers jumped quickly. That's doing prep work before hand.

I mean you're acting like we have a bone dry defense that nobody wants to be a part of. That's just not realistic. You have guys like Hunter and Smith under contract on the DL, a solid player and leader in Phillips. An exciting young LB in Asamoah. A plethora of safeties including one of the best of all time. As I've said before, our defense might have been 31st in the NFL but it wasnt 31st in overall talent. Definitely wasnt #1 but there was a solid chunk of talent that could've been a middle of the road defense but the talent was just poorly utilized by Donatell.

[Cliff]

Flores could go back with the Steelers also. I can't picture too many vet coaches wanting to come here with this pile. We lost the young guy to Atlanta and I liked him. That's a guy with energy. Be interesting to see how he does. Hopefully he sucks and we didn't miss out. It almost seems like they are going through the motions. Panthers jumped quickly. That's doing prep work before hand.

I mean you're acting like we have a bone dry defense that nobody wants to be a part of. That's just not realistic. You have guys like Hunter and Smith under contract on the DL, a solid player and leader in Phillips. An exciting young LB in Asamoah. A plethora of safeties including one of the best of all time. As I've said before, our defense might have been 31st in the NFL but it wasnt 31st in overall talent. Definitely wasnt #1 but there was a solid chunk of talent that could've been a middle of the road defense but the talent was just poorly utilized by Donatell.

This defense has been bottom of near-bottom for 3-straight years under drastically different systems. We don't have the talent on defense no matter how we want to slice it up. We've seen enough of Mike Zimmer's defense to know with better players they're better than the 28th or 30th as they were in 2020 and 2021.

More importantly, I think what we're really missing is a high impact player at any position on defense. We don't have anybody on defense that is a big difference maker. Do they have a top 10 player at any position on defense? Even arguably top 10? Maybe Harrison Smith? Don't get me wrong, they do have some good players and they do make plays. This is the NFL, they're not all bums ... but there's nobody on defense that is equivalent (or close) to what JJ is on offense. Or even has the production of Dalvin Cook. Is there anybody on defense you'd keep before T.J. Hockenson?

You send JJ (or Diggs before him) to any team and they're immediately a better offensive football team. Who is that on defense?

[Texas Vike]

Flores could go back with the Steelers also. I can't picture too many vet coaches wanting to come here with this pile. We lost the young guy to Atlanta and I liked him. That's a guy with energy. Be interesting to see how he does. Hopefully he sucks and we didn't miss out. It almost seems like they are going through the motions. Panthers jumped quickly. That's doing prep work before hand.

I mean you're acting like we have a bone dry defense that nobody wants to be a part of. That's just not realistic. You have guys like Hunter and Smith under contract on the DL, a solid player and leader in Phillips. An exciting young LB in Asamoah. A plethora of safeties including one of the best of all time. As I've said before, our defense might have been 31st in the NFL but it wasnt 31st in overall talent. Definitely wasnt #1 but there was a solid chunk of talent that could've been a middle of the road defense but the talent was just poorly utilized by Donatell.

Agreed. A smart DC candidate is going to consider many factors in making their decision, and current defensive talent is only one of those factors. I would have to think that the overall culture of the front office and HC would be very important. Also, the possibility of turning a #31 D into a top 10 D with a coach and GM who are giving you a lot of control of how to do that? That's attractive. All of these candidates are ambitious and want to ascend the coaching hierarchy. It appears that Evero chose Carolina over us, but it may be that we didn't make him an offer and that we signaled to him that we wanted to wait on Flores, and that he was thus in spot #2. There's a lot we don't know at this point. I'd rather get it right than to get it fast.

PHP, I enjoyed your mock, as always. How likely do you think it is that Schmitz makes it to round 4? He's been projected for the 2nd and seems to have done well at the Senior Bowl. I'd love to get stronger in the interior of our OL, so I'd love this outcome... but I sense he may go higher than projected here.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I mean you're acting like we have a bone dry defense that nobody wants to be a part of. That's just not realistic. You have guys like Hunter and Smith under contract on the DL, a solid player and leader in Phillips. An exciting young LB in Asamoah. A plethora of safeties including one of the best of all time. As I've said before, our defense might have been 31st in the NFL but it wasnt 31st in overall talent. Definitely wasnt #1 but there was a solid chunk of talent that could've been a middle of the road defense but the talent was just poorly utilized by Donatell.

This defense has been bottom of near-bottom for 3-straight years under drastically different systems. We don't have the talent on defense no matter how we want to slice it up. We've seen enough of Mike Zimmer's defense to know with better players they're better than the 28th or 30th as they were in 2020 and 2021.

More importantly, I think what we're really missing is a high impact player at any position on defense. We don't have anybody on defense that is a big difference maker. Do they have a top 10 player at any position on defense? Even arguably top 10? Maybe Harrison Smith? Don't get me wrong, they do have some good players and they do make plays. This is the NFL, they're not all bums ... but there's nobody on defense that is equivalent (or close) to what JJ is on offense. Or even has the production of Dalvin Cook. Is there anybody on defense you'd keep before T.J. Hockenson?

You send JJ (or Diggs before him) to any team and they're immediately a better offensive football team. Who is that on defense?

I mean I think you're completely forgetting Danielle Hunter who is a top 10 player at his position for sure. The scheme this year was a complete wash and hard to even judge what we had. This was a scheme that constantly rushed 4, sat their DBs back 10 yards off their WRs and blitzed a league low 18% of the time. I dont care if we had top 10 talent or bottom 10, that's not a good defense for anyone. You look at the top defenses in the league and they are aggressive, constantly stacking the line playing mind games with QBs, etc. We didnt do any of that.... ever. It was the most high school playbook I've honestly ever seen in the NFL. Again, this defense was not 31st in overall talent. I can name you multiple teams that had worse defensive starters.

[VikingLord]

Great job Pondering! One of the highlights of the offseason and a post I always look forward to reading. It's clear you put a lot of thought into it and I appreciate all that effort.

A couple of comments and questions:

- Do you think Hooker is going to make it into the 3rd? I know he had the injury to end 2022, but his college career prior to that was pretty impressive and the league is so QB-hungry that I wonder if he lasts. I guess most of the QB needy teams will make their moves in the 1st, plus this isn't a deep QB class and other teams looking for a QB might be inclined to just suck it up and wait until next year where there should be a few more options, but something tells me Hooker won't last past pick 50. He won't go in the 1st, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him off the board in the first half of the 2nd.

- Schmitz where you have him going would be a dream come true for the Vikings. Quality center prospect with good size and room to develop further at that point in the draft for this team is a perfect fit.

- I'm not sold on Hyatt as a 1st rounder just because I'm not sure he's a complete receiver, although some of that might be related more to how Tennessee used him in their offense than what he brings to the field. He is very fast and was productive in college, though, and obviously having played with Hooker (assuming the Vikings got both of them), I'd guess their chemistry in college would likely transfer to the pros. Just as a sidenote, I'm really struggling to see who the Vikings get where they're picking in the 1st right now. I'm not hating the idea of a trade back into the late 1st or even early 2nd depending on what KAM can get in return.

- So many of the defensive moves that need to be made will (or at least should) depend on who the Vikings bring in as the coordinator. I keep thinking in the back of my head that they're going to run the 3-4 again, but hopefully KOC will back off and trust whomever he hires to run the best defense for the talent he has. If they go 3-4, that changes the types of DL and LB they need to target in FA and in the draft IMHO. If they go 4-3, they might need fewer changes. I know Kendricks and Hicks (and even Hunter) got some bad press this past season for being "too slow", but I think a large portion of their struggles might have been more adjustment to scheme than outright failure on their part. Kendricks and Hicks aren't particularly fast LBs, but both have played their entire careers in a 4-3 and both did well and played fast in that scheme. Ditto for Hunter - as a 4-3 DE, he was a beast. As a 3-4 edge LB, he had to wear a lot of different hats and not all of them suited him as well as others. The bottom line for me is the scheme matters and has a big impact on the resultant moves that have to be made. A 3-4 will require fairly major personnel changes, but if they go back to a 4-3 they might get away with fewer and that might also give them more opportunities to buttress the offensive side of the ball, at least in the upcoming draft.

Anyway, great read as always.

[CharVike]

This defense has been bottom of near-bottom for 3-straight years under drastically different systems. We don't have the talent on defense no matter how we want to slice it up. We've seen enough of Mike Zimmer's defense to know with better players they're better than the 28th or 30th as they were in 2020 and 2021.

More importantly, I think what we're really missing is a high impact player at any position on defense. We don't have anybody on defense that is a big difference maker. Do they have a top 10 player at any position on defense? Even arguably top 10? Maybe Harrison Smith? Don't get me wrong, they do have some good players and they do make plays. This is the NFL, they're not all bums ... but there's nobody on defense that is equivalent (or close) to what JJ is on offense. Or even has the production of Dalvin Cook. Is there anybody on defense you'd keep before T.J. Hockenson?

You send JJ (or Diggs before him) to any team and they're immediately a better offensive football team. Who is that on defense?

I mean I think you're completely forgetting Danielle Hunter who is a top 10 player at his position for sure. The scheme this year was a complete wash and hard to even judge what we had. This was a scheme that constantly rushed 4, sat their DBs back 10 yards off their WRs and blitzed a league low 18% of the time. I dont care if we had top 10 talent or bottom 10, that's not a good defense for anyone. You look at the top defenses in the league and they are aggressive, constantly stacking the line playing mind games with QBs, etc. We didnt do any of that.... ever. It was the most high school playbook I've honestly ever seen in the NFL. Again, this defense was not 31st in overall talent. I can name you multiple teams that had worse defensive starters.

Hunter is a very good player. I think he's better at LDE than at OLBer which points to utilization. I think we lack talent. When Zim built that No 1 D we had players at every position group. Right now we don't have a pass rush. It's impossible to play good defense like that. We let that Jones who is some kind of dual threat BS QB stand there and pick us a apart. He's not an accurate passer. Once off his spot it's over and then he will take off running. But our DL blows. Basically three NT/DT that will give you nothing. Our LBers blow. Z disappeared after the half way point. Hunter can't cover and the other 2 are not close to what you need. At CB? Nothing. Safety old man Smith who isn't what he was and then not much. I though Bynum would come on but he sucks. I don't see much talent. Every pre draft I read CB is a huge need. No kidding. But we have zero pass rush so fix that first. Give the CBs some help.

[Pondering Her Percy]

I mean I think you're completely forgetting Danielle Hunter who is a top 10 player at his position for sure. The scheme this year was a complete wash and hard to even judge what we had. This was a scheme that constantly rushed 4, sat their DBs back 10 yards off their WRs and blitzed a league low 18% of the time. I dont care if we had top 10 talent or bottom 10, that's not a good defense for anyone. You look at the top defenses in the league and they are aggressive, constantly stacking the line playing mind games with QBs, etc. We didnt do any of that.... ever. It was the most high school playbook I've honestly ever seen in the NFL. Again, this defense was not 31st in overall talent. I can name you multiple teams that had worse defensive starters.

Hunter is a very good player. I think he's better at LDE than at OLBer which points to utilization. I think we lack talent. When Zim built that No 1 D we had players at every position group. Right now we don't have a pass rush. It's impossible to play good defense like that. We let that Jones who is some kind of dual threat BS QB stand there and pick us a apart. He's not an accurate passer. Once off his spot it's over and then he will take off running. But our DL blows. Basically three NT/DT that will give you nothing. Our LBers blow. Z disappeared after the half way point. Hunter can't cover and the other 2 are not close to what you need. At CB? Nothing. Safety old man Smith who isn't what he was and then not much. I though Bynum would come on but he sucks. I don't see much talent. Every pre draft I read CB is a huge need. No kidding. But we have zero pass rush so fix that first. Give the CBs some help.

We definitely lack talent. I just dont think it's as much as some think. I dont believe for one second that this defense was the 31st most talented defense in the NFL. It's more so how that talent was utilized by Donatell which was very poorly

[Pondering Her Percy]

- Do you think Hooker is going to make it into the 3rd? I know he had the injury to end 2022, but his college career prior to that was pretty impressive and the league is so QB-hungry that I wonder if he lasts. I guess most of the QB needy teams will make their moves in the 1st, plus this isn't a deep QB class and other teams looking for a QB might be inclined to just suck it up and wait until next year where there should be a few more options, but something tells me Hooker won't last past pick 50. He won't go in the 1st, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him off the board in the first half of the 2nd.

It's honestly so hard to tell right now. Many mocks have him in rounds 2-3 but that could easily change after the combine and pro day.

Schmitz where you have him going would be a dream come true for the Vikings. Quality center prospect with good size and room to develop further at that point in the draft for this team is a perfect fit.

Same here, he's definitely a great fit but will he go this late? Who knows. There's always a few players you never expect to fall but they do. It's great he showed well at the Senior Bowl but at the same time, it's so far away from the draft and so many other players will have good combines, pro days, etc and will continue to rise as well.

I'm not sold on Hyatt as a 1st rounder just because I'm not sure he's a complete receiver, although some of that might be related more to how Tennessee used him in their offense than what he brings to the field. He is very fast and was productive in college, though, and obviously having played with Hooker (assuming the Vikings got both of them), I'd guess their chemistry in college would likely transfer to the pros. Just as a sidenote, I'm really struggling to see who the Vikings get where they're picking in the 1st right now. I'm not hating the idea of a trade back into the late 1st or even early 2nd depending on what KAM can get in return.

I think it's smart for us to trade down (if the deal is right). I didnt mind the trade down last year but thought KAM could've gotten way more than he did. But I dont see the talent at 23 being all that different from the talent at 31. If I was a betting man (which I am lol), I would bet the Vikings take a WR in round 1. That's going to come as a shock to many because of the holes we have to fill on defense but the FA WR pool is disgustingly bad IMO. If we want something like what Cincy, Miami, Philly, etc have at WR, we need to take a WR early in the draft. Because you arent going to find a legit #2 in FA IMO. Best bet is DJ Chark and I'm not sure how much pressure he really takes off JJ. And I'm not sure I really want to pay Chark more than he's probably worth. As for Hyatt, I'm sold on him as a late 1st rounder. I think that's a sweet spot for him. Late round 1 to early round 2. Especially because there's such a need across the league for WR that some of these guys that werent projected to go high are going to rise. Hyatt has the ability to take the top off a defense which is exactly what we need IMO.

So many of the defensive moves that need to be made will (or at least should) depend on who the Vikings bring in as the coordinator. I keep thinking in the back of my head that they're going to run the 3-4 again, but hopefully KOC will back off and trust whomever he hires to run the best defense for the talent he has. If they go 3-4, that changes the types of DL and LB they need to target in FA and in the draft IMHO. If they go 4-3, they might need fewer changes. I know Kendricks and Hicks (and even Hunter) got some bad press this past season for being "too slow", but I think a large portion of their struggles might have been more adjustment to scheme than outright failure on their part. Kendricks and Hicks aren't particularly fast LBs, but both have played their entire careers in a 4-3 and both did well and played fast in that scheme. Ditto for Hunter - as a 4-3 DE, he was a beast. As a 3-4 edge LB, he had to wear a lot of different hats and not all of them suited him as well as others. The bottom line for me is the scheme matters and has a big impact on the resultant moves that have to be made. A 3-4 will require fairly major personnel changes, but if they go back to a 4-3 they might get away with fewer and that might also give them more opportunities to buttress the offensive side of the ball, at least in the upcoming draft.

Given Flores was hired, they will definitely be staying in a 3-4 but a much more aggressive one that employs a lot of cover 0 and cover 1. We are going to need to get younger and faster under Flores because of how he runs his scheme. Which makes me think guys like Kendricks and Hicks will be gone. Kendricks looked like he was starting to decline even in Zimmer's scheme last year. Asamoah will 100% be a starter I think. Same goes for Cine. And I wouldnt be surprised if you see Booth or Evans starting somewhere along with a FA corner or two.

Appreciate the feedback brother! SKOL!

[Pondering Her Percy]

Hey, I'm 1 for 1 on my mock so far with the Vikings hiring Flores!

[makila]

Enjoyable read php, appreciate the content!

Think a trade of Dalvin for Queen would be intriguing. Hadn't pondered that one. I am really curious how Flores evaluates our current defensive talent. I hope he's going to be fully involved with all aspects of defensive roster construction.

Agree with the OT tackles comments. Brandel v udoh, I'd go with udoh.

[Pondering Her Percy]

Enjoyable read php, appreciate the content!

Think a trade of Dalvin for Queen would be intriguing. Hadn't pondered that one. I am really curious how Flores evaluates our current defensive talent. I hope he's going to be fully involved with all aspects of defensive roster construction.

Agree with the OT tackles comments. Brandel v udoh, I'd go with udoh.

Thanks brother.

For whatever reason, I'm sensing another trade by Kwesi for a player (similar to what he did with Hockenson). I can see him looking for a guy that's near the end of his rookie deal like Hockenson was, that's with a team that is either rebuilding or maybe heavy at a position. This is one way Kwesi will continue to build the core of this team. In this instance, the Ravens are already giving Roquon Smith big money. So I have a hard time seeing them also giving Queen big money too so I think Queen is a great target. This is kind of a spin-off of my Jerry Jeudy idea that I proposed on here.

And yes, I thought Udoh played really well when filling in for O'Neill. Probably because his natural position is tackle and not guard where Zim had him.

[Cliff]

I mean I think you're completely forgetting Danielle Hunter who is a top 10 player at his position for sure.

I didn't forget him but you're right, he fits into the arguably category, as well as both Smith's.

The scheme this year was a complete wash and hard to even judge what we had. This was a scheme that constantly rushed 4, sat their DBs back 10 yards off their WRs and blitzed a league low 18% of the time. I dont care if we had top 10 talent or bottom 10, that's not a good defense for anyone. You look at the top defenses in the league and they are aggressive, constantly stacking the line playing mind games with QBs, etc. We didnt do any of that.... ever. It was the most high school playbook I've honestly ever seen in the NFL. Again, this defense was not 31st in overall talent. I can name you multiple teams that had worse defensive starters.

I'm not judging based on 2022 alone. You could blame the scheme in that case. They were awful in 2020 and 2021 as well. I don't know the rest of the NFL rosters to say how they rank among them. I know over the last 3 years they have been bottom 5 in most of the major categories. I don't know which squads are technically "the worst" but they have to be among the worst.

Anyway, who's to say that a more aggressive defense wouldn't have just got burned even more? It's all well and good to say we needed to generate more pressure. I'm sure that would have helped if more aggressive game planning meant more pressure. That's no guarantee at all.