Well, the Vikings seem comfortable with only 4 corners on the active roster. Our excellent poster, Krauser, pointed out how the team only activated 4 CBs for a given game last year which is true. Still, the cupboard seems bare to me and any injury is going to be a problem. I do not know […]
Well, the Vikings seem comfortable with only 4 corners on the active roster. Our excellent poster, Krauser, pointed out how the team only activated 4 CBs for a given game last year which is true. Still, the cupboard seems bare to me and any injury is going to be a problem. I do not know if there is much they could to though. If there was a really good corner available, that corner would already be signed to a team. I hope Vaughn continues to develop.
What Is Big Nickel? And Does It Explain Minnesota’s Lack Of Cornerback Depth?
Adofo-Mensah pointed out how the Vikings signed UDFA standout Zemaiah Vaughn and veteran Fabian Moreau to the practice squad for additional cornerback depth. However, what really caught my attention was Adofo-Mensa highlighting how Brian Flores plans to run a lot of big nickel.
No matter how confident the Vikings’ brass is in Jackson, it doesn’t explain the decision to keep only four cornerbacks on the 53-man roster. Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell will never say it publicly, but the real culprit behind Minnesota’s imbalanced roster construction has to do with cash spending. Not to be confused with cap space, cash spending refers to the team’s revenue and annual budgets established by ownership. The Wilfs gave Adofo-Mensah a budget of $350 million to spend on player salaries for the 2025 fiscal year, and Kwesi has maxed out the credit card.
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Unlike the salary cap, there are no league-imposed ramifications for going over the budget. The Wilfs could theoretically grant Adofo-Mensah the ability to surpass the $350 million cash budget in 2025, but that’s unlikely to happen.
We got better news with the Thielen trade in that he agreed to reduce his salary to 4.25M with another 441K in per game roster bonuses. That is right in line with what Amari Cooper just signed for. Spotrac shows him with a 4.67M dead money cap hit in 2027 though. I am not sure how that is correct since the Vikings only took on his 2025 salary.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Report: Vikings, Adam Thielen agree to terms on revised contract
The Vikings and Adam Thielen have agreed to terms on a revised contract, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. It’s a pay cut that helps Minnesota’s salary cap situation by reducing Thielen’s 2025 salary by $2 million. It also removes $4 million in incentives.
“This wasn’t about money — Thielen wanted to come home, and volunteered to help the team’s salary cap to make it happen,” Pelissero wrote.
Panthers GM: Adam Thielen was ‘adamant’ he wanted to go to Minnesota
“It’s kinda hard, when I sit Adam Thielen down in my office and he is just really wanting to go there and he’s pretty adamant that ‘this is what I want, this is where I want to go,’ I didn’t really want to stand in his way,” Morgan told Kyle Bailey of WFNZ radio in Charlotte. “It was something that he was really convicted about. He wanted to go and finish his career there. Obviously he’s from there, he has a house there, he has young kids. There’s a human side to it, too.”
Knowing that Thielen wanted to be a Viking and that the Panthers have some young wide receivers they’re excited about, Morgan was open to the possibility of a trade. But what he didn’t want to do was give Thielen away. A deal had to make sense for Carolina, too. The initial offer from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Vikings, per The Athletic’s Joseph Person, was a sixth-round pick for Thielen and a seventh. That wasn’t good enough.
“But at the same time, in my mind, I knew that I had to do what was best for the Carolina Panthers,” Morgan said. “So I wasn’t gonna give him away. A few offers that they did send over, it would’ve been a giveaway. As I was back and forth, back and forth with Kwesi, their GM up there, myself, (Panthers execs) Brandt Tilis and Eric Eager, sitting in the room, going through all these scenarios — we must’ve went through 10 different trade scenarios that we felt would work for us, and where we would be at the advantage.”
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“At the end of the day, we sent him there, we agreed to it,” Morgan said. “Adam being so adamant to go there, it was just kinda hard for me to stand in his way. (To have) him be here, maybe he’d be disgruntled, maybe he’d be fine, but we would’ve had to find that out.”
Adam Thielen credits ‘great’ Bryce Young for Vikings return: ‘I’m not here today without him’
Adam Thielen moved back home to Minnesota but left Carolina with positive vibes about his former quarterback, Bryce Young.
Asked about the Panthers quarterback on Thursday, Thielen credited his improved play with elongating his career and making a trade back to the Vikings possible.
“I will say this about Bryce, because he deserves the respect. He’s a great man. He’s a great leader. And he’s a great quarterback,” Thielen said, via Alec Lewis of The Athletic. “You saw that at the end of last year. Just the stuff he had to go through, the adversity through his first two years in the league. You don’t wish that upon anybody. For him to handle that, and to where he’s at right now. It says a lot about his character, and who he is, and what kind of player he’s going to be in this league. So much respect for him. Because I guarantee you, I’m not here today without him. Him trusting me. Him giving me opportunities. And believing in me to be able to still continue to play this game that I love.”
NFC North: Minnesota Vikings
2024 season finish: 14-3 (second place, lost 27-9 at Los Angeles Rams in NFC wild card round)
The Minnesota Vikings continue to boast arguably the best offensive ecosystem in the NFL. They have 2022 NFL Offensive Player of the Year wide receiver Justin Jefferson, whose 7,432 career receiving yards are the most in NFL history in a player’s first five seasons all time.
He is surrounded by 2023 first-round pick Jordan Addison (who will serve a three-game suspension to begin the 2025 season), two-time Pro Bowl tight end T.J. Hockenson, Pro Bowl running back Aaron Jones and coach Kevin O’Connell — the reigning NFL Coach of the Year. All of that offensive talent will be tasked to 2024 10th overall pick J.J. McCarthy. The problem is McCarthy’s draft profile entering his rookie year was that of a bust, and then he became the first quarterback taken in the first round in the common draft era (since 1967) to miss his entire rookie season with an injury. McCarthy tearing his meniscus last preseason prevented him from developing while on the bench as a rookie.
He is also the first first-round quarterback drafted with zero collegiate seasons with either 3,000 passing yards or 500 rushing yards since these Vikings selected Christian Ponder 12th overall in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Florida State.The most recent passer selected in the top 10 like McCarthy without either such season at the college level was Detroit Lions 2002 third overall pick, Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington — he was a complete bust.
The NFC North is one of the best divisions in football, and having an unproven passer who didn’t produce at a high level in college could spell a last-place finish for Minnesota in 2025.
Could J.J. McCarthy be the Vikings’ Super Bowl savior? Author Seth Wickersham thinks so
Seth Wickersham, the author of the new “American Kings: a Biography of the Quarterback” book, believes McCarthy could lead the Vikings to multiple Super Bowl victories in the coming years. He said as much during an interview Thursday on The Rich Eisen Show, though context matters and head coach Kevin O’Connell is a big reason why he has so much faith in McCarthy.
Eisen: If you have to put your marker on any quarterback 25 and younger in the National Football League right now, knowing what you know about quarterbacking, makeups of quarterbacks, where they currently are, what they’ve done so far, you put your mark on this person to win multiple Super Bowls?
Wickersham: I’m going to go with J.J. How about that?
Eisen: McCarthy? Come on. Don’t just say that. You really would do that? Over Jayden Daniels for instance? C.J. Stroud is another.
Wickersham: I met with Kevin O’Connell for the book. He of course was a great college quarterback. Four-year starter at San Diego State. He got drafted by the Patriots, thought he’d learn from Brady and then take that knowledge elsewhere — and his career essentially ended. We talked a lot about those scars and how that informs how he coaches quarterbacks and looks at them and one of the things that he did, was when he was getting these tryouts with teams, he would try to make the wow throw, the John Elway throw, and knock the coaching staff over with it. And he kept getting cut. He realized later, he went back and watched all of Brady’s game-winning drives in Super Bowls and big games, Montana’s, Elway’s — and what stood out was how mundane they were. They looked like they were doing spring practice, even though the stakes couldn’t have been higher. He realized that quarterbacking is really about doing the obvious thing that’s right in front of you at the highest level you possibly can. There’s a reason why Caleb Williams really liked Kevin O’Connell, as I wrote about. He just knows how to speak quarterback and I think that they’re going to be really successful.
Vikings sign safety K’Von Wallace amid Harrison Smith uncertainty
With news of Harrison Smith recovering from a personal health matter, the Minnesota Vikings have beefed up the safety room by signing veteran K’Von Wallace to the practice squad.
With Smith’s status for the Sept. 8 season opener against the Chicago Bears up in the air, Wallace brings some needed depth to the roster. The 28-year-old was a fourth-round pick by the Eagles in 2020 and he’s played 71 games with four teams ever since.
Vikings can acquire Harrison Smith’s successor for free and why it involves Daniel Jones
Where things are going to be interesting is how the Vikings choose Smith’s successor. We’ve thought the last year might have happened multiple times, but he continues to return to the team for at least one more season. When do you make his successor a priority? The answer might have fallen right into their laps.
In a surprising move, the New England Patriots decided to move on from safety Jabril Peppers, releasing him on Friday afternoon.
It’s an interesting move by the Patriots for a number of reasons. The former first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2017 was signed by the Patriots to a three-year extension worth up to $25 million after three good seasons in New England. He played so well that Peppers was one of Pro Football Focus’s best players at the safety position.
Vikings making major bet with cornerbacks who could make or break their season
As of Thursday evening, the Vikings only had four cornerbacks on their roster. One of them, Byron Murphy Jr., is a proven veteran. Another, Isaiah Rodgers, has provided plenty of reasons to believe during training camp.
Behind those two? The Vikings have experience in Jeff Okudah and upside with Dwight McGothern. But there are concerns with both.
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Pass rush and coverage tend to be tied together. The quicker the quarterback gets rid of the football, the less time cornerbacks are forced to cover, and the lower the average depth of receiving targets.
The Vikings’ words and dollars spent leave no doubt. They believe that spending their resources heavily on the front end will be most beneficial.
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Category: General Sports
