Vikings OC?

[hockeyBjj]

I haven't seen a thread on this.

Vikings are coming off a disappointing season, and a big reason for that was a failure of the offense to execute. They fired Defillipo mid season, basically because Zimmer was begging him to run the ball more for a balance and Vikings remained dead last in the league rushing attempts. Vikings offense seemed to be ok against subpar defenses, and absolutely dreadful against better units and just looked lost.

Weapons of Diggs, Thielen, Cook, and Rudolph to go with Cousins (who is horribly overpaid, but is at least a top 15Qb, right???) should be prime for a CAPABLE offensive coordinator to use correctly. Pat Shumer was able to get them to click without Cook and with Keenum as his QB

Stefanski did about the same as DeFilippo with the interim job. Made it work well against a bad Dolphins D, and failed to get a first down until 3 minutes left in the half against the dreaded Bears D.

Candidates I'm seeing for the job include re-signing Stefanski (who is a free agent and also interviewing elsewhere), Jim Bob Cooter (who could use Cousins with the passing weapons like Stafford, Vikes just have a defense and a runningback whereas Lions never did) Dan Campbell (Saints assistance head coach and TE coach who the Vikings interviewed last year to be their OC) and horrifyingly Hue Jackson- who some are trying to say Jackson did do alright as an OC and only failed spectacularly as a HC.

My personal opinion is none of this matters until we fix our horrid O-line, but does anyone think the right OC (and who that would be) can actually get the points they should out of an offense with the weapons the Vikings have?

[JoshGordonsDealer]

I agree -- until you have a real OL, none of it matters.

[Pac_Eddy]

Third here to agree that o-line is everything. They hit on Elflein and O'Neill, I think if they use more draft and free agent capital on the line, they'll be much better.

DeFilipo, Hue Jackson, or Stefanski can work if they just plug a couple major holes. The defense is still elite but can't carry them against playoff teams with nothing from the offense.

[Elroypedro]

Agree about O line. None of those candidates are very interesting but anybody could make that work there with a better line. Minnesota should spend all draft capital and cap room in free agency building that line.

What does everybody think of Cousins’ potential to be a dynasty starter in 1QB going forward? He is my QB2 behind Brees who will be done anytime now, so I’m trying to figure out if I need to spend anything to replace Brees now or just take a Rookie soon to backup Cousins.

[Cameron Giles]

Agree about O line. None of those candidates are very interesting but anybody could make that work there with a better line. Minnesota should spend all draft capital and cap room in free agency building that line.

What does everybody think of Cousins’ potential to be a dynasty starter in 1QB going forward? He is my QB2 behind Brees who will be done anytime now, so I’m trying to figure out if I need to spend anything to replace Brees now or just take a Rookie soon to backup Cousins.

Cousins has been a QB1 four seasons in a row. I would expect that to continue. In 1QB, QB's aren't that valuable in trades, so even if you needed to get one it shouldn't cost you a ton.

[Elroypedro]

Agree about O line. None of those candidates are very interesting but anybody could make that work there with a better line. Minnesota should spend all draft capital and cap room in free agency building that line.

What does everybody think of Cousins’ potential to be a dynasty starter in 1QB going forward? He is my QB2 behind Brees who will be done anytime now, so I’m trying to figure out if I need to spend anything to replace Brees now or just take a Rookie soon to backup Cousins.

Cousins has been a QB1 four seasons in a row. I would expect that to continue. In 1QB, QB's aren't that valuable in trades, so even if you needed to get one it shouldn't cost you a ton.

I’m in a shark league with guys doing all kinds of strategies to get an edge and two guys are currently hoarding QBs to inflate the market(these things go in cycles in a league like this - a guy had Ertz, Kittle, Ebron, and Cook to start this year and got a big overpay for selling Ertz and Ebron to playoff contenders this way. So unfortunately QB movement is currently stagnant in my league as they’re over priced. Again, it goes in cycles, so they’ll probably loosen up if there is an injury to someone’s starter and one of the guys gets their overpay(one has Mahomes, Goff, Trubisky, Jackson), the other (Cam, Ryan, Ben, Mayfield). So I want Mayfield or Trub badly but these guys want overpays. I have to wait until someone else overpays and evens out the market or until I am in dire need and overpay myself. Ugh.

But that said, thanks for the insight. I’m just a little uncomfortable with Cousins as my 1 next year or the year after.

[Lotto4Life]

Having Cousins as your QB depends on your roster construction. If your lineup is very good otherwise you may want someone more consistent (like Rivers). If you need your QB to win you some weeks, Cousins may be a better fit. But you have to be prepared for him to lay some eggs.

[ericanadian]

Agree about O line. None of those candidates are very interesting but anybody could make that work there with a better line. Minnesota should spend all draft capital and cap room in free agency building that line.

What does everybody think of Cousins’ potential to be a dynasty starter in 1QB going forward? He is my QB2 behind Brees who will be done anytime now, so I’m trying to figure out if I need to spend anything to replace Brees now or just take a Rookie soon to backup Cousins.

The o-line last year was masked by Shurmur’s quick strike passing attack and were exposed when they faced a competent pass rush combined with a competent offense (Pittsburgh, Carolina & Philly lit em up). When Shurmur moved on and the team went to a more downfield passing attack, it exacerbated the problem and now Chicago has a competent offense, which accounts for two additional losses.

I guess the question I would have, is whether the problem is the linemen, or a lack of chemistry between the linemen and the coaching, which both seem to be constantly in flux. Changing more parts isn’t necessarily going to fix things and may just add to the problems. It’s not often that an elite tackle like Whitworth comes available, so you’re often picking from veterans with their own issues or rookies who need experience.

[hockeyBjj]

Since this became heavy about Vikings O-line, PFF graded the Vikings as 29th in the league with their algorithms. So it's not just the eye test that makes them look garbage. They are indeed that bad

[Friction]

Sounds like Hue is a real possibility now.

[Valhalla]

[hockeyBjj]

Vikings keep Stefanski ESPN reports

Been with Minnesota since 2006 as TEs, RBs, and QB coach. I hope he was paying good attention when Pat Shumur was OC

Hard to know what this will look like for the Vikes. He's never implemented an offense before. Only really had 4 games of calling plays with a simplified DeFelipo playbook

[honcho55]

Just happy it’s not hue jackson I guess.

now to see how they address o line

[Valhalla]

Just happy it’s not hue jackson I guess.

now to see how they address o line

Yeah bad OL play just ruins the watching experience...
Unless you're watching your defense shred an opposing OL I suppose

[honcho55]

So for those not as up to date on Vikings: the O line coach Tony Sparano died about a month before the preseason started. And from what I can tell from a fan perspective is, he did a very nice job in that role. So aside from the tragedy of it weighing on the team, they lost a pretty big piece of the puzzle off the bat also.

So, there is also still a search for that coaching vacancy, and I think it can just pretty impactful for fantasy also. One bigger name thats cropped up is Joe Philbin. I’d have been uninspired by him as an OC/HC, but I believe that could be a huge hire as a o line positional coach.