>>>ALL THINGS VIKINGS<<<

Thielen wants to stay too and Im a huge fan. I hope they can work things out, he's a great player and very valuable piece for the Vikings offense.

 

Looks like we know who the Vikings will play next season...



Vikings Home Opponents:

NFC North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers

NFC South: New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers

NFC West: San Francisco 49ers


Vikings Road Opponents:

NFC North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers

NFC South: Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers

AFC West: Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders

NFC East: Philadelphia Eagles

AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals

 

@Torgo and us Vikings fans will have a good time with a visit to the ATL.

 

This is tough at home looks oh man then on the road looks like this oh sh*t a nightmare

 

This is how weird Aaron Rodgers is this into darkness whatever this is its something he could have kept this to himself instead this nothing but an attention grabbing Drama Queen move

 

I could see going to a remote island getaway and not being contacted by the outside world. No tv, internet or radio if you wanted to avoid hearing about the news. But in a dark room is a little too much.

 

I think it's a little to much also

 

Dalvin Cook had shoulder surgery



Vikings running back Dalvin Cook will be in recovery mode to kick off the offseason.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Cook had shoulder surgery on Tuesday. Cook has a history of shoulder issues dating back to college and the report indicates that this operation is dealing with an injury he initially suffered in 2019. Cook also appeared on injury reports due to his shoulder in 2021 and 2022.


The shoulder did not keep Cook from appearing in every game for the Vikings in 2022. He ran 264 times for 1,173 yards and eight touchdowns in the regular season. It was his fourth-straight year with at least 1,100 rushing yards. His 15.5 rushing attempts per game were the lowest of that span and he added 39 catches for 295 yards and two touchdowns.

Cook is signed through 2025 and is set to make a base salary of $10.4 million with a cap hit of just over $14.1 million in 2023.

PFT

 

8 Vikings who could make a big jump in 2023

No matter what happens with many of the high-priced veterans who could be salary cap casualties this offseason, the Minnesota Vikings are going to need young players to improve by leaps and bounds if they want to be a true contender in 2023.

Here are eight players who could reasonably be expected to make that jump.

Lewis Cine, S
By all accounts, Lewis Cine is making great progress in his rehab from a season-ending ankle/leg injury. The 32nd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft has the speed and explosiveness to be a dynamic playmaker in Minnesota's secondary – especially if new defensive coordinator Brian Flores gets aggressive and uses him all over the field similar to how Cine was used in college at Georgia.

Ty Chandler, RB
Chandler popped in the preseason but wasn't used as a running back during the regular season because the Vikings had Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison. If Cook is cut to save salary cap space and Mattison goes elsewhere as an unrestricted free agent, there's nothing standing in the way of Chandler becoming the primary running back.

Cameron Dantzler, CB
It'll be Year 4 for Dantzler and maybe his first real chance to be successful. His rookie year in 2020 was under the chaotic cloud from the pandemic. Year 2 in 2021 was under a disastrous season that ended with the firing of Mike Zimmer. Year 3 in 2022 could've been a big jump but almost no one succeeded in Ed Donatell's defense. With Brian Flores calling the defense in 2023 and three years of experience under his belt, maybe Dantzler lives up to the hype as a third-round draft pick.

Josh Mettellus, S
If Harrison Smith isn't back next season, the starting safety job opposite of Camryn Bynum or Lewis Cine is definitely going to be Josh Mettellus. The 25-year-old's Pro Football Focus grade was one of the best among NFL safeties this season and his teammates voted him a captain late in the season.

Brian Asamoah, LB
The speedy linebacker is a virtual lock to be a starting linebacker next season. He flashed big-time playmaking ability in Minnesota's Christmas Eve win over the Giants when he forced and recovered a fumble. He was graded the ninth-best linebacker in the NFL over the final four weeks of the regular season by Pro Football Focus.

Jalen Nailor, WR
Minnesota is hard up for cap space and they need depth at wide receiver. Nailor could have a big role as the No. 3 wide receiver in 2023 but only if Adam Thielen doesn't return. If Thielen is back, Nailor is likely No. 4 on the depth chart behind Justin Jefferson, Thielen and K.J. Osborn. But if Thielen is gone, Nailor slides up to No. 3 and could be the field-stretching speedster the team needs to take pressure off Jefferson.

Andrew Booth Jr., CB
If healthy, Booth Jr. has the athletic ability to be a big-time cornerback. But he's been unable to avoid injury going all the way back to his high school days. The Vikings saw so much talent that they took him in the second round with hopes that he could be a starting corner for years to come. Still only 22 years old, the sky remains the limit for the former Clemson Tiger.

Akayleb Evans, CB
He's a 6-foot-2 corner who was thrown into the fire as a rookie before multiple concussions ended his season. He flashed some ability to play at a high level and his second year in the league should be more fruitful – especially in a scheme that emphasizes putting pressure on the quarterback, thus giving cornerbacks a chance to play aggressive instead of sitting back in shell coverages.

SI

 

Dalvin Cook has an shoulder injury and surgery wow this is not good as good as he has been it's time for him to go, trade him to a winning team he deserves that much time to get younger and faster

 

Wow, thats a tough thing you just said. Im not ready to deal Cook yet, he will be ok. The time-line for recovery is still unknown, but he needed to have this done. He actually broke his shoulder in 2019 and its been messing with him ever since causing him to miss a few games and leave games for a bit because of the pain. Id say he was pretty good considering what he was going through. Id like to see one more year of a healthy Cook on the field and besides he carries a $14.1M cap hit for 2023, nobody would bite that, lol.

 

Just read a statement from the team that Cook will be ready for the start of the 2023 season.

 

This offseason for the Vikings will be tough we will see if there for real in making the Vikings better,enough of this running it back hey Wilfs it's time to put up or shut up..they got to get younger and faster there's going to be some VERY VERY painful cuts
GO VIKINGS

 

Thanks Tricky Ricky the Vikings are a mess

 

I suppose its possible Cook and Thielen could be gone. Harrison Smith looks like he'll be back, but your right, some heads are going to have to roll.

 

Brian Flores: “Great opportunity for growth” with Vikings



Brian Flores was still in the mix for the Cardinals head coaching job when he spoke to the Vikings about their defensive coordinator vacancy a little more than a week ago, but that conversation ended with him out of the running in Arizona.

At a press conference in Minnesota on Wednesday, Flores said that he felt a “great kind of camaraderie” right away with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell, General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, and offensive coordinator Wes Phillips. That meeting left him with a “gut feeling’ that the job was the right one for him and he shared another message that resonated when he thought about what direction to go.

Flores cited a sermon he heard from his pastor in Pittsburgh — he was a senior assistant and linebackers coach for the Steelers in 2022 — saying that you “can have control or you can have growth” and that he sees a “great opportunity for growth” as a coach in Minnesota. Later in the press conference, he said “we’ll see what happens in the future” when asked about interest in another head coaching job after the 2023 season.

The Vikings will be hoping for growth on the field after finishing 28th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed under former coordinator Ed Donatell and Flores’ future head coaching prospects won’t be hurt if he turns things around on that side of the field.

PFT

 

Vikings to keep 3-4 base defense, with adjustments suited to opponent

After many years with the 4-3 alignment as the base defense in Minnesota, the Vikings switched in 2022 to a 3-4, under Ed Donatell. With Donatell out after one bad season and former Dolphins coach Brian Flores in, the Vikings will continue to use the 3-4.

But there’s one important caveat. The deployment of defenders will be driven by strategic considerations, on a game by game basis.


Via ESPN.com, Flores told reporters that things will be fluid.

“Who are we playing?” Flores said. “It’s game-plan-specific. But it’s a 3-4.”

Last year, the Vikings commenced the process of acquiring the personnel needed to run a 3-4. This year, it sounds as if they’ll need players who are sufficiently flexible to do whatever Flores thinks is needed in order to get the most out of the defense.

However it goes, it can’t be much worse than it was in 2022. If the offense stays the same and if the defense improves just slightly, the Vikings could make it another level or two deeper into the postseason before inevitably having their season suddenly and abruptly end.

PFT

 

Personnel available and the ability to adapt on the fly will also be a factor in my opinion. While he is going to remain a 3-4 base, he's also going to need the right player types to fit the scheme... rotational skills will be a premium. Hope he nails it, but he's got some serious work to do.

 

Vikings DC Brian Flores says he is 'aggressive by nature' as he looks to turn Minnesota's defense around

Defensive coordinator Brian Flores has arrived in Minnesota with the goal of transforming the Vikings' 31st-ranked defense from a liability to a weapon.

One way to do so: Be more aggressive. Flores told reporters Wednesday he is "aggressive by nature," and he isn't afraid to dial up the pressure in order to get the job done, which will include implementing cover-zero blitzes.

"I think zero gives people some issues," Flores said. "I think if you're willing to, give a blitz-zero presentation and then send them, obviously offensively, they've got to prepare for it and have some answers for it. And then it becomes a cat-and-mouse game. Is it zero, is it not zero?

"Any way you slice it, you've got to be ready for it. So, that's part of the philosophy or the thought process. Maybe I'll try to come up with a different way of presenting it. But that's the game."

Flores' comments have to be music to Vikings fans' ears after going through a season in which Minnesota finished 13-4 and won the NFC North, but did so while dragging along the league's second-worst defense in terms of yards allowed per game. The Vikings didn't attempt to manufacture pressure very much under former coordinator Ed Donatell, finishing 25th in blitz rate, per Next Gen Stats, and watching opposing offenses benefit.

Flores aims to change that by sending more rushers with the hope it creates issues for opposing offenses. It's not as simple as sitting back and calling more blitzes, he said, and his defense's usage of manufactured pressure will at least somewhat depend on personnel. But Flores and coach Kevin O'Connell are certainly on the same page when it comes to increasing the defense's aggression.


Flores' name has been in the news cycle for much of the last year after he was unceremoniously fired by the Dolphins and filed a lawsuit against multiple NFL parties. He eventually attracted a number of interviews for defensive coordinator openings around the NFL in early 2023, and even met with the Cardinals to discuss potentially joining the club as their head coach. That job ended up going to Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, but Flores is content in Minneapolis.

"I'm where my feet are," Flores said, via the St. Paul Pioneer Press' Chris Tomasson. "I'm very excited to be here. ... I'm happy here in Minnesota, I really am."

Flores might end up earning another shot at a head-coaching job, but for now, his focus is on the Vikings. Turning Minnesota's defense into a stifling group won't be a simple task, but he's not taking over a unit with a bare cupboard, either. Minnesota boasts standouts like Danielle Hunter, Eric Kendricks and Za'Darius Smith, which will at least give Flores some legitimate front-seven defenders capable of generating pressure.

The Vikings still have some questions to answer on the back end of their defense, and an entire offseason to do so. Flores is ready to get to work.

NFL.com

 

Vikings re-sign Blake Brandel



The Vikings have re-signed one of their offensive linemen for the 2023 season.

Tackle Blake Brandel was set to be an exclusive rights free agent this offseason, but the Vikings circumvented that process by re-signing him on Friday.

Brandel made three starts in place of left tackle Christian Darrisaw while Darrisaw dealt with concussions during the 2022 season, but landed on injured reserve after hurting his knee in December. He also saw playing time as an extra tight end and on special teams.

The Vikings drafted Brandel in the sixth round of the 2020 draft and he returned to the team’s practice squad after being waived that September. He was waived again in 2021, but returned and wound up playing in 13 games that year.

PFT