Charley Walters: Vikings’ future is as muddled as ever
After three games, it’s still hard to figure out where the Minnesota Vikings organization is headed.
After last season, there were major changes in the coaching staff and front office, but not in player personnel. Unless the Vikings (2-1 entering Sunday’s tossup game against the New Orleans Saints in London) collapse this season, they won’t end up drafting high enough to get an elite quarterback. At some point, the franchise has to turn the page on some older players like Adam Thielen (32), Eric Kendricks (30) and Harrison Smith (33).
Quarterback Kirk Cousins (34) isn’t terrible, but he’s not great. It seems the franchise is paddling along in mid-stream.
Options: If after the season ownership and the front office decide they’ve had their run with this group, they would let some higher-paid veterans go, then could trade future draft picks to move up to choose a young QB in April.
But that pretty much would be admitting the team isn’t going to contend for a year or two while rebuilding, the same as the Chicago Bears are doing now with their three-year plan.
That’s a risk, of course. Sometimes it pays off. The Buffalo Bills did it a few years ago, took their lumps, but then Josh Allen turned out to be a great QB. If the Vikings were to do that and a young quarterback doesn’t work out, then the gamble wasn’t worth it.
So the question for the Vikings is how long are they are willing to pay some older players for mediocrity, including Cousins. We probably won’t know until the season ends, whether the Vikings make the playoffs or not and where their draft slot is.
The way it looks now, the Vikings are a team that could contend for a playoff spot, and that could come down to the final game of the season against the Bears in Chicago. If the Vikings were to get into the playoffs, though, it’s hard to imagine they would win more than one game.
There’s also the question of how much star wide receiver Justin Jefferson (23) is going to cost after the season. Despite just nine catches for 62 yards his last two games, Jefferson’s anticipated huge offseason market hasn’t diminished. The Vikings are trying to figure out how to get him more touches while taking advantage of defenses double-teaming him.
Cousins is in his 11th NFL season and 34 years old. To expect anything different now than what he has been seems illogical. What’s interesting about Cousins’ career is that in 2012, Washington picked Robert Griffin III in the first round of the draft, figuring he would be their franchise QB. In the fourth round, under coach Mike Shanahan, Washington chose Cousins as a developmental QB who might grow into a backup role.
RGIII had a great first year, but then tore his knee and was never the same. Cousins eventually became the starter, and the word out of Washington is that Shanahan actually liked Cousins more than RGIII, but owner Dan Snyder insisted on Griffin. Ultimately, Shanahan was fired.
QB Andy Dalton, who could start for the Saints against the Vikings on Sunday, lost to the Vikings against the Bears in the final game of last season, after which Mike Zimmer was fired as coach.
Jackson State, where Zimmer is a defensive analyst for Deion Sanders, has won its first four games. Also, Zimmer and his former Vikings GM, Rick Spielman, have joined a media firm called The 33rd Team to provide football content. Zimmer’s son Adam, a former Vikings co-defensive coordinator, is an offensive consultant for the Cincinnati Bengals, who on Thursday defeated previously unbeaten Miami.
Mike Zimmer is still getting paid by the Vikings. Once his contract ends, it won’t be surprising if he writes a tell-all book about his experiences in Minnesota.
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The Saints are the home team on Sunday in London. In 2024, when the Vikings will have nine home games, look for them to give up one of those to again play overseas. Next week, the Green Bay Packers will play a home game against the New York Giants in London. Next year, the Vikings will play eight home games and nine road games.
The Patriots lost QB Mac Jones last Sunday for a minimum of a few weeks with a high ankle injury and will replace him with journeyman Brian Hoyer, meaning the Packers should win easily in Green Bay on Sunday.
Since his promotion from the minors to the Twins, slugger Matt Wallner from Forest Lake is getting $4,000 per day in salary. It’s still a small sample, but Wallner has recorded a home run exit velocity of 113.8 mph. New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s top EV this season is 118.4.
By the way, people who know say you won’t find a nicer guy in the big leagues than Judge, on and off the field.
The way it looks now, the Gophers, 20-10 losers to Purdue on homecoming Saturday in the Big Ten’s weak West Division, will be underdogs at Illinois on Oct. 15.
Minnesota is projected to play in the Music City Bowl against Arkansas in Nashville, Tenn., on Dec. 31, per cbssports.com.
Numi Omot (6-foot-9, 200 pounds) from Mahtomedi via Baylor last week signed with the New York Knicks.
Kendall Brown, who played his sophomore year at East Ridge, is with the Indiana Pacers in training camp. Brother Courtney from East Ridge is a senior at the University of St. Thomas.
Ex-Twins reliever Tyler Duffey is 1-1 with one save and a 4.91 earned-run average for the Yankees’ Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre affiliate.
In the Twins’ final season in the Metrodome, 2009, the club averaged 29,466 ticket buyers. The next year, the Twins’ first at Target Field, they averaged 39,798. This year, the Twins averaged 22,236. Last year, it was 16,377.
Eccentric St. Paul Saints President Mike Veeck on the recent loss of his mother, speaking at a Twin Cities Dunkers gathering: “We did not lose my mom. We know exactly where she is. She is up in Heaven hustling holy water with my dad.”
New hall of famer Tony Oliva speaks at the Capital Club, presented by Twins peerless broadcast voice Cory Provus, at Mendakota Country Club on Oct. 11.
Former major league umpire Tim Tschida speaks to the Dunkers on Oct. 13.
Shortstop Terrin Vavra, 25, the former Gophers shortstop, is hitting .270 for the Baltimore Orioles in 35 games.
Mahtomedi’s Sean Hjelle of the San Francisco Giants earned his first major league victory with four innings of relief last week against Colorado. Mounds View’s Sam Hentges is 3-2 with 69 strikeouts in 60 innings for the Cleveland Guardians. Simley’s Michael Busch could be the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor league player of the year with 21 homers at Triple-A Oklahoma City and 11 at Double-A Tulsa.
Pat Miles, the popular retired local TV anchor, has a book, “Before All is Said and Done,” on advice on living and dying, coming out on Tuesday.
Look for former Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders, 26, to return to Target Center on Jan. 2 as an assistant for the Denver Nuggets.
Hall of Fame former Twin Rod Carew turned 77 on Saturday, the same day as 1987 Twins World Series champion closer Jeff Reardon turned 67.
Star Tim Schmitz and his 1976 St. John’s national championship football team was to be Inducted Saturday into the university’s Hall of Honor.
Hill-Murray’s new Athletic Hall of Fame class: Don Hartman, Tim Whisler, Dennis Ryan, Deanna Mauer, Taylor Cross and Tess Rizzardi.
Former North Stars radio voice Stephen Michael, after a summer break at Big Lake, Minn., next week resumes his 26th year as TV broadcaster for world championship powerboat racing in Sardinia, Italy.
DON’T PRINT THAT
Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson is in the third season of a guaranteed $13.1 million, four-year rookie contract. The 23-year-old told GQ Sports how he spent some of the money.
There was $405,000 on a townhome; $150,000 on a new Mercedes AMG; $50,000 on jewelry, which included a pinky ring; $20,000 on clothes; $20,000 on home interior design; $10,000 on shoes and $10,000 on Christmas gifts.
“I’m not a big money spending person,” Jefferson said. Of the jewelry, he said he had to get “bling bling.” Of buying the Mercedes, he said, “That was a must.”
After this season, assuming there’s not a major injury, Jefferson will have plenty more millions to spend. That’s when negotiations for his next contract begin.
He’s expected, at least temporarily, to become the NFL’s top-paid wide receiver, topping even the Miami Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill, whose four-year contract averages $30 million a season.
By the way, the guy he has replaced with the Vikings, Buffalo wideout Stefan Diggs, has a four-year deal averaging $26 million.
Vikings rookie head coach Kevin O’Connell has a four-year deal estimated at $4 million a year, the same as Denver first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett.
If Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t recover from his concussion protocol in time, ex-Viking Teddy Bridgewater could face the Vikings in Miami on Oct. 16.
Gophers rooters will have to wait until next year, but Minnesota has a generational QB in redshirt frosh Athan Kaliakmanis.
Gophers record-setting running back Mo Ibrahim is projected as a fifth-round draft pick for April’s NFL draft. QB Tanner Morgan is expected to be a free agent signing.
It could take $250 million over seven years for the Twins to retain shortstop Carlos Correa, 28, who without an extension will soon opt out of the remaining $70.2 million, two years left on his deal. With the Red Sox expected to lose Xander Bogaerts, Boston could be Correa’s next destination.
Hall of fame ex-Twin Bert Blyleven, who resides in Fort Myers, Fla., and wife Gayle are fine after Hurricane Ian, but don’t have internet service yet. “We do have water and Coors Light,” he said Saturday.
The Twins have been quietly trying for a year to trade Max Kepler, 29, who has one contract season left at $8.5 million.
It won’t occur for a long time, but don’t think the NFL’s decision last week to change its Pro Bowl to a flag football game isn’t a precursor, due to the violent nature of its game and overwhelming evidence of brain and other debilitating injuries, to the league becoming a modified version of flag football.
Preseason frontrunner for Mr. Basketball Minnesota is 6-4 wing-guard Taison Chatman from Totino-Grace. People who know say Ohio State was the clear choice over the Gophers for Chatman, who the other day made it official by committing to the Buckeyes. Chatman’s 6-3 brother Tian, a freshman shooting guard, also is a Division I prospect.
Kerwin Walton, the 6-5 former Hopkins basketball star who will be a junior at Texas Tech this season, scored 58 three-point shots as a freshman for North Carolina, which is No. 1 in the nation in preseason rankings.
Some people think Gold Glove Byron Buxton’s chronic right knee could prompt the Twins to consider a move from center field to first base.
One local autograph baseball collector acquired a Shohei Ohtani ball that he hit for a single against the Twins 10 days ago at Target Field. The Twins are selling an Ohtani ball he hit for a single last Sunday at their authentics game-used business for $2,000. Meanwhile, the Twins’ authentics staff couldn’t have been thrilled when third baseman Gio Urshela tossed an Ohtani ball that had been hit for a single into the crowd.
One national memorabilia firm says it will pay $2 million to the fan who ends up with Aaron Judge’s record-breaking No. 62 home run, if he hits it.
The Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, on the market for $8 million, has received two major national offers that have been declined.
Principal owner Hollis Cavner has become a full-time resident of Florida. “(Royal Club) needs somebody who’s there full-time,” Cavner said. “It makes money and everything is great, but it’s just hard being an absentee owner.”
Cavner said there are “quite a few groups looking at it.”
It won’t be surprising if Miguel Sano, 29, at the end of a $30 million, three-year Twins contract with a $2.75 million buyout for 2023, ends up in Japan next year.
Released ex-Twin C.J. Cron has hit 29 home runs and 28 doubles with 102 runs batted in for the Colorado Rockies.
Ex-Twins designated hitter Nelson Cruz, 42, signed through this season for $12 million with a $3 million buyout, batted .234 with 10 home runs in 124 games for the Nationals.
You’ve got to wonder whether Glen Taylor, who has agreed to sell the Timberwolves and Lynx for $1.5 billion, wouldn’t mind the deal falling through now that the upcoming sale of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury could fetch as much as $2.5 billion. Taylor bought the Wolves and Lynx for $88 million in 1994.
OVERHEARD
Former Gopher Tim McIntosh from Hopkins, a former Yankees scout now in the real estate business in the Twin Cities, on seeing Yankees home run king Aaron Judge in high school in Linden, Calif., per the New York Post: “There was nothing there. Everybody missed on him. But he just kept getting better and better.