The Daily Norseman Mailbag, September 10th, 2021

Game Week against the Bengals mailbag

Good Morning!

One email question this week, excellent!

One question via Twitter, SWEET!

For salary cap questions I’ll continue using overthecap.com so I’m consistent with the numbers I throw out there.

Any trades involving draft picks I’m using the updated NFL Trade Value Chart developed by Rich Hill available at https://www.drafttek.com/NFL-Trade-Value-Chart-Rich-Hill.asp

For evaluating or looking up draft prospects or rookies my go to is thedraftnetwork.com

If I can’t come up with what I think is a legitimate answer, I’ll ask someone who I think can provide one.

Enough from me, let’s see what was on everyone’s mind.

@matthewkrier pondered via Twitter:

Bold prediction time: At the end of this season, who is the team’s MVP?

Short answer: Dalvin Cook if it’s a 9-11 win year.

Longer answer: Kirk Cousins if it’s a 12-14 win year.

If it’s an okay to good year Dalvin Cook, if it’s a great year Kirk Cousins. Quarterbacks disproportionately receive these MVP awards and to be fair the league rules are tilted towards the offense and QB’s in particular. Depending on how you view Cousins, he’s the guy that will make or break this season and if he doesn’t, that’s your team MVP.
Also, it depends on how you view a great year. My definition of a great year would include 13-14 wins, and a NFC Championship game which even homer me can’t wrap my head around at this point.

Vhcadet asked:

Will we ever get the Tre Waynes revenge game and all the hype and accolades that go with winning such an important revenge game?

Sadly, no. Waynes is rapidly turning into an injury bust for the Bengals as he hasn’t played a game since he signed his BAC (big ass contract) last year.

Mn-Fan-Outwest pondered:

Hey Rob !! Thx for the mailbag. Are you going to venture up to the Vikings vs Panthers game? If so… are you down to make a DN poster so we can see it !! ??

I had already made the decision to not go to a game this year due to Covid as I am the sole provider for a family of four with a disabled adult child. I now have additional obligations at home which would prevent me from going to a game for the foreseeable future.
I would definitely do a Daily Norseman poster though.

GA Skol and I talked about making a Daily Norseman flag for the 2016 Jags-Vikings game, but it never got out of the planning stages.

Midwinter Viking asked:

Tyler Conklin – Over or Under 110 fantasy points (ppr)?
Translated to non-pretend football, that’s 40 catches, 400 yards, 5 TD.

I would have jumped on the over before the Herndon trade, now I think they’ll have a rotation between Conklin, Herndon and Dillon….probably slide Conklin into the passing TE role but maybe Herndon fills that role. Losing Smith Jr. was (potentially) huge.

JW_15807 pondered:

How does the loss of Irv Smith Jr. impact the offensive scheme? Do we see a shift to more 3 WR sets?

I think we’ll see more of the same from the tight end position as last year, lots of blocking with the occasional third down conversion or touchdown.

As to your second question: I was hoping so, I asked Matthew Coller at Purple Insider the exact same thing a week or two ago. His answer preceeded the trade for Herndon but he essentially said a leopard doesn’t change its’ spots. Kubiak Jr. wasn’t going to have time to incorporate more 3WR sets this late in the preseason as a feature in the offense.

The other thing I wanted was more pre-snap motion, which is a stable of the Shanahan offense.

HiVike asked:

If you had to choose a “scent” to represent the Vikings, which scent would you choose? And since we’re answering grammar questions…….Which letter is “silent” in scent. The “S” or the “C”???

If frustration and disappointment had a scent that would represent the Vikings.
As to your second question, “yes.”

Droogvike pondered:

Rob, pundits have the Vikes defensive rankings all over the place, The Athletic ranks them #1, ESPN has them #2, a bunch of others have them middle of the pack. What do you think, top 10? I mean their Run D should be elite, their secondary should be at least solid, no idea how much pass rush we’ll get across from Hunter, they look potentially really good with all the guys returning from injury and the new guys but it seems like there’s not much of a rough consensus on how good they’ll be.

Low bar is low but better than whateverthehellthatwasonthefieldlastyear. The acquisitions of Richardson, Peterson and the return of Kendricks, Pierce, Hunter (and maybe) Barr point to a much better defense. As has been pointed out the backups leave much to be desired at certain positions so losing Kendricks, Barr or the Hitman for an extended period would put a huge damper on the defense.

Let’s go with top ten in points allowed.

NorthwoodsVF asked:

Dear Jus’t_Rob, I’m s’eeing an increas’ingly frequent trend where people are ins’erting apos’trophes’ after any S’ even when the word is’ not a contraction or demons’trating pos’s’es’s’ion. When will this’ exciting new apathy and lack of education carry over to the Vikings’ uniforms’?

I blew a gasket trying to reading this.

PA Viking Fan pondered via email:

I see a lot of comments in the open threads about depth at certain positions, and bemoaning the fact that we are weak at WR (ignore that WR1 and WR2 are pretty darn good). What player (besides Kirk), do you think we can least afford to be out an extended period of time this season?

Losing either Jefferson or Thielen royally hoses the passing offense, I realize they are both very good but which WR3 steps into that WR2 role? Osborn is listed as the WR3 and has potential, Westbrook hasn’t seen the field yet except in practice. The rookie WR’s didn’t light up the field during preseason except in certain cases.

On offense (beside Cousins) Cook, Jefferson/Thielen.
Could they get by with Mattison or (Nwangwu-on IR right now) sure but it’s a downgrade in the level of talent.
Same with Osborn or Westbrook for the wide receivers.

As to the defense; Kendricks, Hunter or the Hitman.

Thank you again to everyone who took the time to pose questions either via Twitter, email or in the mailbag post. Look for the next mailbag post in two weeks.

Skol