Two weeks into the latest pivotal offseason and outside Vikesborg nothing more is known than when the season concluded.
We still don't even know if Kwesi is actually up to the task of building a better roster than the mess that Spielman left behind. Being that 2024 will be the tie-breaker between the total miss that was the 2022 first round and the seemingly-successful selection of Jordan Addision his time on the clock will carry more significance than usual.
That could come during the opening hour of the draft
Could be during the second in their earned slot
OR, could be later in the evening April 25th
The first two are pretty straight-forward but riding a gut feeling, the third one has better than a 33% chance of happening. With the first 24 picks of the draft set going into the second weekend of play we can start to speculate more precisely about which team could want to get up to the 11th.
A dream scenario would have it be the team that is next season's Carolina to put the Purple in the driver's seat but we may not be as lucky as Chicago. With as many as eight teams in the top 10 set to be in search of a young, franchise quarterback that potential piece of leverage creation is also unlikely to come to pass.
The other side of 3 or 4 quarterbacks going that high is that other highly-sought-after players would remain on the market. That could help motivate Cincinnati, Jacksonville or former St. Louis to open their coffers and improve around their established guys.
Perhaps it will bome as a surprise to you as well but when the season began St. Louis was only .3 older than Green Bay for average age. That may help keep them from a precipitous decline next season but with Matthew Stafford & Aaron Donald getting up in years and rumors of McVay retiring continuing to linger, their dynamic could change before the next preseason is over.
Whatever they do with the draft will hinge significantly on Kirk Cousins' standing with the franchise.
A less-capitalistic player may take a one-year deal to answer the questions resulting from the achilles injury but Kirk has been rigid about that going back to his start with DC. On a purely human level it makes all the sense in the world for him to squeeze everything he can out of his time as a pro. Fanaticism clouds that judgement though.
Even if he were to deviate from his previous approach to contracts I'm not convinced that it's in the team's best interest to make even one more run with him. There are just too many other weak spots on the roster for it to become a conference title game contender next January. That may end up being Kwesi's saving grace if the Wilfs question him about the team's approach, he's still very much just trying to straighten-out the salary cap situation, get younger and create the multi-year opening to be more than a first round exit operation.
So that means there is a fair chance we've seen the last of Hunter's 99 and Harrison Smith's 24 because that would save them pennies shy of $15,300,000. Marcus Davenport was a complete waste of $13,000,000 and even Jordan Hicks at $5,000,00 could be too pricey for the team when free agency has unfolded.
Even with the odds of Brian Flores remaining the defensive coordinator improving with each passing day the team will still need to give him more talent to play with. It can't all be about the money. That may be Smith's best chance to finish as a member of the organization, if Flores pounds the table to have him back as a veteran leader and mentor.
Which still leaves the question of Justin Jefferson's extension looming. There would be some practicality in flipping him for all that other teams would offer instead of committing to the giant salary while also having uncertainty at the quarterback position but the business of the franchise may rule that out since he has become a face of the League and is far & away Minnesota's favorite player for young fans.
That particular piece of the puzzle doesn't seem likely to be fitted-in until there is some resolution about who will be getting him the ball next season & beyond.
Independent of that, for the second straight offseason long-time, cornerstone talents will depart. In their place may be more rentals to maintain some level of competitiveness as the youth-movement advances.
If you're not sensing much optimism it's because there isn't a lot.
Not with a muddled path forward and a division that suddenly seems like it will be as fraught with challenges as it has been for several decades.
If they can find a way to five more Ivan Pace-level undrafted players while also hitting on at least four of their nine current selections then they might be able to avoid the cellar of the North but Detroit & Green Bay are clearly ahead and Chicago already has a leg up on the Norse to that end. So to put it plainly, it really will be a tenure-defining stretch of months for the current brain-trust.
Let's hope they're up to the task
Fun stuff, I know...
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