Could the Seattle Seahawks look to add some considerable wide receiver talent? If so, Stefon Diggs could be available.
The Seattle Seahawks are fully engaged in offseason mode, which will include talent acquisition to improve the team ahead of the 2020 season. In fact, the Seahawks could very well be far more aggressive in this department than they have in previous offseasons.
While the season may have ended in disappointment, quarterback Russell Wilson was in the midst of an MVP caliber season by starting the year with 22 touchdowns against only one interception. For the first half of the year, he seemed to be a lock for the league’s top honor. However, thanks to injuries to many skill position players, Wilson and the offense’s high level of play faltered toward the end of the season.
Thanks to injuries, Wilson fell from being the MVP front-runner and Seattle blew a shot at the No. 1 seed in the NFC. As such, the Seahawks signal caller has made it clear the team needs to add more superstars to the roster. While Seattle definitely needs an infusion of talent on defense, they could certainly use some help on the offense as well.
Coming off a career high 1,130 receiving yards and back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons, it’s no secret Diggs is one of the league’s better wide outs. In his five year career, Diggs has never had less than 730 yards, which came in his rookie season. Since then he has gone on to abuse NFL secondaries to the tune of 30 touchdowns.
In early October, there were rumblings Diggs was unhappy and frustrated in Minnesota. Diggs could still be open to a change of scenery. Given the flow of receiving talent from Minnesota to Seattle – such as Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin – the Seahawks could be a landing spot.
The catch here is Diggs recently signed a five-year extension worth $72 million, which will pay him a base salary of $11.4 million in 2020. To acquire Diggs would take some serious cap negotiating and considerable draft capital surrendered to the Vikings.
However, the thought of adding a player like Diggs to a receiving corps headlined by Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf certainly is tantalizing to say the least.
In his senior year at Bayor, Mims caught 66 passes for 1,020 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The Vikings have receivers Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen.
That’s good.
That’s pretty much it, though, besides last year’s seventh-round pick Bisi Johnson. The Vikings badly need depth at wide receiver.
In a mock draft over at The Athletic, the Vikings draft a receiver in the fourth round, Denzel Mims out of Baylor.
Here’s what was written about Mims:
Mims does have more work to do as a receiver, particularly when it comes to refining some of the other aspects of his route-running, especially on comeback and in-breaking routes. There are also some fair questions about whether or not he’ll be able to maintain his high level of contested-catch ability given his frame and overall strength.
The Vikings will almost certainly draft a receiver in the 2020 NFL Draft — we just don’t know where.
In his senior year at Bayor, Mims caught 66 passes for 1,020 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Veteran offensive mastermind Gary Kubiak replaces Kevin Stefanski as the playcaller of Minnesota’s talented offense.
(Ron Chenoy, USA TODAY Sports)
Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski turned a stint of less than two full years at the position into the head coaching gig of the Cleveland Browns, and it resulted in Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer naming veteran offensive mastermind Gary Kubiak the OC for 2020.
The move makes a ton of sense for a number of reasons. Primarily, this team has tremendous “win-now pressure” to go on top of playing in a tough division and highly competitive conference. Rather than turning over the keys to an inexperienced playcaller, letting Kubiak drive this supercharged offense helps ensure it will achieve peak performance. His offensive system won’t be much different from what Stefanski ran, since Kubiak helped develop that system.
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If you remember back to Stefanski taking over for the fired John DeFilippo in 2018, Zimmer wanted to return to his roots with a ground-based offense. The Vikings were extremely effective running the ball in 2019 under Stefanski, and only two teams (SF, BAL) passed less often than Minnesota (50.5 percent run plays). Six of the seven teams to run the most plays on the ground were in the postseason this year, whereas just KC out of the 11 most pass-happy teams clinched a postseason berth. Remaining committed to such a formula is Zimmer’s directive in hiring Kubiak, the 2019 assistant head coach.
A quick refresher on Kubiak’s history reminds us of his love for running the football. Due, in part, to past health issues, he sat out of coaching in 2017 and ’18, instead holding a consultation role with the Denver Broncos. Granted, much has changed across the NFL from 1995 to present day, yet we have seen Kub produce top rushing and passing offenses, depending upon the personnel. While he mostly found success with average quarterback talent and a superstar in his last hoorah, it’s not like too many of Kubiak’s running backs were elite, either.
Offense
Rushing Off
Passing Off
Year
Tm
Role
Yds
Pts
TO
Att
Yds
TD
Y/A
FL
Att
Yds
TD
Int
1995
DEN
OC
3
9
14
16
5
13
2
22
7
7
8
8
1996
DEN
OC
1
4
17
2
1
2
4
25
16
13
5
12
1997
DEN
OC
1
1
6
6
4
5
2
7
20
9
4
6
1998
DEN
OC
3
2
3
2
2
1
2
3
21
7
5
8
1999
DEN
OC
14
18
10
9
12
10
14
8
10
15
26
16
2000
DEN
OC
2
2
7
4
3
3
6
17
9
3
6
5
2001
DEN
OC
22
10
9
6
10
30
19
3
20
25
8
18
2002
DEN
OC
3
7
11
11
5
5
3
4
14
8
18
23
2003
DEN
OC
7
10
7
2
2
3
4
2
26
22
16
18
2004
DEN
OC
5
9
18
2
4
15
8
5
16
6
8
25
2005
DEN
OC
5
7
1
2
2
3
4
5
25
18
20
2
2006
HOU
HC
28
28
11
21
21
14
20
16
23
27
28
8
2007
HOU
HC
14
12
31
22
22
16
24
27
19
11
12
28
2008
HOU
HC
3
17
30
16
13
11
13
20
7
4
13
29
2009
HOU
HC
4
10
16
20
30
18
31
17
4
1
5
17
2010
HOU
HC
3
9
4
19
7
1
3
2
10
4
17
7
2011
HOU
HC
13
10
6
1
2
3
8
22
30
18
18
3
2012
HOU
HC
7
8
6
4
8
4
16
1
18
11
18
10
2013
HOU
HC
11
31
26
22
20
28
15
9
6
15
25
28
2014
BAL
OC
12
8
6
11
8
5
7
9
17
13
12
8
2015
DEN
HC
16
19
29
17
17
12
13
7
13
14
28
32
2016
DEN
HC
27
22
21
15
27
20
28
30
17
21
21
12
Kubiak didn’t call the plays himself in each of those seasons. However, including them is a must, since he didn’t take his finger off of the heartbeat of his teams’ systems. Whether it be handpicking the playcaller, constructing a game plan, and/or interjecting with a specific call during a game, Kubiak never let the offensive designs truly go out of his control. He also had a large role in molding the Stefanski system of 2019, as mentioned.
Zone blocking is a staple of a Kubiak offense, and the outside stretch run is one of his favorite plays. The offense loves to deceive defenses through play-action passing, rollouts, bootlegs, misdirections and a plethora of personnel groupings. Being a West Coast system, running backs are expected to catch, and tight ends are just as important as route runners as blockers. Receivers are asked to block as much as any team. They operate with short-area routes and clearouts to keep defenses scrambling to cover the proper level.
Personnel changes
Surprisingly, on offense, that is, the Vikings have no noteworthy impending free agents. No team has less money with which to work during free agency, and there are several familiar defensive faces poised to walk for one reason or another.
Soaking up 15.5 percent of the overall salary cap, quarterback Kirk Cousins should be asked to rework his deal. The team could ask him to restructure his contract in a way that adds time to the final year of his original three-year pact, or the Vikings will let him ride it out at $31 million against the cap and limit their ability to spend elsewhere.
Left tackle Riley Reiff may be asked to restructure, and Minnesota would save $8.8 million against the cap by releasing the veteran.
Nearly 13 percent of the cap is tied up in Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs alone. Dalvin Cook enters the final year of his rookie deal ahead of what figures to be his desire to ink a bank-breaking contract.
Fantasy football assessment
The most simplistic view is little should change under Kubiak. So long as the running game is effective, the passing game can be tuned into an efficient machine that operates on precision and yards after the catch, rather than sheer volume.
Cousins will continue to be asked to produce as a game manager first, gunslinger second. That results in uneven fantasy returns but can be explosive when everything properly aligns. He’s a fringe QB1 and a safer No. 2 or rotational passer in 2020 drafts.
Cook may see a few more reps if the Vikings don’t intend to re-sign him after the season. Take that into consideration: If no long-term extension is reached between the two sides before your fantasy draft, Cook might be abused with a heavy workload. Either way, he’s an elite RB1 in all formats. Handcuffing Alexander Mattison is the way to go.
The wideouts, primarily Diggs and Thielen, will continue to be inconsistent in this type of an offense. Diggs is a streaky player as it is, and Thielen should remain the preferred fantasy option, despite his lengthy absence with a bum hammy in 2019. He adds more to fantasy lineups across the board than the volume-dependent Diggs, whose game is better suited for PPR setups. Thielen is a borderline WR1 (much safer as a No. 2), and Diggs is a low-end WR2 in PPR or third in conventional scoring.
Tight end was a volatile position for this offense in 2019. Veteran Kyle Rudolph was in a slumber much of the way before awakening in grand fashion as Thielen battled his hamstring injury. We also saw flashes from rookie Irv Smith Jr., and he could be asked to take on a much larger role in 2020 — which presumably would come at the expense of Rudolph’s fantasy football contributions. Neither player is a starting target just yet in 12-team leagues with typical lineup requirements.
Stars Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are both under contract for next season (Thielen until 2024 and Diggs until 2023).
Chad Beebe is under contract for $660,000, which would be considered a bargain if only he could stay healthy.
Bisi Johnson will enter the second year of his rookie contract.
Alexander Hollins is under contract but can be cut with no penalty. Davion Davis and Dillon Mitchell were both signed to future contracts before the season.
Free agents:
The Vikings tried to get rid of former first-round bust Laquon Treadwell prior to the 2019 season, but injuries forced them to bring him back.
Maybe the third time’s the charm?
Doubt it. There’s a very low chance Treadwell returns to the Vikings.
In either free agency or the draft, though, this group has to find a third wide receiver.
Potential Cap Casualties:
None that are super significant or likely.
Something to watch next offseason, however, will be Thielen’s contract. Thielen, who will be 31 in 2021, is due $11.6 million in 2021 and the team faces a dead cap penalty of $5.4 million.
Can anyone stop the 49ers from winning the Super Bowl?
It felt like there was a new man leading the Minnesota Vikings. Quarterback Kirk Cousins stepped up in primetime during the wild-card round against the New Orleans Saints in way he hadn’t done before.
But in the divisional round, Cousins flopped. The Vikings were a mess.
The San Francisco 49ers did what they’ve done all season. They worked the ball methodically with an efficient running game on offense, and erased their opponents’ best playmakers on defense. With a 27-10 win, Jimmy Garoppolo and the 49ers are headed to the NFC Championship Game against either the Green Bay Packers or the Seattle Seahawks.
Here are our takeaways from the game.
1. A healthy 49ers defense is unstoppable
We already knew this defense could likely get San Francisco to a Super Bowl. We already knew the unit was one of the best in the NFL. But they also reached new heights on Saturday. The 49ers finished as the No. 1 seed, but they didn’t peak too early. They’re still getting better, in part because defensive end Dee Ford, linebacker Kwon Alexander and strong safety Jaquiski Tartt returned from injury this week,.
San Francisco is now the Super Bowl favorite, because of their defense.
2. Kirk Cousins disappointed on Saturday, but he took a big step forward this offseason.
Cousins was the easy target for those looking for a lazy take: Oh, the quarterback folded under pressure — again.
Cousins’ stats weren’t pretty: He was 21 of 29 for 172 yards at 5.9 yards per pass for one touchdown and one interception. He also took six sacks. And frankly, the stats are flattering when compared to what he looked like on the field, particularly in the first three quarters. San Francisco had Cousins completely boxed in after they took away running back Dalvin Cook (nine carries, 18 yards).
But Cousins took a step forward this postseason. His performances against the Saints in the divisional round was praise-worthy. There aren’t many quarterbacks who would play well against that 49ers defense. Minnesota should feel better than ever about their investment in Cousins.
3. Stefon Diggs probably won’t be around to help Cousins on his upward trajectory.
It’s hard to imagine Diggs staying in Minnesota. He wanted out during the early part of the season, and he got five targets for two receptions, 57 yard and a touchdown in what may be his final game with the Vikings. Considering how this postseason ended, he may be ready to move on in 2020. He may remind the Vikings he wants a trade.
Adam Thielen may take an even bigger role for Minnesota next year. Diggs, meanwhile, would be a good fit in places like Indianapolis, Buffalo, Arizona and Oakland. They all have copious cap space and plenty of upside for Diggs to help them take a step forward. Diggs’ offseason could feel a bit like Odell Bekckham Jr.’s last year.
4. Jimmy Garoppolo’s run this offseason could feel something like Tom Brady’s in 2001.
When was the last time a quarterback won the Super Bowl in his first postseason? It was Tom Brady in 2001.
When Garoppolo tried a quarterback sneak on the goal line, it felt like a Brady impression. (Brady is famously effective at the sneak.) Even Garoppolo’s lead blocking efforts got the same amount of love as those from Brady earlier this year. But in a more meaningful way, Garoppolo is getting his footing as an NFL starter while supported by one of the NFL’s best defenses. The quarterback has managed the game, even if that has meant the 49ers aren’t asking much of him. That was the story surrounding Brady in 2001.
If Garoppolo pulls off a Super Bowl win, the run may feel a lot like Brady’s first title in New England.
5. Kyle Shanahan is special
The last time we saw Shanahan in the playoffs, he was needlessly calling for passing plays against the Patriots in Super Bowl LI. The aggressive (and perhaps foolish) play-calling contributed to the Falcons’ historic collapse. Shanahan’s play-calling was so atrocious that some wondered whether the wunderkind deserved the 49ers’ head coaching job.
He’s come a long way since then. Shanahan is one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds. He’s the reason why so many of the San Francisco skill players have developed into standouts. He has proven himself as one of the elite NFL coaches.
The No. 6 seed Minnesota Vikings head west to take on the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers in the NFL divisional round of the playoffs on Saturday. The all-time series is tied 23-23-1, but the Vikings have won four of the last five meetings, including a 24-16 home victory back in 2018. Ironically, the only 49ers victory during that time span came in 2015 on their home turf. Can San Francisco continue its magical season or will Minnesota play spoiler for the second straight weekend?
Minnesota advanced to the NFL divisional round after a thrilling 26-20 overtime win against the Saints in New Orleans. Drew Brees and company tied it up as time expired in the fourth quarter, but it was Kirk Cousins who stepped up for the Vikings who had the first possession in overtime. Minnesota fell short last year and there were questions as to the ability of Cousins to win the big game. He completed 19 of 31 passes for 242 yards and one touchdown, 129 of those yards to wide receiver Adam Thielen. Running back Dalvin Cook carried the load with 28 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns. They face the NFL’s top-ranked defense this weekend in San Francisco. Minnesota was 10 of 18 on third down and controlled the time of possession against New Orleans. It won’t be easy, but many didn’t have them winning in the first round. If they can keep that momentum on offense, they will have success.
Defensively, The Vikings did an excellent job containing Drew Brees, Michael Thomas, and a potent Saints offense. They forced two turnovers and sacked Brees three times, including a key stop by Danielle Hunter, which caused him to fumble and Jalyn Holmes to recover it on the Minnesota 36-yard line. Hunter finished the game with five tackles and one and a half sacks, while Eversen Griffin chipped in three tackles and an additional one and a half sacks. Opponents are averaging 16.9 points per game against the Vikings. If they can limit the 49ers offense, they have a chance at pulling off the upset.
Expect the 49ers on offense to pound the ball with running backs Raheem Mostert and Matt Breida. They also boast one of the best tight ends in the league in George Kittle, who has 85 catches for 1,054 yards on the season. Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is an excellent game manager and should put them in a position to advance to the NFC Championship game.
The 49ers don’t have to put up a slew of points with the defensive front seven they have. Defensive ends Arik Armstead, Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner, and Dee Ford have a combined 33 sacks on the season. San Francisco has no problem pressuring the quarterback and should be in the face of Kirk Cousins all game long.
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The wideout hurt his ankle in Wednesday’s practice.
After injuring his ankle in Wednesday’s practice, Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen is officially listed as questionable for Saturday’s matchup against the 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round playoff game.
Thielen was huge in Minnesota’s win over the Saints, finishing with seven catches for 129 yards, including the 43-yard catch which set up the team’s game-winning touchdown.
It’s a tough break for the Vikings in a game in which they are already the underdogs.
We’ll give you updates as we can regarding Thielen’s status for the game. You can guess Thielen will do everything he can to get on the field, even if he’s not at 100 percent.
The good news is that fellow wideout Stefon Diggs (illness) is not on the injury report.
Cornerback Mackensie Alexander, who underwent knee surgery, is out. Safety Jayron Kearse (knee/toe) is listed as doubtful.
Diggs has missed the last two days of practice with an illness.
Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs missed his second-straight day of practice on Wednesday with an illness as the team prepares to take on the 49ers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs on Saturday.
Coach Mike Zimmer addressed the situation and said that Diggs will be just fine for Saturday’s game via Hobie Aritgue of Fox 9.
"He's sick … he'll be fine." – #Vikings HC Mike Zimmer on Stefon Diggs ahead of Saturday's game vs. the 49ers.
Diggs was Minnesota’s leading receiver this season, catching 63 passes for a career-high 1,130 yards to go with six touchdowns.
He only finished with two catches for 19 yards in Sunday’s win over the Saints, but he’s instrumental in forcing teams to pick Diggs or Adam Thielen to focus on. While Thielen had the big day against New Orleans, Diggs was a big part of that.
We’ll get the team’s official injury report on Thursday and we’ll see what Diggs is listed as.
