Rick's Biggest Regret

Cutting Carlson was really a dumb move. Wonder how much Zimmer influenced this decision.

he cut a perennial pro bowler 2 games into his rookie season... that alone should keep rick from ever getting a gm job again.

Rick really screwed the pooch on that one...wait what?!?

What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yeah, if he is looking to be a YouTuber he's gotta work on his delivery...  Can't be flat like that, make it spicy lol

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Rick will have another GM job in short order unlike Zimmer who should never be a HC again.  

@"minny65" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Rick will have another GM job in short order unlike Zimmer who should never be a HC again.  

Rick seems to be a pussy though,  he should have stood up to Zimmer much earlier because if he had,  theres a good chance he would have been around to pick Zims replacement.  Ricks unwillingness to be the man is why he may not get another chance at GM again,   despite his above average skill at drafting.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"minny65" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Rick will have another GM job in short order unlike Zimmer who should never be a HC again.  

Rick seems to be a pussy though,  he should have stood up to Zimmer much earlier because if he had,  theres a good chance he would have been around to pick Zims replacement.  Ricks unwillingness to be the man is why he may not get another chance at GM again,   despite his above average skill at drafting.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"minny65" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said:
What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Rick will have another GM job in short order unlike Zimmer who should never be a HC again.  

Rick seems to be a pussy though,  he should have stood up to Zimmer much earlier because if he had,  theres a good chance he would have been around to pick Zims replacement.  Ricks unwillingness to be the man is why he may not get another chance at GM again,   despite his above average skill at drafting.

Yea I actually thought Z would be gone and Rick would be kept on and that was what I predicted before last season even started and did a lot of polls on that.  It was 50/50 usually on rick staying if Z was gone - again that was before last season even started.

When we learned that Zimmer and Rick hadn't even been communicating for weeks maybe months well that is a death-knell.  How can you not communicate with your management team/HC?  I have been in situations as a Manager before with very tense communications and situations but they need to be addressed immediately.  Of course, I blame Zimmer because there was smoke for years coming from him but Rick hired him and should have had the balls to be direct with him and essentially put Zimmer in his place which was a very average HC.

he sucks and he needs to sell it more and not straight read from a card lol 

Zimmer was finally tracked down to respond...

Rick was fired based on his own merits.  He is a key participant in creating the toxic
culture.  When people aren’t talking to
each other, that’s two people who aren’t talking.  We all saw the team that was assembled in the
first 4 years that worked well under Zimmer. 
We saw a relatively happy Zimmer. 
We saw everyone saying how Minnesota was a place FAs wanted to go.  Great locker room culture.  Then we proceeded to see the opposite of that
team created.  We built an offensive
forward team and let the defense age, which ended up meaning we paid them a lot
to sit on the sideline injured.  He built
a team that wasn’t what Zimmer wanted or meshed with what he was successful
with.  He gave him an expensive QB he
didn’t want or respect.  From a pure
personnel standpoint, I think he was generally ok, but there was some big
mistakes.  Resigning Diggs only to see
him force his way out.  Resigning Barr.  Replacing Reiff and Remmers when they were some
of the only competent starters while ignoring the IOL.  Hugely suspect.  We could have had a competent OLine much
sooner if we kept Reiff and Remmers and just replaced the players that actually
sucked.  Ricks spent a tremendous amount
of draft capital to not have a good OLine, and conversely he hasn’t drafted a
good DLine prospect since Hunter was drafted. 
He has repeatedly failed to invest draft picks in a QB.  You win in this league with an elite QB.  He only drafted one decent QB prospect during
the Zimmer tenure.

He should have replaced Zimmer several years ago when he decided
to override Zimmers plan and go in a different direction.  Picking players that doesn’t fit your coaches
scheme/vision/ability is a huge waste of time for everyone involved.

That doesn’t absolve Zimmer of his contributions to the shitstorm,
because he certainly contributed, but it’s not like there was only one problem
and I think the Vikes got it right by getting rid of both of them.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Zimmer and the vikings couldn't go into the next game with a rookie kicker with no confidence.  The fan base would have screamed bloody murder if Carlson cost us another game.  We lost a game to the packers because of Carlson.

So what would you do?  sign a second kicker on a tight 53 man roster while you wait for Carlson to grow up?  Think many kickers would have signed on for that babysitting duty? Probably would have been the right move in hindsight.  But the GM tried to get cute and cut him thinking he could sign him back to the PS.  

If I were Rick, the biggest regret would have been the quarterbacks he never drafted.  Leaving Ponder, Teddy, Cousins as the only NFL ready QB on the roster.  Going with the extra coach in Shaun Hill, Mannion... rather than taking a chance in the draft.

@"greediron" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Zimmer and the vikings couldn't go into the next game with a rookie kicker with no confidence.  The fan base would have screamed bloody murder if Carlson cost us another game.  We lost a game to the packers because of Carlson.

So what would you do?  sign a second kicker on a tight 53 man roster while you wait for Carlson to grow up?  Think many kickers would have signed on for that babysitting duty? Probably would have been the right move in hindsight.  But the GM tried to get cute and cut him thinking he could sign him back to the PS.  

If I were Rick, the biggest regret would have been the quarterbacks he never drafted.  Leaving Ponder, Teddy, Cousins as the only NFL ready QB on the roster.  Going with the extra coach in Shaun Hill, Mannion... rather than taking a chance in the draft.

thats exactly what I would have done for a few weeks.  I would have kept Carlson on kick offs and then brought in a veteran kicker to take care of the XP and field goals as a mentor to young daniel.... it wouldnt have had to be for the whole season, but I wouldnt have cut a 5th round draft pick after only 2 games unless he was a complete fuck up of a person and got into major criminal trouble.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"greediron" said:

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

Zimmer and the vikings couldn't go into the next game with a rookie kicker with no confidence.  The fan base would have screamed bloody murder if Carlson cost us another game.  We lost a game to the packers because of Carlson.

So what would you do?  sign a second kicker on a tight 53 man roster while you wait for Carlson to grow up?  Think many kickers would have signed on for that babysitting duty? Probably would have been the right move in hindsight.  But the GM tried to get cute and cut him thinking he could sign him back to the PS.  

If I were Rick, the biggest regret would have been the quarterbacks he never drafted.  Leaving Ponder, Teddy, Cousins as the only NFL ready QB on the roster.  Going with the extra coach in Shaun Hill, Mannion... rather than taking a chance in the draft.

thats exactly what I would have done for a few weeks.  I would have kept Carlson on kick offs and then brought in a veteran kicker to take care of the XP and field goals as a mentor to young daniel.... it wouldnt have had to be for the whole season, but I wouldnt have cut a 5th round draft pick after only 2 games unless he was a complete fuck up of a person and got into major criminal trouble.

So it was Rick that screwed up?  Everyone here is blaming zim, but who made the calls on the roster?  

In hindsight, everyone agrees.  At the time, it was probably a hasty decision that obviously Rick regrets.

@"MaroonBells" said:

@"comet52" said: What he oughta regret is being cowed into it by his knucklehead coach.  Rick wouldn't stand up to Zim's bullying and it cost him... along with his mostly pathetic drafting.

Yep, that's exactly it. See below. Pretty easy to tell Zimmer was behind it.

Regarding "mostly pathetic drafting," that's just nonsense. The reason the Vikings are contenders this season, and chose not to rebuild, is not because of the players KAM brought it. It's because the core of a good team was already in place. A core built by Rick. It's because of drafting players like JJ, KJO, Dalvin, Irv, Darrisaw, Cleveland, O'Neill, Hunter, Kendricks, Dantzler, Bynum. Only two of those players were 1st rounders. KJO was a 5th, as was Diggs and Conklin. If that's "mostly pathetic drafting," I'll take another 10 years of it please. 

Rick Spielman’s admission about regretting cutting Daniel Carlson makes me think that it probably was a decision heavily influenced by Mike Zimmer… pic.twitter.com/zvXbh58TVX

— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) August 23, 2022

As for your perpetual fantasy about Rick's drafting, I'd put it on par with your summertime season win predictions over the last couple years.    If 15 years of "great" drafting produces next to nothing in terms of reaching a championship then maybe it's not as great as some think.   

Anyone seen Christian Ponder lately?

@"Wetlander" said: Yeah, if he is looking to be a YouTuber he's gotta work on his delivery...  Can't be flat like that, make it spicy lol

@"medaille" said: Rick was fired based on his own merits.  He is a key participant in creating the toxic culture.  When people aren’t talking to each other, that’s two people who aren’t talking.  We all saw the team that was assembled in the first 4 years that worked well under Zimmer.  We saw a relatively happy Zimmer.  We saw everyone saying how Minnesota was a place FAs wanted to go.  Great locker room culture.  Then we proceeded to see the opposite of that team created.  We built an offensive forward team and let the defense age, which ended up meaning we paid them a lot to sit on the sideline injured.  He built a team that wasn’t what Zimmer wanted or meshed with what he was successful with.  He gave him an expensive QB he didn’t want or respect.  From a pure personnel standpoint, I think he was generally ok, but there was some big mistakes.  Resigning Diggs only to see him force his way out.  Resigning Barr.  Replacing Reiff and Remmers when they were some of the only competent starters while ignoring the IOL.  Hugely suspect.  We could have had a competent OLine much sooner if we kept Reiff and Remmers and just replaced the players that actually sucked.  Ricks spent a tremendous amount of draft capital to not have a good OLine, and conversely he hasn’t drafted a good DLine prospect since Hunter was drafted.  He has repeatedly failed to invest draft picks in a QB.  You win in this league with an elite QB.  He only drafted one decent QB prospect during the Zimmer tenure.

He should have replaced Zimmer several years ago when he decided
to override Zimmers plan and go in a different direction.  Picking players that doesn’t fit your coaches
scheme/vision/ability is a huge waste of time for everyone involved.

That doesn’t absolve Zimmer of his contributions to the shitstorm,
because he certainly contributed, but it’s not like there was only one problem
and I think the Vikes got it right by getting rid of both of them.