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ORIGINAL: David Levine

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ORIGINAL: Phil Riewer

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ORIGINAL: Brad H

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ORIGINAL: Phil Riewer

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

Watching the Saints having to gut their roster is hilarious. And they’re still about $25.6 mil over the cap.

(Jared Barsness on Twitter)

Horrible GM.

The Saints are 49-15 over the past four years, with four division titles. That's the kind of horrible I can get behind. They haven't gone worse than 7-9 since 2005.

Except they went more than all in and will suffer now.

Good for them.

So they have a down year or two while they restock with high draft picks.

I'd much rather do it that way than attempt to be constantly mediocre.

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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

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ORIGINAL: The Happy Norseman

I just read that Shamar Stephen has the 8th(!) highest cap hit for the Vikings. That's just embarrassing. We dumped Rudy and Reiff, which was expected. Hopefully Stephen is next. We'll most likely rework Harrison Smith's deal, and ideally Barr's as well. We'll definitely have some money to work with in FA and I suspect a lot of vets will be willing to sign cheaper 1 year deals so they can get better money next year when things (hopefully) have gone back to normal. With the lowered cap teams are cutting a lot of big name players, which might really work out in the Vikings favor. It's not unrealistic to think that RS might sign a couple of decent, 2nd-tier guys like Geno Atkins and Matt Feiler or Kevin Zietler that could make a huge difference for the upcoming season. Hope springs eternal.

Linval for Stephen could be a even swap(cap wise) and win for us on the field.

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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

G Trai Turner released.

If we don't come out of FA with a solid vet Guard, we didn't try hard enough.

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ORIGINAL: Brad H

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

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ORIGINAL: marty

You're both right, it was a combination of the Bucs' players in their 2ndary, and up front heavily studied Mahome's tendencies.

It wasn't really elite players.

You could have plugged Barr or Kendricks in there, and they would have been making plays. Stick Griffin or Hunter, or Joseph of 2 years ago, and they would have been making plays with the Bucs.

Stick Rhodes, or even Waynes in there, have them do mega studying of Mahome's tendencies, and with the pressure up front, they would have been making plays in the SB.

Nobody thinks it is either one or the other.

Well ... except for Brad.

Not true. It works in concert. But if you can't cover, you got now shot in this era.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

if you've got money and are looking to remake your OL, boy is this your year

(Mike Folic Jr. on Twitter)

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

if you've got money and are looking to remake your OL, boy is this your year

(Mike Folic Jr. on Twitter)

If we re-structured Thielen and Harrison Smith (both have plenty of room to convert salary to bonus) we could end up with the cap space to sign two good guards. Then we could truly draft BPA and make a run.

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ORIGINAL: Murph

What if we freed up enough sign Linsley at C and moved Bradbury to G?

I'm not a big fan of moving players around to different positions but Bradbury has experience as a guard and looked over matched pass blocking as a center.

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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

G Trai Turner released.

If we don't come out of FA with a solid vet Guard, we didn't try hard enough.

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

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ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

We will sign at least one G. It's sad we don't have a single middle rounder who is a candidate to be a viable starter. Red "Sometimes ya gotta coach 'em up" McCombs would go nuts.

Absolute clear holes; current candidates are office worker equivalents (assumes Cleveland to OT but he is an unknown):
- G
- G
- S

Positions technically 'filled' but not with legit NFL talent:
- DT
- Third CB
- 3WR

LB is up there assuming Wilson leaves, but 1/2 the time only two LBs are on the field.

Can't wait to read about the vet min signings.

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

There's only about two guards that project into the first two rounds. I still advocate for getting a minimum of one standout in FA and would be smiling if we got two. Rounds 3-6 will have plenty of decent options. Have some faith.

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

There's only about two guards that project into the first two rounds. I still advocate for getting a minimum of one standout in FA and would be smiling if we got two. Rounds 3-6 will have plenty of decent options. Have some faith.

Your arguments have been strong enough to start me leaning that way

It's on you though if we end up with another Spielman OL stinker from rds 3-4 ... totally your fault.

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

There's only about two guards that project into the first two rounds. I still advocate for getting a minimum of one standout in FA and would be smiling if we got two. Rounds 3-6 will have plenty of decent options. Have some faith.

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ORIGINAL: ratoppenheimer

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

There's only about two guards that project into the first two rounds. I still advocate for getting a minimum of one standout in FA and would be smiling if we got two. Rounds 3-6 will have plenty of decent options. Have some faith.

i want two guards in free agency - a $7-8m/yr guard and a $3-4m/yr guard...then draft Dickerson somewhere after the 1sts round....

forget orlando brown jr - he's demanding a trade from Baltimore because he only wants to play left-tackle - we just cut a solid left-tackle - i don't want a prima-dona who's going to make large contract demands next season....

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

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ORIGINAL: ratoppenheimer

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

There's only about two guards that project into the first two rounds. I still advocate for getting a minimum of one standout in FA and would be smiling if we got two. Rounds 3-6 will have plenty of decent options. Have some faith.

i want two guards in free agency - a $7-8m/yr guard and a $3-4m/yr guard...then draft Dickerson somewhere after the 1sts round....

forget orlando brown jr - he's demanding a trade from Baltimore because he only wants to play left-tackle - we just cut a solid left-tackle - i don't want a prima-dona who's going to make large contract demands next season....

The #4 Off ranking vs. the Def ranking / our cap situation ... negates any possibility of Spielman binging on a Reiff Remmers double-dip free agency approach [before the draft].

I think.

We'll find out soon enough ... if he tampers with / signs / or even just goes after a decent OL in the first couple of weeks, I will be very pleasantly shocked.

For all we know, re-signing Hill might be his big OL target in FA which would 'allow us to focus on BPA in the draft'.

Someone between 4-8m, a middle and late rd. draft pick ... then the 'sorting it out' period through training camp – before 'pouncing' on another final cut-down dude for the vet minimum.

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ORIGINAL: thebigo

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

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ORIGINAL: ratoppenheimer

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ORIGINAL: David F.

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ORIGINAL: Bruce Johnson

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ORIGINAL: Tom Sykes

There is no way - no way - we can NOT come away with a decent FA G ... maybe not one of the top 3-4 or 5 but nothing less than a legitimate starter / borderline 1st tier player.

Losing Reiff complicates the final OL configuration but adding a FA G while losing Dozier (and praying for improvement from Bradbury) ... gives us a chance.

Cleveland / O'Neil / Bradbury / FA / a someone (from our current developmental pile like Udoh etc - or - one of David F's cherry middle round picks from this year - or - one of our annual last cut-down castoff signings in Sept)

Add Spielman's premium FA signings THIS year (Hunter / Pierce) with an actual 2nd tier DE signing THIS year (Griffith?) to a 1st-2nd (move up)-3rd rd picks on defense ...

Boom. A godless bloodthirsty horde of savages, once again into the breach ...

They certainly would know they would be the starter and for an offense that performed at a high level with lousy guard play last year.

There's only about two guards that project into the first two rounds. I still advocate for getting a minimum of one standout in FA and would be smiling if we got two. Rounds 3-6 will have plenty of decent options. Have some faith.

i want two guards in free agency - a $7-8m/yr guard and a $3-4m/yr guard...then draft Dickerson somewhere after the 1sts round....

forget orlando brown jr - he's demanding a trade from Baltimore because he only wants to play left-tackle - we just cut a solid left-tackle - i don't want a prima-dona who's going to make large contract demands next season....

The #4 Off ranking vs. the Def ranking / our cap situation ... negates any possibility of Spielman binging on a Reiff Remmers double-dip free agency approach [before the draft].

I think.

We'll find out soon enough ... if he tampers with / signs / or even just goes after a decent OL in the first couple of weeks, I will be very pleasantly shocked.

For all we know, re-signing Hill might be his big OL target in FA which would 'allow us to focus on BPA in the draft'.

Someone between 4-8m, a middle and late rd. draft pick ... then the 'sorting it out' period through training camp – before 'pouncing' on another final cut-down dude for the vet minimum.

Ok, I had to check the Vikings roster for another player named Hill. 4-8 million for Rashad Hill. Really? REALLY?