A couple weeks ago, I made a thread on why I believe Leslie Frazier is a fine coach for this team and that I believe he will continue to improve and learn upon his mistakes. It's all but certain that that era has passed. But, now, I see tons of Vikings fans on the FSN North and Vikings pages trashing Rick Spielman to pieces. I had some good points in support of Frazier, but ultimately knew that moving on would be best. But, when it comes to Rick, I think it's almost silly to suggest moving on from him. He's been outstanding as a GM so far. And here's my case for him:
First: The dude is an animal in the draft. Here is some of the key moves he has made:
-Duping Cleveland into giving us free picks while still landing Matt Kalil; the guy we wanted all along.
-Using those picks to trade up and grab who? Harrison Smith.
-Drafting various key pieces to our team in later rounds: Marcus Sherels, Rhett Ellison, Audie Cole, just to name a few.
-Getting rid of old reliable Ryan Longwell to bring in a new guy who could boom it out and boom it through with Blair Walsh.
-Recognizing value when it's there. Sharriff Floyd plummeted on draft day and we got an absolute steal at number 23.
-Knowing when to put the chips in for talent when it came to Patterson. Spielman was willing to put picks on the line because he properly evaluated Patterson's dynamic talent and knew he would be worth it. Every time he has traded up, it's resulted in picking up an absolute stud.
Second: How he handled Percy the poison pill. Guys, it was known around the NFL that Percy Harvin wanted OUT of Minnesota. Most analysts thought we were screwed. What did Rick do? He intently claimed that Percy Harvin was special and would remain a Viking. Without that talk there is no way in hell we would have netted a first round pick for him. That pick got us Xavier Rhodes, who is looking like a stud. We still have an extra third rounder this year from it.
Third: His Free Agency methods. Teams like the 2010 Eagles and 2011 Bills just go all out in free agency, spending trucks of money to bring other team's talent in. That did not pan out for them. Rick is not that kind of GM and he knows that he can fill holes without breaking the bank. Before this season, I was going to put Carlson down as his only bust of free agency, but that's even looking like a solid move now. He focuses on signing our own guys and filling gaping holes. Greg Jenning's deal is a perfect example. We needed wide receivers like freaking mad, and Rick brought in a class act whom he knew would pay immediate dividends to both the locker room and team without breaking the bank with a mega-deal.
How about the cons now:
- Quarterback evaluation: Spielman has struggled with QB evaluation, I'll admit. After Favre left us, Rick took over as full GM and had a massive uphill climb as we sold out for a championship run in 2010. We needed a quarterback. Desperately. Christian Ponder, today, looks like a massive reach, and even looked bad on draft day. But if you guys put yourself in his shoes, what if Christian Ponder and Andy Dalton had been taken before the second round pick and both turned out to be a stud? That would leave us without a quarterback going into the season. A move had to be made. Bringing in McNugget was also a horrible call, but with the lockout, he was the best option available after his decent previous year with Washington. Before kicking him to the curb, I'm down with giving him one more shot to find our guy.
- Jeff Locke/ Kluwe: after the Walsh/ Longwell experiment, I will concede that Rick got a little too prideful and thought he could recreate the magic with Locke who has struggled. Kluwe had a poor 2012 season and probably needed to go, but a 5th round draft choice was far too high for a punter. I believe he will never make that mistake again.
- The record. The Vikings have had 2 horrid seasons, with a good one in the middle. That's the first thing that people point to. But, I once again point to the fact that Rick took over a shelled out team and had to almost start over aside from some key veterans. That's a tough task for Ted Thompson even.
All in all, I think those who want Rick gone need to cool their jets a bit and realize that Rick has only been GM for 3 seasons and has been doing a phenominal job with managing this team and building a nucleus of young talent. As his star picks continue to shine and his late rounders continue to develop, along with a new coaching staff to adequately tap into their talent, I think we could see a dangerous team that thrives on consistency year to year. Not selling out for one run and then starting over. I believe in Rick.
to him and the entire coaching staff and look for a new direction that includes getting rid of the Tampa 2.
a couple weeks back Jack Del Rio was the "talk around town"..
He Over reached for Ponder.. At this point I don't think magic man Manning could have helped Ponder.. he Never was Starting QB material in the minds of 99% of the GM's..Speilman alone is responsible for the over reach, not the coaches for not improving a horrible decision.
