Keep an Eye on Denver as Landing Spot for Exiting Vikings
Dustin Baker
|
Speculation hit the digital wire on Saturday, insinuating the Minnesota Vikings are likely to move on from head coach Mike Zimmer next week.
Zimmer has coached the Vikings for eight seasons, most recently missing the postseason in the last two campaigns. For a Minnesota roster stocked with playmakers, the team should be finding pathways to the playoffs, if only in a wildcard seed. Alas, the team is not, and wholesale change is likely the upcoming result.
Because ex-Vikings executive George Paton is now the general manager in Denver, keep an eye on the Broncos as a destination for jettisoned Vikings.
This does mean Zimmer will fire up a head coaching gig with Denver in January, but stranger things have occurred. Too, if Zimmer does not retire, he’ll be a heavily sought-after defensive coordinator by several teams. Defense is Zimmer’s baby, so if the Broncos terminate current coach Vic Fangio, don’t be surprised if Zimmer ends up as the Broncos defensive coordinator because of his ties to Paton. Football relationships like this matter, for better or worse. Paton is familiar with Zimmer, and Zimmer is familiar with Paton. The Broncos employ a commendable defensive roster, and Zimmer would have a field day with the existing group.
What’s more, the Broncos need a quarterback. If Fangio is canned (or even if he is not), it is unlikely for Teddy Bridgewater or Drew Lock to start as Denver’s quarterback in Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season. Flatly, neither man is good enough to command a team of talented players to a Super Bowl. Each had an audition in 2022, and at this point, Bridgewater and Lock probably have a 9-8 ceiling as leaders of football teams. Neither man is awful, but this underwhelming Broncos season is emblematic of “what you get” when you trust an NFL season to a Bridgewater-Lock sandwich.
Do you know of any teams that might be shopping quarterbacks, hoping to get rid of a large contract? VikingsTerritory does.
Kirk Cousins, the current Vikings quarterback, could be on the trade block if a new general manager takes over the Vikings — or if current bossman Rick Spielman wants a change of pace. Cousins was linked to the Broncos in 2018 during his last free agency, and Denver has remained anemic at quarterback ever since. Bringing aboard a passer as steady as Cousins could be just what Denver needs to make the most of playmakers like Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Tim Patrick, Noah Fant, and Javonte Williams.
Of course, Paton will probably pursue the titans of industry before Cousins as Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson could all be on the trade block, too. But a man like Kirk Cousins or Matt Ryan would be a fabulous consolation prize if the quest for Rodgers, Wilson, or Watson fails.
To be sure, Zimmer and Cousins likely won’t venture to Denver as a pair — the men aren’t known as best friends. Yet, one or the other seems like a sensible prediction.
And then monitor all Spielman-Paton relations. Sometimes when former cohorts drift apart, a transactional pipeline of sorts remains.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
You must be logged in to post a comment.