Vikings Offseason Outlook with Ben Goessling
Tom Gorski
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The Minnesota Vikings made headlines last week when ownership decided to officially clean house and part ways with both head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman.
Vikings ownership has a ton of difficult decisions to make within the coming week regarding the coaching and general manager search to decide which direction is best for the organization going forward.
I was able to contact via email with well-respected Star Tribune beat reporter Ben Goessling. He has spent the last nine seasons covering the Minnesota Vikings for the Star Tribune, ESPN, and St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Q: Rick Spielman being outright fired shocked many fans and people in Minnesota on Monday morning. There were multiple reports going all the way back to Jeremy Fowler from ESPN that Spielman would likely be moved up to a high role in the organization. What do you think changed and ultimately led to his dismissal?
Ben Goessling: There were quite a few reports going around the national media about that idea, yes, but I’d talked to somebody in the organization the night before Spielman’s firing that said the idea of him getting promoted wasn’t that serious of a thought in ownership’s mind.
It certainly seemed to be something they’d talked about, and I think Spielman was expecting it might happen, but from what I’d heard, it never got as far along as it might have seemed. At any rate, Spielman, from what I heard, was “blindsided” by the news he would be fired; he showed up Monday morning expecting it would just be Mike Zimmer being shown the door.
Ultimately, there were some culture issues in the organization that become harder to ignore when you’re not winning games. Winning cures everything in the NFL, but when that stops, it’s harder to overlook things you might otherwise live with. After two seasons of no playoffs, ownership decided it was time for a total reboot.
Q: There’s a rumor going around linking Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin to Minnesota based on Mike Ryan’s comments on “The Dan Le Batard Show.” What are your thoughts on Kiffin’s fit in Minnesota, and do you think there is any steam to the rumor?
Ben Goessling: I have a hard time seeing that one. From everyone I’ve talked to this week, the Vikings are serious about the culture change stuff; the talk about collaborators and communicators isn’t just lip service. Essentially, it sounds like they’re looking for a Kevin Stefanski-type (low drama, not concerned with who gets the credit, etc.). Perhaps Kiffin would fit in that kind of a culture, but the fact he just hired his brother for his staff at Ole Miss would also suggest he’s not planning to leave.
Q: Ownership is in the early stages of finding Rick Spielman’s replacement at GM, and they have already requested to interview seven candidates. With you being as plugged in as you are with the team, who do you think is in strong consideration to land the job? Also, what type of characteristics do you think the Wilfs could be looking for during interviews, and could we possibly see them target a candidate with an analytic background?
Ben Goessling: I think they’ll certainly look at candidates with analytics backgrounds; they’ve still got a strong scouting department with Jamaal Stephenson and Ryan Monnens, so adding someone with a data-based skill set could actually be a nice complement to what they currently have.
Along those lines, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah from the Browns intrigues me quite a bit; I think he’s going to be a strong candidate for the job, and both he and Glenn Cook could come in with strong recommendations from Stefanski. I’d also keep my eye on the Eagles candidates (Brandon Brown and Catherine Raiche), particularly if Doug Pederson is a strong coaching candidate (and I think he will be).
Monti Ossenfort from the Titans is one of the more experienced candidates in the group; his time with the Patriots could certainly play in his favor, and his relationship with the Vikings began all the way back in 2001 as a training camp intern. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to who sells the Vikings’ search committee on their vision for the job: how they’ll handle the football department, how they’ll work with the head coach, and how they’ll build a strong culture across the franchise.
Q: Minnesota is arguably the most desirable job on the market for both GM and Head Coach. How much of an impact do you think their cap situation will have on both candidates? There will be tough decisions that will need to be made regarding Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter’s cap hits that are projected to take up nearly 33% of the cap next season.
Ben Goessling: The cap situation isn’t good — and the Vikings pushed roughly $18 million of costs into this year as a result of the moves they made last year. But that’s where keeping Rob Brzezinski will help, and I ultimately don’t think the cap issues will dissuade many from the job.
It’s not like the Vikings are mortgaged way out into the future; they’ve only got one year left on Cousins’ contract, and Hunter’s $18 million roster bonus is mostly there as a trigger for a reworked deal.
The positives of the job (strong ownership, top-of-the-line facilities, a shrewd cap manager, talent on the roster, a loyal fanbase, etc.) will outweigh any short-term cap concerns, in my view.
Q: Kirk Cousins was Rick Spielman’s signing and also has been with Mike Zimmer since the 2018 season. It’s hard to imagine he will be playing next year with a cap hit of $45 million. In your opinion, how do you think it pans out? The new GM and Head Coach will ultimately decide his fate but from your sources, have you heard if ownership wants to move on from him or possibly extend him long-term? Also, do you think his contract is moveable and if so, will he have suitors?
Ben Goessling: My sense of things, from talking to people about this throughout the year, is ownership is getting tired of the contract carousel with Cousins: they’re paying him a lot of money and dealing with a lot of tough decisions because they don’t have many years to stretch out his cap charges. That said, I know he wants to be in Minnesota, and if the new GM and coach want him here, I think he’d be open to an extension.
That’s the biggest question of the offseason — how does the new regime feel about Cousins? Do they want a relationship of zero years, one year, or longer with him? I think all three of those scenarios are possible; the Vikings would have to eat some money to trade him, but I believe they’d be amenable to that, especially if they can get a good package back in a trade, and we see every week how many bad quarterbacks there are in the league.
There’s bound to be a team that believes it can win with Cousins (maybe Cleveland?), so I think there’d be a market for him. The Vikings could also use him as a bridge to the next QB or think about an extension if the new regime likes him. I really think all three options are in play, to some degree; it’s hard to say now where it will go, not knowing who’ll be making the decision, but the Vikings will certainly have viable paths to take with Cousins.