3 New Vikings Assistant Coaches of Interest and the NFL Combine
Jeff Diamond
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Vikings Insider, The GM’s View
As Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell head to Indianapolis this week to attend their first NFL Combine as a GM and Head Coach, their excitement will soon turn to a challenge to stay awake as they watch 300 plus college players go through this overhyped event in the pre-draft process.
NFL Network wants you to believe this is an absolutely critical week for incoming NFL rookies and for teams who will be watching their every move. If that’s true then why do so many projected first round picks skip the Combine workouts and hold off on their on-field work until their upcoming college Pro Days?
The Combine on-field activity that is broadcast daily is highly overrated. In our pre-Combine meetings during my years as Vikings GM and Titans President, I would always tell our player personnel execs, scouts and coaches not to be overly influenced by what a player does or doesn’t do at the Combine. Same thing with their Pro Days.
Yes, we wanted to get an accurate 40 yard dash time, check out their quickness in drills, see how high they could jump and how many reps they could do on the weight bench. But I would stress that the most important factor should always be “How did they play in games during their college career?”
I would talk about Vikings Hall of Fame receiver Cris Carter who ran in the 4.5-4.6 range in the 40 but he had the best hands and ran the best routes of any receiver outside of Jerry Rice (who also was a 4.5 guy). Cris was a fourth round pick by the Eagles in the 1987 supplemental draft. Then there was Hall of Fame defensive tackle John Randle who I signed as an undrafted player in 1990 because most teams thought he was too small to play in the NFL.
It annoyed me that we would send close to 40 people to the Combine and pay for air or car travel, hotels and meals for members of the scouting department, coaching staff, team doctors and trainers. And then we would send the scouts and coaches to College Pro Days around the country to watch players. Finally, as is the case for all NFL teams, we would bring in a dozen or so players to our facility for in-person visits and rechecks.
So much time and money is wasted in the pre-draft scouting process. It’s truly a case of over analysis often leading to paralysis.
With free agency less than two weeks away, Combine week also is an exercise in rampant tampering as agents want to talk contract “parameters” for free agents-to-be (even though by rule they are not allowed to do so until March 14).
Truly, the most meaningful thing that will occur this week at the Combine are the extensive physicals that each player undergoes. Team doctors and trainers will seek to uncover any injury, abnormality or pre-existing condition. This information is vital as teams cannot trust what they are told by college trainers and doctors. A mistake here–such as a player having a congenital heart condition or a previously undiagnosed spinal issue– that results in a wasted draft pick is obviously costly for a team in financial and team-building terms, especially if it’s a first or second round pick.
Following behind the players’ physicals, it’s the player interviews that teams consider as the most valuable part of Combine week. These 15 minute interviews take place every night this week and weekend as players are grilled on their childhood, girlfriends, whether they have a drug or alcohol problem, any legal issues, how they feel about playing in a particular city and how they line up in various offensive and defensive schemes.
The problem with these interviews at the Combine–and later repeated at Pro Day and on team visits– is players today are better trained and prepped in advance. I know this first-hand as I have done this interview prep work over the past several years in my consulting work for the NFL agent group IFA.
I ask our IFA players all sorts of questions I heard in player interviews as a team exec. I video tape the sessions, review it with the players and advise them on how to best answer questions while emphasizing posture, eye contact, speaking confidently and avoiding phrases such as “you know” and “like.”
I also would have our players do sample Wonderlic intelligence tests so they get used to answering the questions as quickly and accurately as they can so that element of the Combine also is well-prepped for the players.
If I was in control of the NFL scouting process, I would move the draft to mid-March instead of late April to cut down on some of the pre-draft over analysis and excess cost. That also would place the draft before free agency which I think is beneficial as I believe free agent signings should augment team building via the draft (although the Rams would disagree since they just won the Super Bowl by trading top picks for established vets such as Matthew Stafford, Jalen Ramsey and Von Miller). But I’d argue that was an anomaly and I’d rather draft first and then sign free agents.
With a mid-March draft, rookies would have more time to study their playbooks post-draft before reporting for OTA’s and mini camps while they are finishing the school year (if indeed they’re still in school). That would be helpful in an era where rookies often play sooner than in the pre-salary cap days.
So Kwesi and Kevin, my advice is to not get too excited this week and above all else, be sure to partake in my favorite part of Combine Week: eating the famous super-hot shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo Steak House in downtown Indy.
Three new Vikings assistant coaches who caught my attention:
1.Chris Kuper—Offensive Line: I like that Kuper was the Broncos’ assistant O-line coach the past three years in Denver where he received great training under Mike Munchak who I worked with in Tennessee. I think Munchak is the best O-line coach in the NFL which bodes well for Kuper who also was a solid NFL guard in his playing career in Denver and perhaps he can significantly improve the Vikings interior line play at guard and center.
2. Greg Manusky—Inside Linebackers: I know Greg well from his three years as a Vikings linebacker in my GM days and he brings a great background as a tough player, a fierce competitor, a fun guy to be around and a former defensive coordinator with several NFL teams. Eric Kendricks should love working with Manusky and vice versa.
3. Chris Rumph—Defensive Line: I like that he coached the D-line under Nick Saban on two national championship teams at Alabama. I’m also impressed with the excellent work he did last year as Bears D-line coach where he helped lead a defense that had 49 sacks (fourth-best in the league) with Robert Quinn having a franchise-record 18.5 sacks.
Around the NFL Observations:
1.Aaron Rodgers tidbits of the week: good news for Rodgers if it’s true as reported that Green Bay and his agent are working on a new contract that would make him the highest paid player in the league. Other interesting news: Packers GM Brian Gutekunst was asked whether he promised Rodgers he would trade him this year if Rodgers made the request and Gutekunst said, “That was not something I told him.” The narcissistic Rodgers probably was annoyed by that comment.
Meanwhile the Packers picked up over $20 million in salary cap room by restructuring the contracts of three star vets—running back Aaron Jones, defensive tackle Kenny Clark and left tackle David Bakhtiari—but they remain $27 million over the cap so they, like the Vikings (a reported $16 million over the cap), have a lot of work to do with more restructures or cuts before the 2022 league year begins on March 16. A lot of those discussions with agents will take place this week in Indy.
2. Speaking of narcissistic QBs or perhaps former QBs depending on if he stays retired, here was a beauty on Tom Brady: it was reported that he wants to produce and star in a movie about himself. I used to see Brady as a great team guy and all-time winner who appeared to be down to earth but not anymore if stories like this become true.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year after the Vikings’ 15-1 season in 1998. He now works for the NFL agent group IFA based in Minneapolis and does other sports consulting and media work along with college/corporate speaking. Follow him and direct message him on Twitter– @jeffdiamondnfl
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