Purple Rumor Mill: CB in 2023 Free Agency, Excessive Coach Departure, Cousins a Netflix Star
VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the February 26th edition.
Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.
Purple Rumor Mill: CB in 2023 Free Agency, Excessive Coach Departure, Cousins a Netflix Star
Here’s the second batch of the week. Yesterday’s can be read here.
Rumor: The Vikings are a lock to pursue a good veteran CB in free agency.
Unless the Vikings are content with “running it back” with the 2022 CB room — they could still do that by re-signing Patrick Peterson and Duke Shelley — yes, they’re close to a lock for the pursuit of a veteran corner.
Right now, Andrew Booth, Cameron Dantzler, and Akayleb Evans live on the roster as startable CBs. That doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s a wonderful depth plan, but would you feel great rolling into 2023 with, for instance, Booth and Dantzler as the starters? Send us some of that confidence, please.
This is why local and national media expect Minnesota to pursue free-agent cornerbacks like Cameron Sutton (Steelers) or Byron Murphy (Cardinals).
Rumor: During the coaching carousel, the Vikings lost a lot of coaches from the 2022 staff.
Indeed, the Vikings lost seven coaches this offseason, although some were by choice (Donatell, Manusky):
- Ed Donatell – Defensive Coordinator
- Greg Manusky – LBs Coach
- Jerrod Johnson – Asst. QBs Coach
- Sam Siefkes – Asst. LBs Coach
- A’Lique Terry – Asst. DL coach
- Ben Kotwica – Asst. Special Teams coach
- Jeremy Modkins – Defensive Asst.
This is the price to pay when a team finishes a season with a 13-4 record led by a first-year head coach — especially when the club was supposed to win about eight or nine games per sportsbooks. Other teams want some of the goodness.
This is how it goes. It’s not abnormal.
Rumor: Kirk Cousins will soon stream on your Netflix account.
Patrick Mahomes, Marcus Mariota, and Cousins will appear in a Netflix documentary this summer.
NFL.com said this week that the series, Quarterback, will feature “unprecedented access to Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota from the beginning of the 2022 season to its conclusion, following them on and off the field, from inside the huddle with teammates to inside their homes with their families. It will premiere in summer 2023.”
We’re unsure how that threesome was selected, but the series will be entertaining. The producers picked a sweet season, as the show will follow Mahomes to the Super Bowl, Cousins inside a 13-4 season, and Mariota dealing with a late-season demotion.
Your 2023 Vikings Free Agency Handbook
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Viking obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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