Terry Bridgewater - Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

The self-destruction of Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman

For the briefest of times there was talk of the super bowl, albeit in hushed tones, in the twin cities. And why not? All world running back Adrian Peterson was primed to re-assert himself as the NFL’s premier running back after finally having his groin surgically prepared and committing himself to becoming much more involved in the passing game. That passing game was to have featured a triumvirate of young, dynamic pass catchers coupled with savvy veteran Greg Jennings on the outside and was to have been orchestrated by former Pro Bowl QB Matt Cassel who led the Vikings to all five of their 2013 wins, three times as starter and coming in off the bench to lead the Vikings to come back from a deficit in the other two.

Defensive minded new head coach Zimmer was going to have plenty of offence and after making many good moves in free agency on defence a talent laden draft of defensive players looked to supply three or four key additions to supplement the improvement on that side of the ball. It started out well enough with the Vikings taking Barr from UCLA. Although raw, Barr has tremendous physical assets and Zimmer prides himself on being a great teacher. In the long run the pick could work out amazingly well. The Vikings then made a move on Johnny Football at pick 22, the one QB in the draft that it made sense to take a gamble on. But Cleveland was picking 4 slots earlier each round and was able to make a better offer. Spielman should have taken this as a sign to stay focussed on defence.

Instead, in the move that will cost Spielman his job and prevent another team from ever hiring him, he inexplicably blew up the rest of his draft by giving the Seahawks picks 40 & 108. With Bridgewater being a 100% waste of space Minnesota now only gets 2 players in the top 140 picks and the first one needs time to develop. No matter how ready whoever they are able to grab at 72 is to plug into the defence there is no way that they will be enough to shore up the rest of the defence. For all intents and purposes the Vikings super bowl run ended right there and then. But the ripple effect will be more even more destructive.

Bridgewater throws under-powered wobbly balls down the field. If Jennings keeps trying to come back to the ball he is going to get killed by a safety. So is Patterson. Add to that the fact that once the passing game breaks down entirely everything goes back onto Peterson. There is a very good chance that this one really, really stupid move could ruin the careers of Jarius Wright & Corderelle Patterson and end those of Jennings and Peterson much too early. The truly astonishing thing is that there is no upside here. Makes one wonder if Spielman is on the Packer or Bear payroll as well.