Will Hernandez Revisited

[Oriole81]

This point is fair, but to the many that have been beating the drum for OL help for the last 5 years, taking an OL player in the 1st and 2nd last year would have been welcome. And we don't know if it's worked out. All wee know is that the Vikings legitimately tried to fix 1 position and took a flyer Kline.

I understand, but do you really think it would have happened though? There was alot of good defensive players on the board when O'Neill was picked, including Lorenzo Carter who could have allowed us to move on from Barr. I think we would have taken him, or there was a really good safety prospect (Sendejo replacement) in Justin Reid, though that's less of an issue now with Harris stepping up.

I'm not saying it would have or it wouldn't have. Nobody can know the answer. I'm just saying that OL was the most reasonable pick in the 2018 1st round, and the Vikings decided to draft yet another DB.

Fair enough, I think one can definitely make the case that either of Hernandez or Daniels could have been BPA compared to Hughes so I wouldn't have had any issue had they gone that route. I just don't think it's something that needs to be continuously bumped because had they taken him I don't think they take O'Neill in the 2nd OR had they taken both of them last year I don't think they would take Bradbury this year.

We'll see what happens though.

[HeHateMe]

In hindsight, you take Hernandez, not sure what you do in the second round, maybe it's a CB or a S, then take Bradbury still in the first round here.

Reiff/Hernandez/Bradbury/Elfelin/Hill or Collins looks pretty good. Alexander clearly held down the nickel role -- plus guys were available in free agency the last two years they could have jumped on as well.


I am glad they didn't trade a 2019 first (Bradbury) plus a second to Hernandez though.

[Ash Ketchum]

Here’s where I stand on Hernandez.

Rick made a mistake. I still believe he thought he could get him in the second round, but it didn’t happen. So far — and it’s only been one season — Hernandez looks like a stud.

That being said, had we taken Hernandez, I don’t know that we would have taken Bradbury this year, and I’m very high on him. With Rhodes and Waynes’ futures here in some question, you gotta think that we would have addressed the secondary in the 2019 Draft if we already had Hernandez in the fold and we didn’t have Hughes.

It might be a case where, initially, passing on Hernandez was a mistake, but it ends up being a mistake where we luckily ended up just fine. That hinges on Bradbury panning our, and I think he is going to.

This is probably true, though it could be argued that Hernandez wouldn't have solved the OL issues on his own.

This scenario can be argued until everyone is blue in the face. Reading between the line, I think the common concern that many of us have is that Zimmer's inability to assess his team, as a whole, is concerning. He always wants to go defense and Spielman usually caves. This results in having a non-functional OL and a defensive backfield featuring 5 guys taken in Round 1 or 2.

I think this whole “Zimmer only wants to draft DBs and doesn’t care about other positions” is a bit overblown.

[B-Town]

Here’s where I stand on Hernandez.

Rick made a mistake. I still believe he thought he could get him in the second round, but it didn’t happen. So far — and it’s only been one season — Hernandez looks like a stud.

That being said, had we taken Hernandez, I don’t know that we would have taken Bradbury this year, and I’m very high on him. With Rhodes and Waynes’ futures here in some question, you gotta think that we would have addressed the secondary in the 2019 Draft if we already had Hernandez in the fold and we didn’t have Hughes.

It might be a case where, initially, passing on Hernandez was a mistake, but it ends up being a mistake where we luckily ended up just fine. That hinges on Bradbury panning our, and I think he is going to.

This is probably true, though it could be argued that Hernandez wouldn't have solved the OL issues on his own.

This scenario can be argued until everyone is blue in the face. Reading between the line, I think the common concern that many of us have is that Zimmer's inability to assess his team, as a whole, is concerning. He always wants to go defense and Spielman usually caves. This results in having a non-functional OL and a defensive backfield featuring 5 guys taken in Round 1 or 2.

I think this whole “Zimmer only wants to draft DBs and doesn’t care about other positions” is a bit overblown.

It's not just that. Since Zimmer has been here, good defensive players haven't left the team, and the majority of high level draft assets have been used on defense too. It's not a sustainable approach if you want the offense to be functional. It's been a legit concern for pretty much his entire tenure.

[Ash Ketchum]

This is probably true, though it could be argued that Hernandez wouldn't have solved the OL issues on his own.

This scenario can be argued until everyone is blue in the face. Reading between the line, I think the common concern that many of us have is that Zimmer's inability to assess his team, as a whole, is concerning. He always wants to go defense and Spielman usually caves. This results in having a non-functional OL and a defensive backfield featuring 5 guys taken in Round 1 or 2.

I think this whole “Zimmer only wants to draft DBs and doesn’t care about other positions” is a bit overblown.

It's not just that. Since Zimmer has been here, good defensive players haven't left the team, and the majority of high level draft assets have been used on defense too. It's not a sustainable approach if you want the offense to be functional. It's been a legit concern for pretty much his entire tenure.

I’m not strongly disagreeing with you, but consider this:

They had Rudolph already.
They had Diggs, who they drafted in the 5th round.
Thielen emerged, who was undrafted.
They moved up for Cook in the 2nd round.
They drafted O’Neill and Elflein in the 2nd/3rd round.
They paid for Cousins in FA.
They paid for Reiff in FA.


That’s your starting QB, your top two WRs, your starting TE, your starting RB and three of your starting OL all without spending a first round pick on any of them.

With all that in place, I don’t see why it’s so bad to then concentrate on the defensive side of the ball.

With the top WR duo in the league, is it prudent to spend another first rounder on a WR3?

And regardless of what this team’s needs are, I’m never going to have a problem with taking a starting CB over an interior lineman like they did with Hughes.

So in general, I agree with you. But for how this team was already constructed before the Hernandez/Hughes draft, I can see their logic.

[Oriole81]

In hindsight, you take Hernandez, not sure what you do in the second round, maybe it's a CB or a S, then take Bradbury still in the first round here.

Reiff/Hernandez/Bradbury/Elfelin/Hill or Collins looks pretty good. Alexander clearly held down the nickel role -- plus guys were available in free agency the last two years they could have jumped on as well.


I am glad they didn't trade a 2019 first (Bradbury) plus a second to Hernandez though.

at the time of the draft they didn't know that Alexander was going to step up, and there was OL available in FA the last 2 years as well.

[Oriole81]

Here’s where I stand on Hernandez.

Rick made a mistake. I still believe he thought he could get him in the second round, but it didn’t happen. So far — and it’s only been one season — Hernandez looks like a stud.

That being said, had we taken Hernandez, I don’t know that we would have taken Bradbury this year, and I’m very high on him. With Rhodes and Waynes’ futures here in some question, you gotta think that we would have addressed the secondary in the 2019 Draft if we already had Hernandez in the fold and we didn’t have Hughes.

It might be a case where, initially, passing on Hernandez was a mistake, but it ends up being a mistake where we luckily ended up just fine. That hinges on Bradbury panning our, and I think he is going to.

This is probably true, though it could be argued that Hernandez wouldn't have solved the OL issues on his own.

This scenario can be argued until everyone is blue in the face. Reading between the line, I think the common concern that many of us have is that Zimmer's inability to assess his team, as a whole, is concerning. He always wants to go defense and Spielman usually caves. This results in having a non-functional OL and a defensive backfield featuring 5 guys taken in Round 1 or 2.

and when healthy for a whole season, that defense got us to the NFCCG, so there's certainly merit to it. I personally think the best way to win in the NFL is to be elite elite on one side of the ball, and at least average (ideally Top 10 still) on the other.

[HeHateMe]

In hindsight, you take Hernandez, not sure what you do in the second round, maybe it's a CB or a S, then take Bradbury still in the first round here.

Reiff/Hernandez/Bradbury/Elfelin/Hill or Collins looks pretty good. Alexander clearly held down the nickel role -- plus guys were available in free agency the last two years they could have jumped on as well.


I am glad they didn't trade a 2019 first (Bradbury) plus a second to Hernandez though.

at the time of the draft they didn't know that Alexander was going to step up, and there was OL available in FA the last 2 years as well.

I led my post with "in hindsight" …

[Oriole81]

In hindsight, you take Hernandez, not sure what you do in the second round, maybe it's a CB or a S, then take Bradbury still in the first round here.

Reiff/Hernandez/Bradbury/Elfelin/Hill or Collins looks pretty good. Alexander clearly held down the nickel role -- plus guys were available in free agency the last two years they could have jumped on as well.


I am glad they didn't trade a 2019 first (Bradbury) plus a second to Hernandez though.

at the time of the draft they didn't know that Alexander was going to step up, and there was OL available in FA the last 2 years as well.

I led my post with "in hindsight" …

ehh, we'd still have a huge hole at RT there as Hill is not an every game starter.
plus we 'd be going into this season with 2 of our top 3 CBs going into the last year of their deals, so that's a big risk as well for a team that needs to win with their defense.

Like I said I wouldn't have objected had they gone that route, but I just don't think it's as egregious as some people are making it out to be. And let's not forget that Hughes looked pretty damn good before getting hurt, so if he can get back to that this year, we can afford to let Waynes walk, which we probably couldn't have done had they drafted Hernandez.

Butterfly effect.