OK, even the Vikings staff need a quick breather, especially after the up-and-down anticlimactic end to the season and start of the offseason. And I refer to how the team seemed to have righted the longship from the gale force winds that had buffeted it since the final week of the 2024 season.

Form collapsing against the Lions and then embarrassing themselves in the Wild Card versus the Rams, to having to let both Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones sign elsewhere, to having Jordan Addison’s poor decision making cost the team three games, to the injury bug and questionable choices plaguing J.J. McCarthy most of the season, and culminating with the ownership finally realizing that Kwesi’s leadership was not producing significant results. And on top of all that, to have the feel-good story of our home-state son, Adam Thielen’s return, get twisted up and jettisoned so unceremoniously.

Well, the various all-star games for college players are in the books, including the increasingly insignificant behemoth of college football bowl season, and execs & scouts can now concentrate on the NFL Combine. Followed by the frenzy of free agency and then the draft.

I’m not worried about the new GM search, though I do hope they take greater interest in the new hire’s process for identifying the cost/risk benefit of players they would evaluate, and how to better structure contracts that rewards performance but cushions the team from recurring losses (think of the cohesive sponge that was the 2025 O-Line).

As for the draft, and the recurring theme of minimal picks, I really question the need to waste a pick this year on yet another wide receiver (as some mock draft analysts suggest). The o-line and secondary are far more pressing needs.

And before the Vikings exercise his fifth-year option, we need to see a lot more maturity (of process and choices) AND durability from J.J. McCarthy. NIL and the portal are ruining college football, and players are becoming mercenaries for hire, which seriously impedes the ability of GMs and scouts to realistically evaluate players. And that’s especially obvious at “the most important position in all of sports.” Talk about hyperbole, but at least in the NFL, there’s a ring of truth to that.

And specific to the Vikings, they really need a solid campaign from J.J. this year before they bequeath the next decade to him. The next few months he should be a sponge, learning schemes, playing catch with his teammates, exercising and conditioning his mind and body. And as we just experienced, he needs a credible and present mentor.

And to that end I hope the Vikings brass turn a deaf ear to the snake oil salesmen that will try to dangle problematic and injury-prone players like Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray in front of them. Besides the obvious fact that taking on their contracts would crush our already-in-the-red salary cap, both those guys have shown, despite prodigious talent, they have been unable to elevate their respective teams.

The only safe bets that come to mind are also players whose contracts are more amenable. The obvious one is Kirk Cousins, who appears to be on his way out of Atlanta, despite his old pal Kevin Stefanski taking the reins, and with a reworked contract to boot. The transition back into the Vikings fold would be fairly smooth. He’s recovered from his Achilles and knows he’s entered the final year(s) of his career, where he is both a capable leader and patient mentor.

The other intriguing prospect is Derek Carr, who was quite capable, but routinely saddled with poor and porous help up front, both in Vegas and Nola. And apparently a sly “wink-wink” reference was even made regarding him being amenable to joining the Vikings by his brother David on their podcast about his liking of Purple & Gold (though it’s actually yellow?).

A structured two-year contract for either of them wouldn’t break the bank, would provide healthy competition for both J.J. (and Max Brosmer, who has potential, too), and best of all serve as the big brother mentor to aide in his development.

And don’t forget the ceremonial one-day contracts for retiring players like Adam Thielen, Hitman Harry and C.J. Ham, if indeed they do hang up their cleats.

— David A. (From the North Shore but stuck in the South)

I genuinely appreciate how loyal our readership is and don’t like to disrupt the conversations we get to have, but the breather lined up with an opportunity to welcome dear friends from Tennessee and Indiana to Minnesota and enjoy quality time with them.