Things Have Taken a VERY Surprising Turn

Things have taken a very surprising turn on the Vikings rumor mill ahead of the trade deadline as a new name has entered the discussion that brings up some interesting points for it being a great idea, and Brian O'Neill continues to prove why he's one of the best at his position after a recent rankings release. We're going to break it down all of that in this episode of Vikings Digest, but first, we are just shy of hitting 5,400 subscribers, as well as on our way of hitting 5,500 subs before we kick off against the Indianapolis Colts, and better yet, we are just over 500 subscribers away from eclipsing Bengals Digest right now so if you're one of the 90% of viewers who are not yet subscribed you want to help us reach both of those goals make sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so you don't miss any of the episodes when they drop but that let's hop right into the first topic which is the unexpected trade possibility that has entered the rumor mill for the Minnesota Vikings as we know that teams rarely give up on offensive linemen mid-season but the Eagles pulled the trigger on a trade that subtracted Cam Jurgens an established Pro Bowl starter from their front five earlier this year and as well as the return for him it was for a second round pick which is an unprecedented return for an interior lineman and it helped but Jurgens was also a declining asset whose long-term standing with the team was going to be tenuous Jurgens mobility had faded due to some wear and tear namely from a back injury the Eagles had already moved him from center to guard to try and help him fit the new scheme better and where the trade rumors kind of circled to the Minnesota Vikings is on NFL trade they had some awesome mock trade proposals that were they were putting out and for the Minnesota Vikings they proposed trading for guard Landen Dickerson for only a fifth round pick which would be very nice because that was a fifth round pick that they got for JJ McCarthy so you could flip that into getting a guy like Landen Dickerson which right off the bat i think is an absolutely great idea because Landen Dickerson is a Pro Bowl and a Super Bowl winning champion and he is a guy that is an established veteran that Minnesota could bring in possibly to fill in for Donovan Jackson in his spot that's vacant now because of his meniscus injury or to rotate Will Fries kind of in and out of there because he's had a really down year compared to the year that he had last year but where the article gets a little bit interesting going into the stuff about Landon Dickerson was saying that there are similar themes with Dickerson as he is another highly paid starter battling injury issues he has multiple Pro Bowls under his belt but played through injuries last year and it showed on the field a stint on injury reserve after week one helped spark the shift over by Jurgens and Dickerson still hasn't returned to the field so it's one thing for the Vikings to keep in mind however where i am okay with this move and going to get a guy that is currently on the IR for another team is that he's only 28 years old so he has a couple more years ahead of him left for uh playing i know with certain positions it kind of it kind of makes a difference as far as how old they are and where the old kind of factors into it I know it's different for running backs like it is for offensive linemen like this wide receivers so on and so forth but what Minnesota could do in this scenario is I know that Will Fries hasn't been playing the greatest however with Joe Huber he's been filling in very nicely for Donovan Jackson especially for an undrafted free agent so as long as he is doing all right Minnesota can kind of afford to bring in Dickerson and put him on the IR right away and just have Huber be doing his thing and if Wolf Price doesn't get together well if Huber continues to show up and show out when Dickerson is healthy you put him in there and if it's at a point where it's before the trade deadline maybe you flip Wolf Price and you're able to just have a entirely new kind of looking offensive line for the rest of the year where you don't have Donovan Jackson you swap Joe Huber in there you get Wolf Price going you put Landon Dickerson in there once he's healthy it's just a matter of what that timeline is looking like for his health but as far as the article going on further it was saying that even when he is healthy it's been eyebrow raising how the Eagles having committed to him regaining his starting spot there have been breadcrumbs that Philadelphia would be open to shedding Dickerson's salary via trade moving on with younger options who fit the system better and it's weird that they are saying they're going younger but he isn't kind of overpaid scenario in this case for Minnesota if they are only looking at him as a one-year rental scenario where they kind of want to trade him or let him go after this season that is where it's going to get a little bit kind of interesting because there's a lot of possibilities that Minnesota is looking at for Quentin Nelson being thrown out there Antoine Winfield Buda Baker so many other names that are going to cost a lot of money and Minnesota has a lot of contracts coming up right now as far as players on their current team that they have to worry about you got Blake Cashin to worry about you got Jordan Addison to worry about Andrew Van Ginkle's one to worry about Aaron Jones T.J. Hockenson all these current contracts on the team it's all going to start adding up so if you're going to go all out on trying to get a bunch of rentals for this year to try and win a Lombardi and send Harry off in the sunset with a Super Bowl winning championship that is going to be a very tall order and going to be very expensive and very very high risk if you don't pull it off so you don't pull it off next year we're up ---- creek without a paddle as far as financials are concerned because how are you going to keep a lot of this team together when you have so many guys that are currently on one year contracts or in the last year of existing contracts and it's going to get very hairy once it gets down to the resigning period in the offseason so that's going to be one thing to watch out for but still Landon Dickerson is a very compelling point to bring up just because obviously the Eagles would love to get a day two pick for him but his health and questionable tape last year are super are drags on his value he is super affordable this year though with just a minimum base salary none of his contract over the next two years is guaranteed leaving a team with flexibility where Minnesota can hopefully take advantage of that so like I was saying where they're bringing him in on possibly a rental where maybe they don't want to look at him long term or they look at him and saying hey we can take advantage of these final two years on his contract none of it is guaranteed money so we're kind of playing with house money on a minimum salary we can go absolutely crazy with this and use it to our advantage Minnesota might decide to do that Nolan Teasley seems like he's very smart on the financial side of things coming from a team like Seattle where they really kind of prioritize that and as far as really good scouting to kind of feed off of it and you know that Nolan Teasley is going to want to have a draft of his own to kind of make his stamp on this team kind of in the way that all GMs try to do with their first draft and coming from a team where he was on a staff that included scouting Nick Emin Warry and JSN and so many other guys he is going to be very good at finding some good gems for the Vikings future so you don't necessarily want to gamble all those away for possibly for veteran expensive rentals or short-term deals when it could sacrifice what you were trying to establish for the long term Landon Dickerson is a veteran option that is very appealing if they can't go out and get Quentin Nelson if they can't go out and get some of the other guys that we've talked about in past videos that is going to lead them in a very interesting scenario where yes they could be possibly trading for an injured guy however with the way the offensive line is playing right now it doesn't necessarily put them in dire straits where they're trying to just anxiously wait for him to get back from injury when they still have Wolf Price who's been a bit of a liability but might be able to get it going and as well as Joe Huber who's been playing absolutely great so far in the short stint that he's been the starter but as well as what the article was saying is that the Vikings do make sense as a landing spot because they are down one starter after losing guard Donovan Jackson to a torn meniscus he's been replaced by former undrafted free agent Joe Huber like I was saying and Dickerson is a more accomplished player at this point in his career if he's healthy keyword is healthy and he could be a better fit for Minnesota's offense that's trying to incorporate a more downhill element to his system and I definitely agree with that however like I was saying earlier Joe Huber has been playing just fine if anything Wolf Fries is really the one that you got to worry about being on the chopping block of losing his starting job if Dickerson is brought in here and able to recuperate back to health however like I was saying it's not like they're in dire straits where they necessarily have to push Wolf Fries out of there right away because just giving up so many problems Minnesota's offensive line has played pretty well given all the circumstances they've been dealt and all the injuries on not just the offensive line but the other offensive weapons but the last thing that they did go on to say about Landon Dickerson was saying with three fifth round picks to work with in next year's draft class and eight total selections the undefeated Vikings have some ammunition to try and fortify the roster before the trade deadline the offense is currently the weak link for the team so a move to address that side of the ball makes the most sense I know a lot of fans have been calling for us to go and get another guard even though it seems like everyone's clicking the panic button on the offensive line when really they've been holding up all right so far again knock on wood that it stays like that but again until the wheels fall off of this thing or until something breaks if it ain't broke don't fix it and that's where Minnesota I think is at right now and these next couple of games are going to show whether they need to go out and upgrade or not and whether they want to make a big swing on a guy like Quenton Nelson or a bit of a smaller swing where they don't have to make an immediate investment on Landon Dickerson and as well as him having a little bit of term attached to him whereas Quenton Nelson you're basically having on a very expensive one-year rental but let us know your guys's thoughts down in the comments below if Landon Dickerson is an appealing option for you or if you think that there is enough I know everyone's going to say Quenton Nelson but if Quenton Nelson is out of this equation is there another guy out there that you think that would be better than Landon Dickerson if he is fully healthy let us know down in the comments below that's going to take us into the second topic of the day which is that Brian O'Neill makes the top five and he made a really nice top five appearance as far as the highest block win rate among offensive tackles with a minimum of 150 snaps you look at them look at him he's at second place at 96.5 percent it's pretty good companies in there you know Trent Williams is a long established veteran in this league and one of the best at his position but Brian O'Neill has also been one of those guys who's been one of the top three if not top two left tack or offensive tackles in the entire NFL and it's been awesome to watch him just be a staple of this team holding on that right side and making sure that our quarterback is protected he's been one of the longest standing veterans on this team and he's always been consistent year in and year out as long as he is healthy so it's awesome that we're all this season and we've talked about the defensive rankings and their stats being just absolutely insane it is really cool to see that we're able to talk about some of the offensive stats that are really starting to stand out and give some players some spotlight like guys like Brian O'Neill where the offensive line is in the trenches is where games are won on either side of the ball the offensive line for Minnesota this year really needs to be consistent and really hold up against some awesome defenses that are going to be coming up over the next couple of weeks through the rest of the season but let us know your guys's thoughts on everything we covered in this video down in the comments below everything from all the Landon Dickerson possibilities to Brian O'Neill just being an absolute stud let us know what you think is going to be the move for the Vikings to make at the trade deadline is this going to be very interesting to see what they do but that's going to do it for this episode of Vikings Digest again thank you guys so much for liking subscribing hitting that bell icon so you don't miss the episodes when they drop but for now i've been your host Griffin take care