What are the best decisions ever made by the Minnesota Vikings general manager?
Rick Spielman has been a part of the Minnesota Vikings for nearly 15 years. He started as the Vikings vice president of player personnel in 2006 and he was officially promoted to be the team’s general manager in 2012. For the purposes of this commentary, his decisions have been evaluated on a post-2012 basis.
Since 2012, the Vikings have been the ninth-best team in the NFL with a win-loss record of 72-54-2 (.570). Notably, this is better than a number of Minnesota’s NFC foes including the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Atlanta Falcons among others. In Spielman’s eight-year tenure, the Vikings have visited the playoffs four times.
He’s also been a magician in accumulating draft capital from a volume perspective. Minnesota has drafted 93 players–in the last eight drafts. This averages to a total of nearly 12 players per draft. There are only seven rounds in a draft, so do the math.
Like many general managers, Spielman has made errors. For instance, he probably spent too much in the acquisition of quarterback Sam Bradford as the Vikings sent a first-round pick to the Eagles in 2016 for an oft-hobbled signal-caller.
Overall, Spielman has made sound decisions, so let’s go over the five best.
Drafting Diggs in 2015
Don’t scream. This would probably be higher if Stefon Diggs was still with the Vikings, but he’s not.
Diggs appeared to become malcontented with Minnesota sometime early in the 2019 season. He went AWOL, returned, got fined, and then began tweeting cryptic stuff. So goes the life of a professional wide receiver.
Prior to that tomfoolery (and after, to an extent), Diggs was a terrific contributor to the Vikings. He’s globally known for snatching a walk-off touchdown against the New Orleans Saints in the 2017 playoffs. But he did a lot more than that for the franchise.
Diggs was arguably the most talented wide receiver the Vikings drafted since Randy Moss, heavy emphasis on the arguably. From the moment he was drafted until the date he was traded to the Buffalo Bills, Diggs accumulated the 13th-most receiving yards in the league with 4,623.
Not bad for a fifth-round selection by Rick Spielman.
The acquisition and extension of Cousins
The Washington Football Team was indecisive and downright foolish to let Kirk Cousins exit the nation’s capital.
Since Cousins left two years ago, Washington ranks dead last in passing yards and passing touchdowns. During Cousins’ time as the team’s field general, Washington ranked sixth in passing yards and 10th in passing touchdowns. How’s that for a performance drop-off?
In the three seasons preceding Cousins’ arrival to Minnesota, the Vikings had a collective team passer rating of 95.3, which was good enough for eighth in the NFL.
So, that certainly was not poor. But with Cousins at the helm, the team’s passer rating has crept up to 101.5 which is the fourth-best in the business. In this metric, the Vikings only trail the Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, and Seattle Seahawks during the last two seasons.
Cousins was expensive, but his acquisition and 2020 extension to the contract have been worth it thanks to the help of Rick Spielman.
Orchestrating a team-friendly contract for Hunter
Pass-rushers have always been important to the game of football, but it seems with the emphasis on passing in the league that EDGE rushers are now paramount. Thanks to Rick Spielman, the Vikings have their disruptive defensive end in Danielle Hunter. And, they have him signed at a relatively affordable price.
In comparison to other EDGE rushers and considering Hunter’s age and performance–his contract is truly team-friendly.
On average, he brings home about $14.4 million per year. In his upper-echelon class of EDGE rushers, some players demand (and get) over $20 million annually. Minnesota will likely have to visit this conversation with Hunter in time, but not now.
Since 2017, Hunter has accrued the third-most sacks in the NFL. However, he is being compensated closer to the 20th-best EDGE rusher in the business. This is not exactly ideal for him personally, but it is wondrous for the Vikings.
The team-friendly aspect allows Spielman to spend money on other players such as Minnesota’s expensive linebacking personnel, primarily Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks.
Bringing Zimmer to Minnesota
This is two-fold; the hire of Mike Zimmer and the recent contract extension.
The hiring of Zimmer took place at a time in the Vikings history that was one of doldrums. Minnesota had freshly failed a new quarterback experiment, Christian Ponder, and they were winding down the prime years of their franchise cornerstone in running back Adrian Peterson.
During Leslie Frazier’s stint as skipper before Zimmer arrived, the Vikings put forth a product that was defensively putrid. From 2011 to 2013, Minnesota ranked second-to-last in the NFL in points allowed.
Since the Zimmer hire, the Vikings have been transformed into the second-best team in the business in regard to points allowed. Just pause and think about that.
And when you’re finished–it’s no wonder the team finally afforded Zimmer a contract extension this year. Under Zimmer, Minnesota has won two NFC North titles and earned a spot in one NFC Championship. Contrary to popular belief, those feats are not easy to accomplish.
Zimmer belongs on the Vikings and Rick Spielman brought that to fruition–for, what now could be, 10 seasons altogether.
The unforeseen discovery of Adam Thielen
The Vikings made two colossal flubs in the draft selections of wide receivers in the last 15 years. In 2005, it was Troy Williamson and a decade later, it was Laquon Treadwell. Both men were seemingly good dudes, but Minnesota profoundly struck out on both first-round picks.
The Vikings then made up for it with the late-round draft pick of Stefon Diggs and no-round draft pick of Adam Thielen.
Thielen’s story and on-the-field performance for Minnesota has been movie script-like. It will not be rehashed here because it’s common knowledge among the team’s fan base.
Yet, the mere fact that the Vikings front office spent virtually nothing on Thielen’s discovery is franchise-altering. And that’s notwithstanding the sentimental tugs at one’s heart of Thielen’s Minnesota-based aura.
The Minnesota State University alumnus was anointed as a full-time starter in 2016. From that point on, he has accounted for the 12th-most receiving yards in the NFL. And we’re talking better than Odell Beckham, Stefon Diggs, Amari Cooper, and Keenan Allen in this parameter. Had Thielen been the first overall pick in any NFL draft, this would still be impressive.
It’s even more commendable for the undrafted billing that he is well-known for. Eight years into the gig for Rick Spielman, Thielen is his magnum opus achievement.