The Mastermind Behind the Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota is the story of the season so far. Last season, the Vikings season ended in the most Vikings way possible: Blair Walsh missing a 27-yard field goal to give the Seahawks the win. Let’s go back a bit more — to 2012/2013 aka The Adrian Peterson year. It was the first time in 6 years that the MVP was a running back and it was well deserved, as I am still amazed by what he did that season. 4 years ago, Peterson was the focal point of the team. He was constantly given the ball on 3rd & 9 situations and he converted them, even though the other team knew he was getting the ball. In 2016, they are a defensive powerhouse that looks a lot like the 2015 Denver Broncos — a team that depended on their defense to make plays and only asked the offence to stay on the field long enough so they could get some rest. In 2016, they are a team that was barely affected by Adrian Peterson going down for the season in their second game of the season. Yes, that same Adrian Peterson that put the team on his back in 2012.

It’s easy to wonder what the hell happened, but it’s also just as easy to answer that question: Rick Spielman happened. He was promoted from the Vice President of Player Personnel to the the General Manager of the Vikings in 2012. Once you go from there, it becomes a little easier to understand how Minnesota went from Adrian Peterson & friends to the dominant, playmaking defense it is today in a span of 4 years. Spielman is the mastermind behind everything that has happened in Minnesota. Originally this piece was going to be about how well the Vikings drafted since 2012 to get them to where they are today, but as I researched more it became evident this was all Spielman’s doing. It wasn’t just about how well he has drafted, but how he orchestrated many strings of trades in order to give them the draft picks they wanted. Let’s get started.

In 2012, the Trent Richardson trade happened — The Browns gave the Vikings a #4 overall pick, 4th round pick #118, 5th round pick #139, 7th round pick #211 to move up a single spot in the draft (#4 to #3). The Vikings selected Matt Kalil, who was a pro-bowler in his rookie year and also managed to get some depth with the 3 late picks (at the time) and the Browns selected Trent Richardson. If I had to guess, that trade was probably more on the Browns part, because Cleveland was afraid Richardson would not be there at 4. However, the trade that began the “Spielman Era”, so to speak, was when they traded with Baltimore to get the Raven’s #29 overall pick and gave up their #35 and #98 pick. That pick became Harrison Smith, arguably the Vikings most important defensive player. It is important to note that Spielman was announced as the GM in May, but I think it’s safe to say that he played a big role in the 2012 draft because he was sharing final say responsibilities with Brad Childress — who was fired in November. That’s not to say he had the final say in 2012, but the only other person influencing that was the owner, Zygi Wilf.

In 2013, the Vikings traded Percy Harvin to the Seahawks in exchange for a 1st rounder, a 5th rounder, and a 7th rounder. Harvin played 6 games with Seattle and is now out of the league. Oh, and he was a locker room cancer — getting into fights with Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin. Not only did the Vikings swindle the Seahawks out of 3 picks, 2 of those 3 picks ended up becoming Xavier Rhodes and Jerick McKinnon. No, I’m not joking — that actually happened. The same Rhodes that held Odell Beckham to the lowest amount of yards he’s ever had — 23. Speaking of the number 23, the Vikings also picked Sharrif Floyd with pick #23 that same draft — who I’m a big fan of. Spielman also traded with the New England Patriots to get a 3rd first-round pick. He gave up pick #52, #83, #102 and #229 to trade up to #27 and draft Cordarrelle Patterson. Now, Patterson was a bust at receiver but is a phenomenal returner. It’s hard to say how valuable he is — as the Patriots ended getting Jamie Collins and Logan Ryan with those picks, but it goes to show how draft-savvy Spielman is. The first year where he had full control of the team, he flipped Percy Harvin for Xavier Rhodes and Jerick McKinnon, drafted Sharrif Floyd, and traded up so that he had the 23rd, the 25th, and the 29th overall pick of the 2013 draft. That’s impressive for a rookie GM.

In 2014 after Leslie Frazier was fired, Spielman was put in charge of hiring the next head coach of the Vikings. And who did he hire? Mike Zimmer, who’s looking like a top 5 coach in the league this year. This decision has to one of Spielman’s bests — here are the other 6 coaches that were hired in that same offseason: Bill O’Brien, Ken Whisenhunt, Lovie Smith, Jim Caldwell, Mike Pettine and Jay Gruden. Looking at all the decisions that Spielman has made since his hiring in 2011, the Vikings didn’t just stumble into Zimmer. The Vikings knew what they were doing and what they were going to get out of him. After drafting Smith, Rhodes, and Floyd, it only made sense to go after a defensive guru that had experience with coming into a team and immediately boosting their defence. For two straight years, the Bengals had an elite defence, yet Spielman was the only person to consider him for the job. I think it’s fair to say that the Vikings wouldn’t be performing close to this level had they hired another coach 2 years ago.

The Vikings enter the 2014 draft needing a quarterback, as Matt Cassel was starting for them. The Browns, once again desperate to draft a bust in Justin Gilbert, traded up one spot with Minnesota and gave them their #9 pick and a late pick. With the #9 pick in the draft they picked Anthony Barr, an All-Pro linebacker. It’s hilarious that in a span of 3 years, the Browns traded with the Vikings twice to move up one spot and then proceeded to draft huge busts BOTH TIMES. Come on, this shit just writes itself. Later in the first round when Teddy Bridgewater fell all the way to #32, Spielman gave up #40 and #108 to trade up and draft him. A great pick. Though Bridgewater is going to miss the whole season and has an uncertain future with the team, let’s remember that Teddy Two-Gloves was rookie of the year and a Pro-Bowler. Year 2 of the Spielman era: got one of the best prospects in a ridiculously stacked draft class and got an answer at quarterback.

The 2015 draft wasn’t any different for Spielman. With the first round pick, they selected Trae Waynes. With the second round pick, they selected Eric Kendricks. With the third round pick, they selected Danielle Hunter. All three players who are showing promise and looking like they will be core pieces to the defence in the coming years. However, Spielman wasn’t done. He traded Matt Cassel and the #188 overall pick to the Bills for the #137. He then traded that pick to Atlanta in exchange for #146, who turned out to be some guy named Stefon Diggs and #185. Let’s summarize what has happened to the Vikings since Spielman took the reins in 2012:

2012: Drafted Harrison Smith
2013: Traded Percy Harvin, drafted Xavier Rhodes, Sharrif Floyd, Jerick McKinnon
2014: Hired Mike Zimmer, drafted Anthony Barr, drafted Teddy Bridgewater
2015: Traded Matt Cassel, drafted Trae Waynes, drafted Eric Kendricks, drafted Danielle Hunter, drafted Stefon Diggs

Currently, the Vikings are the gold standard for how you should rebuild a team through the draft. For an organization that does not attract much free agents, building through the draft is crucial and I cannot stress that enough. It’s the only way teams like the Titans and the Bills can improve. This is evident by the fact that the Titans and Bills… are not that good. Let’s look at the drafting history of the Baltimore Ravens, for two reasons: a) they had the same record as the Vikings in 2012, when Spielman took over, b) they have a GM who is considered by many to be one of the very best in the league, Ozzie Newsome. I’m only going to include players who are still on the team and is a starter, like I did with the Vikings.

2012: No one.
2013: Brandon Williams, Ricky Wagner
2014: C.J Mosley, Timmy Jernigan, John Urschel
2015: No one.
2016: Ronnie Stanley, Alex Lewis

You could go through every team’s draft history in the past 4 years. No team comes even close to the Minnesota Vikings (maybe the Cardinals. Maybe). Most of the good teams right now have at least a couple of guys that was acquired through free agency. The only player on the Minnesota defence that wasn’t drafted by them is Linval Joseph. And no one thought Joseph was going to be this good. That’s amazing.

This leads to the Sam Bradford trade. The trade to end it all. On September 3rd, the Vikings gave up a 1st round pick and a conditional 4th round pick (could turn into 3rd or 2nd depending on how the Vikings finish) to acquire Sam Bradford from the Eagles days after Teddy Bridgewater badly injured his knee and required him to sit out the year. Let’s admit it: we all thought this was a bad decision, including me. However, Spielman didn’t. He knew the Vikings were one quarterback away from winning the Super Bowl, and he knew how good the defence that he built himself would be. He also knew that last year wasn’t an accurate depiction of how good Bradford is. With the Eagles, Bradford ended the season with 3,725 yards, 19 touchdowns, 14 interceptions and a 65% completion percentage in 14 games played. He broke the franchise record for completion percentage despite the Eagles leading the league in dropped passes with 6% of Bradford’s targets being dropped.

15 days after being traded to Minnesota, Bradford was the starting quarterback for the Vikings against the Packers in prime time. Throwing a quarterback that had two weeks to learn the offence into a game against a tough division rival is not a smart move, right? Usually the answer is yes, but Bradford completed 22 of 31 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns. He easily looked like the best quarterback on the field and no, Aaron Rodgers was not injured. The last time a Vikings quarterback started a game after having two weeks to learn the offence was Josh Freeman. Member Josh Freeman?

At the time of writing this, the Vikings are the only undefeated team left in the league and it doesn’t look like they’re slowing down anytime soon. Spielman spent three years building an elite defense strictly through the draft, he hired the best possible person for the head coaching job, and he made a trade for a franchise quarterback that worked out perfectly for both parties. Now the only thing stopping Minnesota from winning a Super Bowl is a freak injury. The Vikings are the Golden State Warriors of the NFL — they built their team through the draft and good coaching and now they have a myriad of play makers on defense on cheap rookie contracts. Let’s take a second a give a round of applause to Rick Spielman, who I feel good about calling a genius.

The only interesting thing that remains is what the Vikings will do with Teddy Bridgewater. He is only 23, and had a real promising year in 2015. The Vikings should look to trade him, but whatever Spielman does, we should all trust him.