2022 Offseason Assessment Tournament: 2nd-Round (MIN v. DET)
Same intro everyday: Our annual series taking a look at each NFL team’s offseason (free agency, draft, trades) moves and assessing their impact for the upcoming season – simply speaking, 'did all of the offseason moves, en masse, project to make the team better or worse for just the upcoming campaign (not worried about the long-term effect)'?
We’ll list the key adds and losses for each team competing and then comment on them and anoint a winner that will move on to the next round, until we get down to the final two (the 'Super Bowl') and we name a winner for the top offseason (to date). Our way to review and judge what each of these teams have done halfway through the offseason.
2nd-Round Matchup…
MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Key Adds:
LB Za’Darius Smith (FA), DT Harrison Phillips (FA), LB Jordan Hicks (FA), SAF Lewis Cine (pick #32), CB Andrew Booth (pick #42), OL Ed Ingram (pick #59), LB Brian Asamoah (pick #66), CB Akayleb Evans (pick #118), RB Ty Chandler (pick #169), CB Chandon Sullivan (FA)
Key Losses:
TE Tyler Conklin (FA), OC Mason Cole (FA), SAF Xavier Woods (FA)
vs.
DETROIT LIONS
Key Adds:
SAF Deshon Elliott (FA), WR D.J. Chark (FA), CB Mike Hughes (FA), DT Aidan Hutchinson (pick #2), WR Jameson Williams (pick #12), DE Josh Paschal (pick #46), LB Malcolm Rodriquez (pick #188), LB James Houston (pick #217), CB Chase Lucas (pick #237)
Key Losses:
LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin (FA)
I absolutely love this offseason by Minnesota. I marvel at it. I shouldn’t have to marvel at it…it’s so simple, but when anyone in the NFL actually plans something logical and executes said plan it’s an outlier, a serious outlier. I would propose that the Vikings 2022 offseason is one of the greatest, if not THEE greatest executions of a plan that I’ve ever seen for a one-year defensive transformation. Five upgrades/instant starters brought in. They may be one CB away (a replacement for Patrick Peterson) from being the shock DST of 2022.
Detroit had a very impressive offseason, but in the vein of a ‘they could go nowhere else but up’ manner. Detroit got a little better for 2022 and much better for 2023+. Minnesota got a lot better for 2022…AND 2023+.
WINNER = Minnesota, and they go on to the NFC Final Four…for the 2nd-year in a row in our little tourney.
2nd-Round results:
PHI defeats NYG
LAR defeats SF
MIN defeats DET
