What are your expectations for Teddy this season?

[mansquatch]

I do not think we can look at just Teddy by himself, however I'll start there: He has a year under his belt, but there is also a full season of film for opposition research. So does this end up as a net positive, neutral, or a net negative to his game? I think how this all works for Teddy's game is probably the single most important driver of his statistical performance. At this point it is a push, we do not really know anything to say it will go one way or the other.

So then, lets look at what is happening with the rest of the offense:

I believe his protection, barring injuries should be better next season. OL Health was a serious problem last season, so I think we can expect this to improve. Left Guard is a giant question mark right now. I think this is where our 1st round pick will go, but I could be wrong.

I also believe the Running Game will be better in 2015. Last year we basically had no AP and two unproven players trying to fill his shoes in conjunction with a depleted OL. Asiata and Mckinnon now have experience and thus I think will be improved. If AP is in uniform next year then this is a no-brainer. Either way, I think the question is how much better this unit will be in 2015, not if it will be better.

TE: This one seems like it should be better, but will it? The last two season Rudolph has played 8 and 9 games each year. At this point in his career it is becoming hard to not say he has durability issues. I would rate this spot a push. I suspect the patience for Rudolph is diminishing and I wonder if we'll see a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2015 to add what will hopefully be more reliable talent at this position. Pivotal year for KR.


WR: I think Wallace will be an upgrade, but is Teddy's Deep ball up to the task? His deep throws improved last season, but Wallace is a guy who is a legitimate threat to out run a defense. I think this is net positive as we now have a clear stretch the filed threat at WR, but Wallace will only be as great as Teddy's throws to him.

This also makes the other two positions interesting. I think Wright is solid out of the slot and Johnson is solid in the possession role. CP84 is the wild card. How does his role chance now that Wallace is here? He is great after the catch, do they slip him into the slot? I think this group is overall better than last season, but I'm not sure by how much.


I think outside of TE we are poised to see improvement in all of the groups vs. last season. A lot of this is due to injuries and unplanned absences, so some of it is reversion to the mean, but that is not a bad thing. Therefore, I'm content to let optimism rule the day, I think we'll see the offense play noticeably better football.

[mondry]

I do not think we can look at just Teddy by himself, however I'll start there: He has a year under his belt, but there is also a full season of film for opposition research. So does this end up as a net positive, neutral, or a net negative to his game? I think how this all works for Teddy's game is probably the single most important driver of his statistical performance. At this point it is a push, we do not really know anything to say it will go one way or the other.

Yeah, that's a big reason the term "sophomore slump" exists. What I think will basically happen is teams will try things that they "found out" from his film, his weaknesses if you will and he may struggle early on but knowing Teddy and what he's capable of I think he'll adapt quickly, patch those holes in his game up and after say 4 games I see it playing out in his favor meaning a net positive. Some guys just can't be stopped no matter what you know about them or see on film, I think Teddy can be one of those guys... eventually but maybe not immediately.

So then, lets look at what is happening with the rest of the offense:

I believe his protection, barring injuries should be better next season. OL Health was a serious problem last season, so I think we can expect this to improve. Left Guard is a giant question mark right now. I think this is where our 1st round pick will go, but I could be wrong.

I'm not so convinced here, but that could easily change quickly if you're right about our first (or even a 2nd or 3rd) were to be used to pick up a blue chip lineman prospect. I think even our starters when healthy are inconsistent pass blockers so I would expect about the same if we don't see a big investment to the line via the draft. But maybe this is the year Kalil solves his head issues and sullivan can't be dominated by Suh anymore (we don't play the dolphins right?! lol) and Loadholt gains some quickness to his drop.

I also believe the Running Game will be better in 2015. Last year we basically had no AP and two unproven players trying to fill his shoes in conjunction with a depleted OL. Asiata and Mckinnon now have experience and thus I think will be improved. If AP is in uniform next year then this is a no-brainer. Either way, I think the question is how much better this unit will be in 2015, not if it will be better.

I'm thinking "very little" or astronomical in the amount of improvement we get out of the running game. Asiata is what he is, I don't see a lot of room for growth with him. Mckinnon should be better and I liked what I saw from him but I'm not sure he can stay healthy in a lead back role. If Peterson is back then I would actually expect this to hurt teddy's numbers quite a bit. He's simply too good not to rely on him and make him the focal point of the offense. But that puts you in 3rd down and 6 after 2 runs don't go as planned, making the QB's job a lot harder when the offense is so predictable.

TE: This one seems like it should be better, but will it? The last two season Rudolph has played 8 and 9 games each year. At this point in his career it is becoming hard to not say he has durability issues. I would rate this spot a push. I suspect the patience for Rudolph is diminishing and I wonder if we'll see a 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2015 to add what will hopefully be more reliable talent at this position. Pivotal year for KR.

At this point I don't even think I would put any faith in rudolph if I was on the coaching staff. If he stays healthy that'd just be a bonus but I'd be getting Chase Ford reps as he looked good last year and can at least stay healthy. I hope we don't see a high draft pick spent here, to me it's just not a position that requires it. For every Gronk you have 2 or 3 tyler eiferts, coby fleener's, and brandon pettigrew's or hell, kyle rudolphs for that matter.

WR: I think Wallace will be an upgrade, but is Teddy's Deep ball up to the task? His deep throws improved last season, but Wallace is a guy who is a legitimate threat to out run a defense. I think this is net positive as we now have a clear stretch the filed threat at WR, but Wallace will only be as great as Teddy's throws to him.

This also makes the other two positions interesting. I think Wright is solid out of the slot and Johnson is solid in the possession role. CP84 is the wild card. How does his role chance now that Wallace is here? He is great after the catch, do they slip him into the slot? I think this group is overall better than last season, but I'm not sure by how much.

The good thing about Wallace is "it's hard to over throw him" so I think that makes it easier for a QB to just kinda bomb it out there with a little air and let him go get it. I'm not worried about Teddy / Wallace being able to connect, for me it's still mostly about the O-line being able to protect long enough for deep plays like that to develop. As I said in another thread I think wallace compliments the rest of our WR's better than Jennings did and as down as I am on CP84 I'm sure the Turners and CP himself are working on ways to make him a factor regardless of if he's a polished WR yet or not. Patterson has so much room to improve that even if he only gets "half way there" he could still be dangerous in the right role.

I think outside of TE we are poised to see improvement in all of the groups vs. last season. A lot of this is due to injuries and unplanned absences, so some of it is reversion to the mean, but that is not a bad thing. Therefore, I'm content to let optimism rule the day, I think we'll see the offense play noticeably better football.

Hate to be the broken record here but I really need to see improved O-line play before I think the offense will play "noticeably" better. With AD back obviously I'm going to budge on that opinion as we have some great run blockers but as far as predicting Teddy's season I still think it's more about the line than anything else.

Personally I just can't make these kinds of predictions without seeing how the rest of FA and the draft and even camp play out. So much can happen / develop / change in that amount of time.

[mansquatch]

My positive view of the OL had more to do with the fact that we had 3 starters out at one point last season, including Fusco who missed almost the entire year. That sets the bar pretty low, so improvement is likely. That is different than saying they’ll be a top 10 line. Better continuity at RB will probably have a positive impact here as well. Last year without AP everyone knew they did not need to respect our rushing attack and that is detrimental to pass blocking.

[Mothman]

My positive view of the OL had more to do with the fact that we had 3 starters out at one point last season, including Fusco who missed almost the entire year.

That "at one point" is the key. There was also a point where they had one starter out (Fusco) and still looked awful.

[petev_sj]

I try not to hang too much hope on that elusive franchise QB that every organization wants but frankly lucks on. My expectation is that Teddy can stick around longer then 3-4 seasons.

To be fair to Teddy, he is the most NFL ready QB this organization has drafted since Tommy Kramer. Culpepper was a big arm QB, never saw him look of safeties like TB does.

[Raptorman]

My expectations are a bit more simple. I don't care how many yards he has. I don't care how many TD's he has. I do care that any interceptions he does have don't cost any games. Other than that, as long as he grows into a better QB then last year, and the Vikings win, all the personal numbers don't matter. The only numbers that matter to me are Win v. Loss.

[Ooki]

My expectations for TB this season would be to have better stats than Stafford and whoever plays QB for Bears (most likely J Cuttler) in most if not all categories.
Hope: Better stats than mr.2x check himself

[chicagopurple]

I expect a better game down-field. I am already happy with his short passing game. He should only get better at deciding when its time to toss it to the turf. What was really lacking last season was the deep passing game. Unfortunately, this also depends on having a competent OL and a FAST receiver with hands. It appears we have at least one receiver capable of this.

[MusicCityViking]

If he does any better than last season I will be satisfied. I would love to see his play on an incline, not a decline.

[Cliff]

If he does any better than last season I will be satisfied. I would love to see his play on an incline, not a decline.

This is pretty much it for me too. Guessing at stats is fun but improvement and consistency in year two would be great.

[PurpleMustReign]

I would be fairly happy with 6000 yards, 65 TDs, 4 INTs, and a 90% completion percentage.

I am ot sure how realistic that is, but my friend can do it on Madden, so that is pretty close to reality, right?

[Dirtyswabby]

I don't set expectations anymore, seriously havent we as Vikings fans learned our lesson? Im gonna wait until his junior year to set expectations.

[frosted]

I would be fairly happy with 6000 yards, 65 TDs, 4 INTs, and a 90% completion percentage.

I am ot sure how realistic that is, but my friend can do it on Madden, so that is pretty close to reality, right?

[CbusVikesFan]

Disappointedly I expect hope. I'm a Vikings fan, what else is there?



I hope that TB will progress in a manner that will ensure that he remains on the rise. I expect the rest of the team to do everything they can to help TB achieve that. I will disappointed if any of them do not do their job.

[dead_poet]

@murphPPressTeddy Bridgewater on 2014: "I wasn’t impressed. Yes, we did some good things but we could have been much better finishing games."

@murphPPress Bridgewater on Year 2: "I want to continue to be a better teammate. I want to show that I’m accountable and be a better leader." #Vikings