Tuesday Thoughts

Karl Dunbar- The Vikings New D-Line coach is the best addition they have made to the staff so far, and is a tremendous upgrade over Brian Baker. Dunbar was Kevin Williams D-Line coach in College, then was the Bears D-Line coach last year were they doubled their sack total, and got ready for this year's resurgence. Then he went down to LSU to tutor a very good D-Line. The Vikings made him a huge offer, and he has a proven track record. Great Job, Brad.

Eric Bienemy-Was considred one of the better assistant coaches in College Football on the basis of his work at Colorado and UCLA. I wouldn't be shocked if the Vikings new RB coach became a College Head Coach soon. An upgrade over Dean Dalton.

Pat Morris- I am somewhat curious why the Vikings hired the Lions O-line coach to a similar position, granted he will be working with the very good Wisconsin line coach Jim Hueber, but the Lions were known for struggling line-play this year. Morris has a better track record with interior lineman though, such as Ron Stone, Jeremy Newberry, Ray Brown, and Kevin Gogan. So maybe Hueber will work more with tackles. The Vikings line though can't be more of a mess than last year.

Jimmie Johnson-The new tight ends coach comes to the Vikings as an offensive coordinator of not a very good Texas Southern team, so I am in no position to comment.

Brian Murphy-Wisconsin has always been known for strong-special teams play evidence last year vs the Gophers. So I like this hire, but indications are the guy they want to be their ST Coach is still playing in the playoffs.

Other Business.

Some people have been critical of Fred Smoot's play this year. While Smoot sure got burned by Steve Smith, he was actually pretty-solid as a coverage guy, and an alright tackler. I have much more confidence in putting him on a guy 1 on 1 than Brian Williams who excels at zone-schemes. I advocate keeping Smoot around.

Running through the Vikings roster players that wouldn't be back-By being cut, or being allowed to leave with little intrest in Free Agency

-Moe Williams

-Marcus Robinson

-Napoleon Harris

-Brian Williams

-Corey Chavous

Players that might not be back

-Mike Rosenthal

-Chris Liwenski

-Lance Johnstone

-Keith Newman

-Sam Cowart

-Shaun Hill

-Corey Withrow