Mike Zimmer, Rick Spielman rift started at 2021 draft

In his latest interview with Mark Craig of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, former Vikings coach and present Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer pulled few punches.

He fired just a few of them at former Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman.

Whereas there certainly have been tough moments from 2014 by means of 2020, given Zimmer’s blunt, direct, Parcellsian nature, Zimmer centered on the 2021 draft. The Vikings had a quarterback, however Spielman was finding out quarterbacks — with out telling Zimmer.

“I stroll in earlier than the draft and Rick is watching quarterback interviews from the mix,” Zimmer informed Craig. “He hadn’t informed me something. Usually, he at all times saved me abreast of the whole lot. And he and I have been at all times good.”

Zimmer confirmed one thing we might heard because the 2021 draft started: “The primary spherical, Rick tried to commerce up for Justin Fields, who hasn’t completed something.”

The Bears ultimately moved from No. 20 to No. 12 to grab Fields. And it is unfair and inaccurate for Zimmer to say Fields “hasn’t completed something.” He is a really harmful runner. He is growing as a passer. He might find yourself being the starter in Pittsburgh, in some unspecified time in the future this season.

After Spielman didn’t land Fields, Spielmen picked quarterback Kellen Mond in spherical three. He was the primary of 4 third-round picks, together with linebacker Chazz Surratt, offensive lineman Wyatt Davis, and defensive finish Patrick Jones II.

“When he picked Mond, I walked out of the room,” Zimmer informed Craig. “I left the constructing. I didn’t even speak to [Spielman] on the telephone.”

“Rick mentioned [the next day], ‘You mad at me?’” Zimmer informed Craig. “I mentioned, ‘Yeah, I feel you took 4 backups once we had guys there I assumed have been starters.’ From that point on, it simply sort of received worse between us. And I’m not saying nothing was my fault. I’m positive there have been loads of issues that have been my fault.”

Zimmer’s lack of curiosity in having Mond confirmed.

“Folks made a giant deal out of me saying after [he took three snaps in a 37-10 loss to the Packers] I didn’t have to see extra of Mond,” Zimmer mentioned. “I noticed him each day in apply. Perhaps I used to be omniscient or one thing. He performed three NFL snaps and two have been dangerous.”

However that may turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Zimmer clearly did not need Mond, clearly. If Zimmer directed his frustration with Spielman at Mond, Mond would sense it in some unspecified time in the future. And if Zimmer did not give you a strong plan (or any plan) to develop Mond, Zimmer ultimately could be confirmed omniscient. Or prescient. Or no matter.

“No matter” is the vibe Spielman is creating in response to Zimmer’s assault. PFT contacted Spielman for remark. He declined.

And whereas Zimmer would have wished Spielman to say no to draft a quarterback in 2021, the fact is that, by then, the Vikings had slipped into an annual analysis cycle relating to quarterback Kirk Cousins. Zimmer wasn’t a Cousins fan, even when Zimmer did not unload on Cousins to Craig. Would not Zimmer have welcomed somebody new?

The Vikings, two seasons later, received somebody new at head coach. They employed, as groups typically do, the precise reverse of their final coach. Kevin O’Connell has completed nicely thus far, but it surely’s nonetheless the same-old cycle of 1 12 months up, one 12 months down. And Spielman’s successor, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, continues to be utilizing draft capital on guys who aren’t sticking round.

Thus, if nothing else, Zimmer’s rants are a reminder that Mark and Zygi Wilf have pivoted from “simply adequate” being adequate. They supplied a transparent instance of it once they fired Zimmer and Spielman. With no contract extensions till after 2024, on the earliest, for O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah, Zimmer’s phrases carry a a lot deeper message to the blokes who at present maintain the roles he and Spielman used to occupy.