Vikings GM Rick Spielman has a new deal to match head coach Mike Zimmer. On Monday, the Vikings officially announced a brand new deal for their top football exec to take him through the 2023 season. 
“Rick has been outstanding in his role as Vikings general manager,” Vikings owner Mark Wilf said in a statement. “We are excited and honored to have him continue to lead our efforts to build a championship roster and first-class organization. With Rick’s and Coach Zimmer’s leadership in place, we are in a great position to continue to compete for a Super Bowl.”
Spielman has been with the Vikings since 2006 and has served as their GM since 2012. Since his big promotion, the Vikings have made the playoffs four times including an appearance in the NFC Championship Game (2017). And, with Zimmer as his head coach, the club has posted a record of 57-38-1.
Spielman was set to enter his walk year. Now, he has some extra security heading into his 15th season with the organization.
In honestly believe he’s one of the smartest GMs in the game the vikes are going to win a SB in a year or two. They draft and develop players that aren’t QBs well
People give the Vikings a harder time than they deserve overall. While they haven’t consistently been a top contending franchise, they’ve overall been pretty good and usually competitive under Spielman and Zimmer. A lot of injury bugs and a few bad games have kept them from being a final four type of franchise, but we always expect them every year to compete with the upper level teams. That’s more than we can say for some other franchises, even some of the current top teams, like San Francisco or Tennessee (who have only recently emerged as top contenders again). The Vikings have been mostly consistent, but at the same time a step away from being the best.
I will say, the Vikings always seem to put together a well-rounded and balanced team. They possess few weaknesses and like you mentioned, are always in the playoff mix. If they can just retool the interior offensive line and develop those young cornerbacks, they could challenge for a championship. As much as people chastise Kirk, he’s still an above average signal caller that at least gives his team a chance. That said, if they make a postseason run, success will likely emanate from their fantastic foursome of elite defenders: Hunter, Kendricks, Smith, and Harris. What do each of those players have in common? They’re homegrown draft picks of Spielman that were developed by Zimmer
Agreed-way to wrap that up with some good names. Most of the Vikes’ contributors are homegrown, which is something Spielman and his scouts should get some credit for.
To be fair, Smith was partially developed by Leslie Frazier and his staff, and Frazier apparently pressed for Smith to be drafted.
Makes sense for the Vikings to maintain their organizational continuity but Spielman is too much of a scratch and win ticket operator for my liking. Drafting four players in the 7th round each year might eventually payoff but maybe it’s time to try a different approach.