This is Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman's favorite time of the year.
Spielman and Minnesota's front office personnel are in the midst of the biggest phase of acquiring players, whether they're potential draft picks or NFL free agents.
Mark Craig of the Star Tribune chatted with Spielman about a variety of topics on Monday at the Annual League Meeting, which is taking place in Phoenix.
Spielman told Craig he's as driven as ever to help bring playoff success to the Twin Cities.
Spielman was asked if his faith in his system for building a team ever wavers during these weeks when he interacts face to face with peers who have experienced more tangible successes the past five seasons. The answer came before the question was even completed.
"No," he said. "I think the biggest thing is you can't control the uncontrollable. Hopefully we don't have to go through the adversities that we faced every week last year. That's part of the business, and you try to adjust the best you can. But I know we have a very talented young core of players on this roster. And we're still adding talent to it."
Spielman completed his fifth season as GM and 10th overall with the Vikings in 2016.
Böhringer reflects on year of major adjustments
It might be an understatement to say the past year was a whirlwind for Moritz Böhringer.
The German-born wide receiver spoke with Tim Yotter of Viking Update about the upcoming season and all he’s learned over the past 12 months.
Yotter wrote:
*Perhaps no other player in the NFL last year had to adapt to so many things off the field and on as the Minnesota Vikings' 2016 sixth-round draft pick at receiver. *
*The Germany transplant had to learn the techniques of NFL players and temper expectations abroad, deal with an initial barrage of media attention, both in the United States and in Germany, and learn to live on his own for the first time in his life. At the end of a season on the practice squad, he emerged with the belief that he still belongs in the NFL and can eventually be a game-day contributor. *
"Definitely. If I wouldn't think so I wouldn't be here and I would say no and I would go back to Germany and I can't do that. I can't handle that," he said. "I think I can do it [here]."
*He has a desirable size-speed ratio for a wide receiver, but raw speed isn't enough. In the NFL, technique has to be the coupled with speed to create separation from defensive backs. *
*On the field, that was the first big learning step from the former German Football League star. *
"It's definitely a crazy situation here. It's way different from Germany, but I learned a lot, probably more than I could ever learn in Germany in my entire career," he said after his rookie season.
"Just adapting to the speed of the game. I think the last 10 weeks or so everything calmed down and slowed down."
Böhringer spent all of the 2016 season on Minnesota's practice squad.
