The NFL is in the thick of Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman's favorite time of year.

Spielman and other Vikings personnel and coaching staff have been hard at work over the past several weeks and are now continuing the offseason grind and prep for the 2017 season at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

The primary function for Spielman and staff is to evaluate 330 draft-eligible prospects who were invited to the annual showcase. Spielman also meets with agents of players who were with the Vikings in 2016 and are scheduled to become free agents on March 9.

He and other executives around the league also participated in interviews with media members.  

"We're never going to look for excuses on what happened. We ended up 8-8, and from our standards, that's not good enough for our organization," Spielman said to open his podium session on Wednesday. "We have a pretty good sense of what we need to do to try to improve our ball club from where we were last year, and we're looking forward to getting started."

Here are five topics covered by Spielman during his podium session:

1. Diggs continuing to climb

Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs will be entering his third NFL season in Minnesota, and Spielman said the biggest thing is to see Diggs remain healthy for the entire season.

"There's no question about his play ability," Spielman said. "I think he has the potential to be a significant receiver."

Diggs in 2016 recorded 84 catches for 903 yards and three touchdowns.

Spielman said there's an understanding that players take time to develop, especially with the trend of younger players entering the draft. At just 23 years old, Diggs already has two productive pro seasons under his belt. Spielman is confident that his development will continue even further.

"It happens different at each position – some positions can adapt really quickly – but I think receiver is one of the positions where it takes a little time," Spielman said. "The precision and the timing with the quarterback, the windows are a lot tighter when they have to catch the ball, the quarterback has the ball coming out of his hands before they get out of their break.

"The quarterback's relying on him to be at that specific spot, and that just takes time and patience," Spielman continued. "I think Stefon's showing that. He took another step this year, and I think we'll see another big jump next year."

2. More than satisfied with Kyle Rudolph

Spielman's media session provided him another opportunity to reflect on quarterback Sam Bradford's first season in Minnesota. After the Vikings acquired Bradford via trade in early September, he quickly made the transition into a new locker room.

Spielman said the organization is "very excited about what Sam was able to accomplish" in 2016.

"[Coming] in eight days before the season to learn a whole new system that he's never worked in before, to have the [offensive] coordinator change halfway through the season, for us not being able to run the ball as well as we had in the past, probably not protecting him as well as we needed to protect him," Spielman said. "All of that stuff thrown his way, he played a full [15] games."

Added Spielman: "There's no question about his toughness, there's no question about his intelligence, and I think he established himself with our players in how he played that he can lead this organization."

3. Recharging the run game

After ranking fourth in rushing yards in 2015, the Vikings struggled to get their ground game up and running in 2016, and Spielman acknowledged there was a drop off from previous seasons.

According to Spielman, a number of factors could have attributed to the low productivity in running the ball, including an evolving offense and barrage of injuries to the offensive line. Adrian Peterson missed all but three games because of a torn meniscus.

"I think we played with 12 different offensive linemen this year, five different left tackles, which I hope that we never have to go through that process again," Spielman said.

Spielman said the Vikings feel confident in what traits they're seeking out in running backs.

"I've actually sat in the coaches meetings with [Head Coach Mike Zimmer] and with Pat Shurmur – and I understand a little bit from a schematic standpoint of what's going to be required from our running backs," Spielman said. "Are we going to be more shotgun, are we going to be more I Formation?

"I also know that the coaches do a great job of understanding what the strengths and weaknesses of the players are and trying to adjust the schemes to that," he added.

4. Position on Peterson

The Vikings announced Tuesday that they will **not exercise the 2017 option** on Peterson's contract, but Spielman said dialogue between the Vikings and Peterson remains underway. The general manager said he always believes in "just putting everything up front and on the table," and contract decisions – for Peterson or otherwise – could be affected by the free agency market.

"We have to adjust our game plan, so you have to be very flexible. Adrian – or any of our players that we want to sign back – I'm up front as I talk to all of those guys," Spielman said. "I don't know how all the pieces are going to fit together from a financial standpoint. But we are very open, just like we are with all of our players, to have our players back if we can."

This year's combine will allow teams to get a look at a large number of running backs hoping to be drafted in April.

"I don't remember this amount of running backs coming out," Spielman said. "We just got out of our draft meetings, and there's a significant amount of talent at that position. And to be honest with you, I can't remember a year where the draft class at running back is this deep."

5. Update on Stefon Diggs

Just three years ago, Spielman and the Vikings were in the process of evaluating quarterbacks, and the process led to Teddy Bridgewater after Minnesota traded back in to the first round to nab the quarterback.

Bridgewater won Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year in 2014 and helped lead the Vikings to the NFC North title in 2015 before suffering a dislocated knee in practice on Aug. 30 disrupted his positive rise. Spielman said the Vikings were "very excited about Teddy Bridgewater and his direction and his trajectory, where he was headed."

A great training camp and preseason came to a surprising halt, but Spielman said "Teddy is working extremely hard on getting back on the field as quickly as he can."

"There is no timeline because there hasn't been an injury like this at that position," Spielman said. "There have been some similar in other positions. I think you have to look at it from an individual basis; each person heals differently."