Jay Z wrote:Well, I don't think the Giants would have been interested in trading Tarkenton a year earlier.conace21 wrote:I think placing a team from one year to another (the 1973 Vikings into 1971) is just as hypothetical as placing one player on that team a year earlier. I'm not thinking in terms of "What it Minnesota had never traded Tarkenton?" More along the lines of "What if they had traded for him a year earlier?"
They could have traded for Billy Kilmer a year earlier; he was on the market. Would have been a better fit than Snead, I think. Kilmer is an example of a QB like Kapp who wound up playing well into his 30s. I think Kilmer was better than Kapp, though.
The issue with Kapp is how he would have held up with his running. Kapp ran a tremendous amount, and in a roughhouse style, for a quarterback his age. 269 yards, plus 52 in the playoffs, at age 30 in 1968. The Super Bowl year he was down to 104, but another 108 in the playoffs. Then just 70 the year in Boston. Given his passing limitations, could he have survived for much longer? I guess we'll never know.
Another good comp to Kapp would be Billy Wade, but again, I think Wade was better than Kapp based on available evidence.
Fair points. I think you summed it up earlier when you said that by the time the Vikings traded for Tarkenton, the defense had dropped a notch...especially in the running game.