Vikings Still Working On Off-Season Plan; No Decisions Till Saturday

The Vikings were supposed to have their off-season plan in place by last Friday, at least according to Rick Spielman. But things must’ve been more complicated than expected because the brain trust is giving itself an extra week to get everything worked out. Per Tom Pelissero, the Vikings’ front office people and ownership are expected to meet again on Saturday and make “final decisions” on veteran cuts and free agent targets. Pelissero says there was a meeting last Friday with the owners but a few issues were left unresolved, hence the extra time.

The truth is, there was little reason for the Vikings to have their plan ready by last Friday. They weren’t going to use the franchise tag and they really don’t have that many good veterans to make decisions on. The toughest calls are going to be on cuts, and those can be done any time between now and the start of free agency on March 13. Steve Hutchinson, Anthony Herrera and Cedric Griffin are among the veterans the Vikings may choose to dump in order to clear cap space. Vincent Jackson is believed to be the #1 target if the Vikings do dip into free agency next week.

It’s likely that the uncertainty over the salary cap also influenced the Vikings to put off making any roster decisions at this time. The NFLPA is currently trying to drive up the cap for reasons that my tiny brain can’t even begin to understand.

If you’re wondering why it will take all the way to Saturday for the Vikes to have another meeting, Mr. Pelissero has the details on that too. It’s because Rick Spielman will be out at various pro days including the ones for USC (Matt Kalil) and Oklahoma State (Justin Blackmon). Oh yeah, that draft thing is coming up too. Almost forgot about that.

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