Jan 1, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Laurent Robinson (81) runs with the ball and scores a touchdown after a reception during the second half at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Alan Maglaque-US PRESSWIRE

As a person who spends much of his day refreshing Rotoworld over-and-over I can safely say one thing about this year’s free agency build-up: There is almost no buzz whatsoever around the Vikings. Pick a big name free agent and look through the articles on them. Can you find a Viking mention in any of the speculation? There’s been a tiny bit of buzz about Vincent Jackson, but with so many teams in on him, the chances of the Vikings winning that bidding war look extremely remote to say the least. Ditto Cortland Finnegan. Brandon Carr generated some heat early on but to go by the experts he’s not in the mix either. Either the Vikings are playing things really close to the vest, or they’re just not planning to be big players in free agency this year.

If the Vikings do bow out on the big names, it won’t be for lack of cap space. By last count they had around $23 million to play with, and there was still a chance for them to free up more space by restructuring a couple contracts. You’d figure with that much flexibility they could at least make a play for a top wide receiver or cornerback. The problem is that, this year, there are lots of teams with lots of cap space. A lot of big numbers are going to fly around. One or two guys are going to get really inflated contracts. The kind of contracts that two years from now will have people saying, “What the heck were those guys thinking when they gave him that much money?”

The Vikings have given out their share of such contracts in the past. Fred Smoot was arguably the biggest free agency goof-up, and then there was Bernard Berrian, who comes in at least a close second. Those debacles are probably the best arguments you can make for taking the frugal approach. The question has to be asked though: Why clear the cap space if you’re not planning on using it? The answer is, the Vikings probably are planning on using it, just not on the big names.

I don’t need to inform you that the Vikings have a lot of needs. When you have a lot of needs, the prudent approach is probably not to blow all your cap space on one or two guys. Instead you’ll want to spread that money around to several lower-priced guys who can be at least slight upgrades over what you ran out there last year. I do think the Vikings will sign multiple free agents, I just don’t think the names will be ones we’re all that familiar with. And I think the players signed will all be pretty young and have some upside.

This prudent, multiple-need-filling approach may disappoint those hoping for a Vincent Jackson or a Cortland Finnegan, but I’m guessing the true wonks won’t be too upset. Wonks love it when lesser guys get targeted. “I’ve had my eye on Laurent Robinson all this time!” That’s wonk nirvana. Brodrick Bunkley? Who ever heard of him? Tom Pelissero did, and so did your weird friend who has trouble making eye contact. Rick Spielman strikes me as the wonky type, so maybe he’s got a few of these lesser names on his radar screen. It might not be a blockbuster free agency period for the Vikings, but for the Rotoworld refreshers at least, it could be a highly intriguing one.

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Dec. 14, 2008; Glendale, AZ, USA; Minnesota Vikings cornerback (23) Cedric Griffin against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

It was nothing like the total roster purge the Colts undertook last week, but the Vikings did execute their own house cleaning on Sunday, getting rid of veterans Steve Hutchinson, Anthony Herrera and Cedric Griffin. The trio of cuts saved the Vikes around $13 million, giving them more than $20 million in cap space. That’s enough flexibility to pursue at least one big free agent. Vincent Jackson and Cortland Finnegan are the two largest names believed to be on the Vikings’ list of targets, but both those men are also coveted by several other teams.

And what if the Vikings can’t land Cortland Finnegan? One option might be to re-sign the man they just let go. ESPN’s Josina Anderson says the Vikings are indeed willing to bring back Cedric Griffin, at much less than the $4.1 million he was set to make before being cut. The problem is, Cedric himself might not be willing to return to the Vikings. Griffin was clearly miffed over his late season benching last year, and was probably also not happy at being publicly called out by Leslie Frazier. Cedric’s comments since then have all indicated a strong desire to play somewhere besides Minnesota next season.

There’s one sticking point for Cedric: It’s likely that nobody else wants him. The market for 29-year-old cornerbacks with no knees and no particular proficiency at producing turnovers is just not very robust. Maybe there’s a team out there that would take a chance on him as a fourth cornerback, but not for very much money. The best offer Cedric will likely see will be from the Vikings, who are aware of Cedric’s limitations and are apparently willing to work around them.

The Vikings also happen to be very desperate for cornerback help right now. Their would-be #1 corner, Chris Cook, is facing assault charges that could land him in jail and almost certainly will earn him a suspension from the league. Their #2 Antoine Winfield is old and slow and can’t cover outside receivers anymore. And after that it gets even grimmer. The Vikings will likely fix some of that by drafting a corner in the second or third round but, as their targeting of Finnegan indicates, they also want a veteran. And if no better veteran option than gimpy, grumpy Cedric Griffin ends up being available to the Vikings in free agency?

I’m certain both the team and Cedric would, in a perfect world, love to move on from their relationship. But it’s not a perfect world and they may be stuck with each other.

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December 18, 2011; San Diego, CA, USA; San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson (83) reacts after missing a catch during the second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens at Qualcomm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

Could Vincent Jackson and Cortland Finnegan be headed to the Buccaneers as part of a Miami Heat-like package deal? Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports tweeted this earlier: “Cortland Finnegan has been texting VJax in hopes of recruiting him to CF’s next team, which is looking like Tampa.” Coming soon to ESPN, “The Decision” with Vincent Jackson.

Obviously V-Jax isn’t quite on the same level as LeBron James. Still, it’s disconcerting to see the “package deal” trend popping up in pro football. What about competitive balance? Surely the salary cap should keep that sort of thing from getting TOO out of hand. But every now and then you’re bound to have a team like Tampa Bay with a ton of cap space, and a couple big money free agents who want to team up, resulting in a very expensive two-for-one. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that Tampa is a warm weather city. Everybody wants to go to warm weather cities.

Viking fans, whose pride is already smarting after the whole Bountygate thing, are not going to be pleased if the team’s two reported major free agent targets both end up spurning them in favor of Tampa. But maybe this can be a blessing in disguise for the Vikings. If free agents don’t want to come to Minnesota, then the Vikes will be forced to build with the draft and shrewd lower-level personnel maneuvering instead. That’s a strategy lots of people endorse anyway. Perhaps if the Vikings can get back to competitiveness, those free agents will want to come. Having a shiny new stadium won’t hurt either.

Nothing anyone can do about the weather.

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