Kelechi Osemele expected to hit open market (Report)

Kelechi Osemele is expected to test the open market, and the Minnesota Vikings could possibly have interest.

The Vikings aren’t known for making a huge splash in free agency, but with their championship window now open, perhaps the time is right for them to put aside their relatively frugal ways and spend some scratch on upgrading areas of the roster that remain problematic.

What one area of the roster is more problematic than the offensive line? Clearly, O-line is the place where an infusion of talent is most-needed.

Good news: There’s a pretty solid crop of offensive guards set to hit the market. Arguably the biggest name on that list is Baltimore Ravens lineman Kelechi Osemele.

There was some question whether Baltimore would attempt to lock up Osemele or let him test the market, but that question now appears to have been answered. It looks like Osemele is going to hit the market.

Osemele’s market value went way up last season when he switched from guard to left tackle and performed better than expected. The fact that Osemele can now legitimately shop himself to teams as a left tackle only improves his chances of landing a huge-money deal.

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A cap-space-rich team like the Raiders might be ready to jump in and offer Osemele a ridiculous amount of money, in which case I’m sure the Vikings would look elsewhere.

However, if for some reason Osemele finds his market less brisk than he expected, perhaps the Vikings can jump in and secure themselves a top-flight left guard. The Vikings must improve their pass protection if they want their offense to get better, and Osemele could help that happen.

If not Osemele, the Vikings could look to former Tony Sparano protege Richie Incognito to help them at left guard. A dark-horse candidate might be Steelers guard Ramon Foster.