Nick Easton would also like an extension from the Vikings

The veteran offensive lineman recently expressed his desire to remain with the Minnesota Vikings following the 2018 season.

Unfortunately, it took Nick Easton breaking his ankle for some people to really realize how valuable he was to the Minnesota Vikings and their offensive line last season.

After Easton suffered his injury during the Vikings’ Week 16 win over the Green Bay Packers last year, Minnesota’s offensive line definitely lost some of their athleticism.

With Easton on the field in 2017, the Vikings’ offense excelled on plays that called for screen passes. But after he went down, Minnesota’s screen game basically became a non-factor for the rest of the season and into the playoffs.

This was a vital part of the Vikings’ offense in 2017 and Easton’s injury essentially forced Minnesota to run other plays in situations when they would normally call for a screen pass. His importance to these plays was really not noticed by some until he was no longer in the lineup.

Minnesota Vikings

This offseason, the Vikings re-signed Easton and he is expected to be back as the team’s starting left guard in 2018. His deal is only for one year, so Easton will become a free-agent in 2019.

The 25-year-old offensive lineman recently spoke to the Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson and said that he would like to sign an extension with Minnesota before the start of the upcoming season.

It’s nice that Easton wants to remain with the Vikings, but an extension for him this summer does not seem likely.

Minnesota is already trying to figure out how to extend Anthony Barr, Danielle Hunter, and Stefon Diggs this year. If the Vikings are able to agree to extensions with these three players, there probably is not going to be a whole lot of money left to extend Easton as well.

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Stranger things have been done by Minnesota’s front office (the Blair Walsh extension in 2015 was a bit of a head-scratcher), but extending Easton before Barr, DIggs, and Hunter just does not seem like a decision the Vikings will be making this year.