After Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer spoke at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, what can be expected from the Minnesota Vikings this offseason?
For the Minnesota Vikings, this offseason is expected to be much different than any of the last few years.
Salary cap space will likely be extremely limited for the Vikings, which will lead to the team having to make some pretty tough roster decisions. Some of the players who have spent the last handful of seasons in Minnesota could be on their way out the door this year.
This week, some of the Vikings’ intentions for this offseason were revealed when head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman both met with the media at the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine.
Spielman and Zimmer each had their 15 minutes at the podium to take questions from some of the media at the Combine. Both did their best to provide answers to these questions without giving up too much about Minnesota’s plans for the next few months.
However, some of the comments made by Spielman and Zimmer during the Combine actually did help clear up some of the recent thoughts and rumors going on in the heads of Vikings fans.
Now that Minnesota’s general manager and head coach have had their time at the podium during this week’s Combine, what are some of the biggest takeaways from everything they said?
Trading Diggs seems unlikely
Arguably the hottest topic of the Vikings’ offseason so far has been the trade rumors surrounding their star receiver, Stefon Diggs. Multiple reports of Diggs’ alleged unhappiness in Minnesota and the team’s interest in dealing him have been making the rounds during the last few weeks.
During this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, however, Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman made it pretty clear that the Vikings have no plans of trading the talented receiver this offseason.
During his presser on Tuesday, Spielman commented that, “there is no reason to anticipate Stefon Diggs is not going to be a Minnesota Viking,” next season. Then on Wednesday, Zimmer was asked by reporters about a potential Diggs trade this year and he said, “I don’t see it happening.”
These comments from Minnesota’s two decision-makers seem to indicate that the receiver isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
This could also just be Spielman and Zimmer’s way of not hurting Diggs’ potential trade value by not ridiculing him in the public. But for now, expect the talented receiver to suit up for the Vikings in 2020.
Minnesota wants to keep Cook around for a while
Coming off of his most productive season since entering the NFL in 2017, Dalvin Cook has just one year remaining on his current contract with the Vikings.
With Rick Spielman as their general manager, Minnesota has typically liked to extend their top young talent before their deals run out. So while a new contract for Cook might sound like a risky idea to some, Spielman made it pretty clear on Tuesday that the Vikings want to make sure the running back remains with the team for much longer than just one more season.
"“We’ve always tried to keep our core young talent that we draft and develop. I consider Dalvin (to be) one of those core group of players that we definitely want to try to keep.”"
There’s been some talk of Cook possibly holding out if he doesn’t get an extension from Minnesota before OTAs this spring.
The chances of this actually happening still don’t seem very high. Especially when Spielman’s comments at the Combine seem to indicate that the Vikings are hoping to offer the running back a new contract before the start of next season.
Griffen expected to re-sign with Minnesota
During Mike Zimmer’s entire tenure as the Vikings head coach, he’s had the luxury of having Everson Griffen as one of his starting defensive ends.
With the recent report of Griffen voiding the remaining three years on his contract, the veteran defensive end’s time in Minnesota might be closer to ending than it ever has before. Based on Zimmer’s comments on Wednesday at the Combine, however, Griffen’s career in the NFL should be continuing in a Vikings uniform next season.
Minnesota’s head coach told reporters at the Combine that the team expects Griffen to re-sign with them this offseason and Zimmer also believes that the defensive end wants to return to the Vikings.
Even if Griffen is able to agree to a new deal with Minnesota this year, there are still some questions about what his role in the defense might be for next season. Will he remain a starter or will he be shifted into more of a situational pass rusher?
There will be plenty of time to figure that out later. But for now, the Vikings and Griffen are just trying to make sure they can continue to work together in 2020.
Re-signing Harris is not a top priority
In his first full season as a member of the Vikings’ starting defense, it couldn’t have gone much better for safety Anthony Harris.
In 14 games last year, Harris finished with 60 tackles, 11 pass breakups, six interceptions, and one touchdown. In addition, opposing quarterbacks also posted a terrible 44.2 rating when targeting receivers covered by the Minnesota safety last season.
Harris will enter free agency this offseason and with him still only being 28-years-old, it was believed by some that the Vikings would be doing their best to re-sign that talented safety. However, these thoughts took a bit of a hit on Wednesday thanks to some comments made by Mike Zimmer.
At the Combine, Zimmer had this to say about the potential of Harris returning to the Twin Cities for next season.
"“I love Anthony. If he doesn’t come back, I think he’s earned everything he’s got, but if you put up the positions most important on defense it’s probably not going to be safety.”"
Along with these comments, the Star Tribune’s Andrew Krammer reported on Wednesday that it doesn’t seem like Minnesota will be utilizing their franchise tag to keep the safety around for 2020.
There’s still a chance the two sides could work out a deal this offseason. But if Harris ends up being out of the Vikings’ price range, it doesn’t sound like they will do much fighting to keep him around.
Zimmer hopes Minnesota can re-sign Waynes
Throughout his coaching career, Mike Zimmer has developed a reputation for being someone who excels at getting the most out of his defensive backs. So one can only imagine the joy he was feeling in 2015 when the Vikings selected Trae Waynes with their first-round pick in the NFL Draft.
It took a little bit for Waynes to get adjusted to the pro level. But thanks to the help of Zimmer and a number of other Minnesota assistants, the former Michigan State corner has been able to develop into a solid contributor for the defense.
This year, Waynes is a free agent and his estimated market value has him potentially landing a deal this offseason that pays him an average of $8.4 million per year.
This value may seem a little high for a corner who has never made a Pro Bowl during his five seasons in the NFL. But on Wednesday at the Combine, Zimmer told reporters that the Vikings, “hope to get (Waynes) back,” this year.
His comments on the corner returning in 2020 weren’t as convincing as they were when he talked about Everson Griffen re-signing. But it’s clear Zimmer thinks Waynes is worth Minnesota trying to keep around for next season.
Extending Cousins still isn’t a done deal
Like Dalvin Cook, Kirk Cousins is entering the final year of his current contract with the Vikings. There has been some talk about Minnesota potentially extending Cousins some time this offseason, but nothing yet that makes it seem like it’s guaranteed to happen.
Both Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer talked about the improvements the veteran quarterback made in 2019 and how it was arguably his best season in the NFL. But neither really offered any info on the chance of Cousins receiving an extension this year.
Conveniently, according to Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller on Thursday, the Vikings will be doing, “serious work,” on this year’s class of quarterbacks in the draft.
With this report, perhaps Minnesota extending Cousins this offseason isn’t as much of a done deal as some are making it out to be.
Could the Vikings be thinking about drafting a quarterback this year and letting Cousins walk in 2021 when his contract runs out? It would certainly make for an interesting summer if Minnesota did do this, so stay tuned.