A veteran center not named J.C. Tretter the Vikings could target

If the Minnesota Vikings do not end up signing free-agent center J.C. Tretter this year, they could settle for former Carolina Panthers center Matt Paradis.

Whenever the topic of players the Minnesota Vikings should sign next comes up, former Cleveland Browns center J.C. Tretter seems to often be among those included. And while it probably would be great for the Vikings to end up with Tretter this year, they might not be able to afford his potential asking price.

Currently, Minnesota has a little over $11.5 million in cap space according to OverTheCap.com. That’s enough to sign their 2022 rookie and possibly another mid-level free-agent or two.

The Vikings could still shuffle some money around if they have to in order to sign Tretter. But if Minnesota’s new regime doesn’t want to do that, there is another solid veteran center who is currently available in free agency that will likely be much more affordable.

Former Carolina Panthers center Matt Paradis could be a free-agent steal for the Minnesota Vikings

In his second season with the Denver Broncos in 2015, Matt Paradis became a starting center in the NFL, and he’s kept this role for the last seven years as a member of both the Broncos and Carolina Panthers. Since 2015, Paradis has started a total of 98 games at center for Denver and Carolina.

For the last three seasons, he’s been with the Panthers. Unfortunately, his 2021 campaign was cut short in Week 9 due to a torn ACL, but he should be healthy enough for the start of the 2022 season.

When he was a starter for the Broncos from 2015 to 2018, Paradis was regarded as one of the best centers in the league. In 2016, PFF graded him as the second-best center in the NFL, and in 2018, they graded him as the third-best in the position group.

His performance dropped off a bit during his last three seasons with Carolina as PFF ranked him as the 22nd-best center in the league in 2019, 20th in 2020, and 16th in 2021. But one could easily attribute this difference in play to the Panthers’ having a different offensive scheme than Denver.

Given that he’s coming off a knee injury, Paradis should be much more affordable than Tretter this offseason. If the Vikings believe that Paradis can get close to performing at the level that he was at with the Broncos, then he might be worth looking into as a potential option to be the team’s starting center next season.