The Minnesota Vikings made some major changes to the franchise as soon as the season ended.
Saying goodbye to head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman was just the start of the offseason for the Minnesota Vikings. There were still plenty of questions surrounding the team, such as what were they going to do with Kirk Cousins. Well, they extended him.
This team is certainly not headed for a rebuild. In addition to extending their quarterback, they have signed free agents Harrison Phillips, Jordan Hicks, and former Green Bay Packers Za’Darius Smith and Chandon Sullivan. They also re-signed Patrick Peterson on Wednesday and signed guard Chris Reed on Friday.
All these new faces on defense should really help a unit that has really struggled the past two years. Reed has been a decent player and could end up being a big upgrade at right guard. He was graded at 67.2 last season by Pro Football Focus.
The Minnesota Vikings can still add more free agents to the roster.
According to Over the Cap, Minnesota has $12.043 million in cap space not including the Reed signing. How will the rest of the offseason go for them? They signed former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jesse Davis on Monday. He has played both right guard and right tackle, so his flexibility helps. He likely will not start over Reed, but depth is very important. It would not be a shock if they are pretty much done in free agency. Maybe after June 1st there could be some surprise cuts and they could make a move or two. Will they also have enough cap space also?
Christian Darrisaw, Ezra Cleveland, and Brian O’Neill will no doubt be the starters again. Reed should be the favorite at right guard. Oli Udoh struggled last season (54.8 PFF grade) and rookie Wyatt Davis did not appear any games. Jesse Davis is better at right guard than right tackle, but will likely not beat out Reed for the starting job. Garrett Bradbury will be entering the final year of his contract and has struggled from the beginning. Will they give him one more shot as the starter? His salary is guaranteed for this year unless he gets traded. JC Tretter would be a very nice option, but will Minnesota be able to afford him? Are his knees also an issue?
You can certainly make the argument the Vikings should have moved on from Cousins and started a rebuild, but maybe just maybe this team could go far if they have a solid draft and perhaps sign another good free agent. It is such an unpredictable league. At the moment this team does not look like a Super Bowl contender, but again you never know.
Overall, this team has had a pretty good offseason. Losing Tyler Conklin is tough, but they do get Irv Smith Jr back, and their new signees if healthy should be good contributors. The defense for the past two seasons really struggled so it is no surprise they went hard after defensive players. Nate Hairston and Tye Smith will not be starting at cornerback. They could very well draft a corner even with Peterson back. Maybe they will instead draft Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum.
Only time will tell if O’Connell and Adofo-Mensah will work out and how the rest of the offseason, but it will certainly be interesting to find out. They certainly needed to make changes both on and off the field and so far they have done just that.