What are some of the worst moves made by the Minnesota Vikings during the 2023 offseason?
OTAs are currently underway for the Minnesota Vikings and it's just another sign that the 2023 offseason is nearing the end.
If someone were to describe the last few months for the Vikings, it would probably be something similar to addition by subtraction. Minnesota has made multiple tough decisions this offseason, but they were choices that the team clearly felt were necessary.
The Vikings are still in the middle of their "competitive rebuild" that general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah introduced everyone to last year, so they're not exactly tearing everything down. But since Minnesota didn't have a ton of resources to work with this offseason, they weren't really able to make any franchise-altering moves.
That could potentially change with the offseason technically not being over yet, but it's safe to say the Vikings have already made the majority of their roster moves this year. Of all the decisions Minnesota has made since the end of their 2022 season, which ones should be regarded as the worst?
Let's go over some of the moves from this offseason that the Vikings might regret when they look back in a few months, starting with the decision to bring back an underwhelming offensive lineman.
Re-signing center Garrett Bradbury
Despite the Vikings selecting him with a first-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, center Garrett Bradbury was pretty underwhelming during the first four seasons of his tenure with the franchise. And even with Bradbury's struggles, Minnesota still ended up making a bit of a surprise move this offseason when they decided to re-sign the veteran center.
So instead of taking advantage of Bradbury becoming a free agent and finding someone else to be their starting center this offseason, the Vikings decided to just re-sign the former first-round pick to a three-year contract worth more than $15 million.
Now, Bradbury did perform better in 2022 under head coach Kevin O'Connell than he did during any of his previous three seasons with Minnesota. But many of the same problems the veteran center has always had with pass protection continued last year, and that doesn't seem like something that is ever going to go away.
It's not like Bradbury was expensive for the Vikings to re-sign this offseason, but was bringing him back really the team's best option when it came to figuring out who would be their starting center for the 2023 campaign?
Keeping inside linebacker Jordan Hicks
In 2022, the Vikings struggled mightily when it came to covering the opposing team's running backs and tight ends in pass coverage. Most of those struggles were due to the lack of speed posessed by inside linebackers Eric Kendricks and Jordan Hicks.
In order to improve this area of their defense, Minnesota decided to release Kendricks, a longtime member of the franchise. Some thought Hicks would join him out the door, but the Vikings actually decided to retain their other starting inside linebacker after he agreed to a pay cut.
Many Minnesota fans would have likely preferred the team get rid of Hicks instead of Kendricks, but these moves were just another reminder that the team's new regime has no attachments to any of the players that were brought in by the people that were previously in charge.
Still, Hicks was one of the worst linebackers in pass coverage last season, and if this continues to be the case in 2023, Vikings fans are going to wonder why the team didn't just move on from him during the offseason when they had the chance
Re-signing kicker Greg Joseph
If there was ever an offseason for the Vikings to find a new kicker, a case can certainly be made for this year.
Greg Joseph did nail a few game-winning kicks for Minnesota in 2022, but the rest of his performance during the season was flat-out atrocious. Between field goals and extra points, Joseph missed a total of 13 kicks for the Vikings in 2022.
Despite his major struggles last season, Minnesota still went ahead and re-signed him earlier this year. The Vikings passed on pursuing another veteran kicker in free agency when guys like Matt Gay, Greg Zuerlein, and Robbie Gould were available. Minnesota did sign former Georgia kicker Jack Podlesny as an undrafted free agent recently, but he's a long shot to make the final roster.
So for a team that has played in so many close games during the last few years, the Vikings are likely going to roll into the 2023 season with a kicker who ranked 28th in the NFL in field-goal percentage last year. It just doesn't seem like too great of an idea.
Not re-signing cornerback Duke Shelley
On the defensive side of the ball, there wasn't much that the Vikings did well last season. However, cornerback Duke Shelley turned out to be the biggest pleasant surprise of the year.
Shelley didn't log a defensive snap for Minnesota in 2022 until their incredible Week 10 win over the Buffalo Bills. He immediately made an impact for the Vikings during that win and he eventually got a chance to start during the team's Week 12 win over the New England Patriots.
Shelley is undersized (5-foot-9, 176 pounds) for an outside corner, but that didn't matter last season. He made play after play after play in 2022 and he wound up finishing the season with PFF's fourth-best defensive grade among all qualifying cornerbacks in the NFL.
Re-signing Shelley seemed like a no-brainer, but it apparently wasn't something the Vikings felt was a huge priority this offseason. Instead, he ended up signing a one-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders for just $1.3 million, an amount that Minnesota could have easily matched if they truly wanted to.
But the Vikings clearly have other plans at the cornerback position for the 2023 season, and they're plans that don't involve Shelley. Hopefully, Minnesota doesn't wind up regretting their decision to let him walk out the door.