Vikings Offseason Business

The Minnesota Vikings 2016 season ended about a month too soon. Now they start work on the 2017 season. There's never a down time in the NFL. Maybe late-June. Most of the fun starts with free agency (March 9) and draft preparation (always) but the work toward 2017 in Minnesota started a week ago.

Last week, the Vikings took the first steps of the offseason by signing the following nine players from their practice squad to Reserve/Futures contracts.

Sterling Bailey, DT
Moritz Boehringer, WR
Kyle Carter, TE
Cayleb Jones, WR
Marquis Lucas, T
Tre Roberson, CB
Bishop Sankey, RB
Cedric Thompson, S
Austin Shepherd, T

Once they retained their own youngsters, the Vikings signed three outsiders to Reserve/Future contracts.

Taylor Symmank, P
Reid Fragel, T
Marshall Koehn, K

Taylor Symmank had a tryout or two with the Vikings last offseason and Marshall Koehn came in to kick a few during the season.

The Vikings have 17 players with contracts that will expire on March 9.

Matt Asiata, RB
Audie Cole, LB
Rhett Ellison, TE
Chad Greenway, LB
Mike Harris, OL
Shaun Hill, QB
*Charles Johnson, WR
Matt Kalil, T
Zach Line, FB
Jeff Locke, P
Jake Long, T
Captain Munnerlyn, CB
Terence Newman, CB
Cordarrelle Patterson, WR
Andre Smith, T
*Adam Thielen, WR
Justin Trattou, DE

*-restricted free agent

As restricted free agents, the Vikings shouldn't have much trouble retaining Adam Thielen and Charles Johnson. The Vikings will have the option to match any contract that a team might offer to the players or receive compensation for losing them. With the breakout season that Thielen had it would nice to get him signed to a long term contract now.

There really aren't any players that are an absolute must re-sign. If it were up to me, the Vikings would make these re-signings a priority:

Rhett Ellison
Matt Kalil
Cordarrelle Patterson

Kalil shouldn't just be handed a starting spot. If the Vikings do re-sign him it should be more of a "prove-it" contract than a long-term deal. Since a strong rookie season Kalil hasn't been consistent enough to earn anything more than a modest commitment. He will compete in training camp for a continued role with the team. Ellison and Patterson are unique football players that can help the team. Patterson, in particular, needs to have a greater presence in the offense. With Adrian Peterson on the wrong side of 30, he might be the most explosive player on the team. Many talking heads aren't expecting a Patterson return. I hope that they're wrong. He's valuable to the team and should have a greater role in the offense.

Jeff Locke was having his best season until he faded down the stretch. That fade might have cost him the new contract that he expected. The signing of Taylor Symmank, at the very least, gives Locke some competition and the Vikings some insurance.

If Chad Greenway and Terence Newman decide not to retire I wouldn't mind seeing a return from both.

Matt Asiata, Audie Cole, Zach Line, and Mike Harris (if he's healthy enough to continue his career) have solid roles with the team and shouldn't cost a fortune to retain.

The Vikings can start negotiating with the players from their 2014 draft class.

Anthony Barr, LB
Teddy Bridgewater, QB
Scott Crichton, DL
Jerick McKinnon, RB
Antone Exum, S
Shamar Stephen, DT
Jabari Price, CB

As first round picks, the Vikings can exercise a fifth-year option on the rookie contracts of Anthony Barr and Teddy Bridgewater. This option will be for the 2018 season but teams have to decide whether to exercise it by May 2. The decision to pick up Barr's option should be an easy one. He might not have had the 2016 season that many expected but he's a young, difference-making defender. Bridgewater's option hinges entirely on the rehab of his brutal knee injury. The guess here is that the Vikings exercise the fifth-year option on both players. Talking extensions with any of the other members of the 2014 draft class isn't likely to be a priority this offseason.

Last offseason the Vikings elected to exercise the fifth-year options for cornerback Xavier Rhodes and defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. They declined the option for Cordarrelle Patterson. It should come as a surprise to no one if the Vikings sign Rhodes to an extension. If the pattern holds that signing will probably happen during the summer. Unless the Vikings re-negotiate a banger with quarterback Sam Bradford, Rhodes' contract will probably be the biggest of the offseason. He's developed into one of the top young corners in the game. Floyd missed about 15 games this season with a knee injury. His inability to stay on the field through four seasons, but especially this season, should keep the Vikings from negotiating anything long-term with him. His fifth-year option is a "prove-it" deal just as Matt Kalil's was supposed to be this past season.

The Vikings will probably talk to the representatives of Adrian Peterson and Sam Bradford about re-negotiating their 2017 contracts. The two players combined carry a salary cap number close to $40 million. Peterson's $18 million, in particular, really has to change.

The fun that is NFL Free Agency starts March 9. The Vikings could have anywhere from $20-40 million in cap space available. The wide range is due to the uncertainty of Peterson's and possibly Bradford's contracts. The Vikings have to improve the offensive line. That's priority #1, #2, #3, and maybe #'s 4 and 5. They have to get the line fixed. They have to get competition at all five positions. The sort of competition that they thought they were getting last year but didn't. Offensive line will be the primary focus of free agency and the draft.

Then there's the coaches. The Vikings made the first coaching decision that needed to be made last weekend. The "interim" in Pat Shurmur's interim offensive coordinator title was dropped. This was hardly a surprise. It also probably led to the second coaching move of the offseason. The Vikings parted ways with quarterbacks coach Scott Turner on Monday. This was wasn't much of a surprise either after his father Norv Turner resigned from his offensive coordinator position during the season. The elder Turner's departure gave Shurmur an on-the-job interview for the coordinator position. So now the Vikings have to find a new quarterbacks coach. The other vacancy is the tight end coach position. That's the position that Shumur held before he became the interim offensive coordinator. There could be more coaching maneuvering. It's the offseason.

Most fans and talking heads dig into the offseason when free agency starts and the draft approaches. Those event are the highlights of the NFL offseason but the work for the 2017 season has already started.