Vikings Offseason, So Far

The biggest moment of the Minnesota Vikings offseason, so far, was when they re-signed linebacker Anthony Barr. It was a little more dramatic than most re-signings because it came after he had reached a verbal agreement during the "legal" tampering period with the New York Jets. One day he was gone. The next day he was back. It was quite exciting. The Vikings weren't expected to make any big moves in free agency because they had so little cap room. They had to do some scrambling and contract juggling just to make the moves that they did make. Here's what the Vikings have done, so far.

Re-signed:

LB	Anthony Barr
G	Brett Jones
FB	C.J. Ham
RB	Ameer Abdullah
K	Dan Bailey
P	Matt Wile

The Vikings managed to re-sign several of their own free agents. Keeping Barr was something close to a miracle.

Signed:

DT Shamar Stephen G Josh Kline G Dakota Dozier

Shamar Stephen was originally a seventh-round pick of the Vikings in the 2014 NFL Draft. He spent four productive years in Minnesota before a year in Seattle. Now, he's back in Minnesota. His signing that feels more like a re-signing. The biggest deal that the Vikings gave to a free agent from another team was the one given to Josh Kline. Offensive line is and remains the team's biggest offseason need. Kline is penciled in as the starter at right guard. Dakota Dozier will compete for the left guard spot but more likely provides some experienced depth on the interior of the line.

Signed Alliance of American Football refugees:

CB	Duke Thomas
S	Derron Smith

The sudden demise of the Alliance of American Football sent a lot of football players to the open market. The Vikings signed two defensive backs. Duke Thomas joins a deep cornerback group. Derron Smith enters a more favorable position as the Vikings had only three safeties on the roster.

The Vikings lost several players to free agency:

Sheldon Richardson-Cleveland Browns
Latavius Murray-New Orleans Saints
Nick Easton-New Orleans Saints
Andrew Sendejo-Philadelphia Eagles
George Iloka-Dallas Cowboys
Marcus Sherels-New Orleans Saints
Trevor Siemian-New York Jets
Tom Compton-New York Jets

The Saints sure are fond of Vikings. When you consider that the Jets tried like mad to pry Barr away they were quite fond of Vikings as well.

The Vikings are currently in line to receive four Compensatory picks next year, a third, a sixth, and two sevenths. It's more likely that they'll only end up with the third and the sixth. They might hang on to one of the sevenths. A third round pick in return for a one-year rental of Richardson is a solid little exchange. It would've been nice to keep him as he played well last year but the Vikings simply didn't have the means to do so.

It hasn't been a thrill-ride of an offseason for Vikings fans but it really wasn't expected to be. There was so little cap room. It's actually quite remarkable that they've been able to do what little they've done. Re-signing Barr was considered by most to be impossible but they got it done. The Vikings have done a good job drafting, a very good job of developing those picks, and great job of re-signing those players that they have developed. That's how a team is supposed be run. Teams that flail in the draft, develop no players, and spend with abandon in free agency win few games. They repeat that pathetic process every year. Their fans are only thrilled during the spending days of free agency. Relative inactivity during the offseason is often a good thing. The Vikings still have to upgrade the talent on the offensive line. That wasn't going to happen in free agency. The available offensive linemen were mediocre, at best, and were vastly overpaid. Trent Brown is now the highest paid offensive lineman in the league. How is that even possible? The Vikings couldn't jump into that sort of lunacy. Upgrading the offensive line talent was always going to come from the draft. That event should be the highlight of every team's offseason.