Minnesota Vikings' Free Agency

NFL Free Agency comes at you pretty fast. There's a few days of furious activity. Most of that fury is during the two days of "legal" tampering. If NFL Free Agency starts on a Monday (as the tampering period did this year), by Friday, the fury of activity has calmed considerably. For the Minnesota Vikings, this year's free agency has been pretty calm from the start. Seeing as they had a whisper of cap space their relative inactivity was expected. But salary cap constraints never stop fans from dreaming big. Those big dreams haven't been realized. For a team that had so little cap space the Vikings have actually been pretty active. Although some of that activity was to create the cap space to make the moves that they did make. Unfortunately, creating salary cap space usually comes with a cost.

Released
Everson Griffen
Xavier Rhodes
Linval Joseph
Josh Kline

Ouch. The Vikings' defense has been one of the league's best over the last five years. Everson Griffen, Xavier Rhodes, and Linval Joseph have been team leaders and impact players for that defense. Griffen has been the heart beat of the team since he stormed into the starting lineup in 2014. Josh Kline played a single year with the Vikings but brought steady play to an offensive line group that desperately needed it. His release might not have been as painful as the others but it might've been the most surprising.

The Vikings created more salary cap space with two headline-making moves:

1. Signed quarterback Kirk Cousins to a two-year extension.

and, sadly

2. Traded receiver Stefon Diggs to the Buffalo Bills

If the first move did nothing else it put to rest the stupid rumors that Kyle Shanahan had San Francisco plans for Kirk Cousins next offseason. Cousins is the Vikings quarterback for, at least, the next two seasons. That move may or may not have played a part in the sad trade of Stefon Diggs. In a perfect world, Diggs would play in Minnesota for his entire career. He's a fantastic receiver. Incredible route runner, fine hands, and he's so damn much fun to watch play football. He's one of my favorite all-time Vikings receivers. And there have been a load of excellent receivers in this franchise's history. But it's not a perfect world and Diggs didn't want to be in Minnesota. As disappointing and as sad as it was to see it was probably best for the Vikings and Diggs to go their separate ways. At least the trade brought a decent return: first-, fifth-, and sixth-round picks this year and a fourth-round pick next year. I miss Stefon Diggs already.

The resulting salary cap space allowed the Vikings to retain several of their own players:

Re-signed/Tagged
Used the franchise tag to keep safety Anthony Harris in Minnesota for at least another year.
Re-signed fullback C.J. Ham
Placed a second-round tender on linebacker Eric Wilson.
Re-Signed punter Britton Colquitt to a three-year extension
Re-signed kicker Dan Bailey to a three-year extension
Re-signed quarterback Sean Mannion
Re-signed offensive tackle Rashod Hill
Re-signed guard/center Brett Jones
Re-signed running back Ameer Abdullah

The biggest surprise of Vikings free agency was the use of the franchise tag on Anthony Harris. I enthusiastically applaud the move. In his first full year as a starting safety, I figured that Harris had played his way out of the Vikings' budget. Many talking heads assume that the franchise tag is merely a placeholder and that Harris is destined to be traded. Maybe. My hope is that the tag is a placeholder for a contract negotiation and that Anthony Harris and Harrison Smith will be the best safety duo in the league for a few more seasons.

As for the other re-signings, it was a safe assumption that the Vikings would find a way to keep their fullback. Despite nearing extinction, a few teams still embrace the fullback position. The Vikings are one of them. C.J. Ham has developed into one of the league's best and he's an integral part of the offense.

Eric Wilson has been a cornerstone special teams player for a few years. An injury to Ben Gedeon gave him defensive opportunities last season. While a third linebacker is only on the field for about a third of the snaps in the Vikings defense, Wilson took advantage of those opportunities. I think that he's in their defensive plans. A second-round tender reflects that.

It was important for the Vikings to keep intact their most effective kicking battery in years. They did so with the re-signing of Britton Colquitt and Dan Bailey. Signing each to a three-year extensions should bring great joy to Mike Zimmer. Years of kicking woes have probably taken years off of his life.

The re-signings of Sean Mannion, Ameer Abdullah, Brett Jones, and Rashod Hill are needed depth signings. Hill and Jones, in particular, are needed. The offensive line has been a serious issue for years. For far too many seasons, the Vikings' starting offensive linemen were marginal and there were ZERO back up linemen that were of NFL quality. That's not good. Hill and Jones are NFL quality offensive linemen. You might not want them starting 16+ games but each is reliable in spot starts. The Vikings still need to improve their starting offensive line.

The fun of free agency is usually found in the new players that are added. Despite the much harped upon salary cap constraints, the Vikings have managed to add a few new football players.

Free Agents Signed
Signed NT Michael Pierce
Signed WR Tajae Sharpe
Signed DE Anthony Zettel
Signed LB DeMarquis Gates (XFL)-Houston Roughnecks

The Vikings' big free agent signing was former Baltimore Ravens nose tackle Michael Pierce. At 6' and about 345lbs, he is literally a huge signing. Linval Joseph has been an excellent run-stuffing, middle-clogging, offense-disrupting presence since he joined the Vikings in 2014. Pierce was signed to do the same thing. The difference between the two being that Joseph is exiting his prime while Pierce is entering his.

On the depth chart, Tajae Sharpe is replacing Stefon Diggs. Sharpe can do some of the same things. He has excellent hands. He's a great route runner. He simply doesn't have Diggs' startling quickness. If the Vikings had to play a game today, Sharpe is probably starting opposite Adam Thielen. He'll help the offense but the Vikings still need more talent at the receiver position.

If based solely on a particular Vikings-Detroit Lions game of a couple years ago, Anthony Zettel could be a big-time free agent addition. As a pass rusher for the Lions that day, he tore apart the Vikings offensive line. That isn't really saying much but he did look like a defensive star in the making. He was disruptive. He's bounced around the league since that day. He's played for as many teams (4) as he's played seasons (4). If the teachings of Andre Patterson and Imarjaye Albury can get him to play every game like he did that day against the Vikings, perhaps Zettel will be much more than a depth signing.

The Vikings signed linebacker DeMarquis Gates from the XFL. Until Gates gets a chance to show what he can do for the Vikings this signing looks and feels like an offseason numbers addition. He probably replaces Kentrell Brothers on the linebacker depth chart.

So far, the Vikings have lost the following:

Signed (or traded) Elsewhere
Stefon Diggs
Linval Joseph
Trae Waynes
Mackensie Alexander
Andrew Sendejo
Stephen Weatherly
Jayron Kearse
Laquon Treadwell
Xavier Rhodes

That's a lot of talent to leave to a single offseason. And Everson Griffen will likely be added to it. He's still unsigned but he's already publicly said his goodbyes to the team and fans. Very sad. It's been an offseason of significant change for the Vikings. We won't know if it's change for the best until games are played.