Early Free Agency Look, Part Two

I agree with most of what you said. I hope we take our time with Cedric so the Paymah resigning could be important. That said, I think it’s a lock we go DB within the first three rounds of the draft. Antoine and Sapp will start, Asher overtook Paymah for the dime spot late this season so I think we can get by with him as the third corner and Paymah/possible young gun as the fourth.

I hope we use the uncapped year to lock up Ray Edwards, Sidney and possibly Tarvaris long term. Chester will be interesting. I know he’s much more valuable to us than other teams and think he’ll end up coming back unless someone throws mad cash at a RB over 30, which shouldn’t happen.

We need to get this site going again. I know it feels like there was a death in the family but there’s still lots to be discussed going into the off season.

Thanks again MCF.

Great research MCF, thanks!

I understand your point on Paymuh, but I have to think that if there’s any kind of alternative out there, some other CB the Vikings think they can snag, you let Paymuh go and get a replacement. Watching Paymuh miss tackles, get faked to a stand-still, and out-run, was very painful last year. I too, would suck at CB, maybe the Vikings will hire me to take Paymuh’s place!

Tahi… At 6’0, 254lbs, the man’s a tank. Not fast, but he does what he does. Who replaces him if he’s gone? Here’s the existing alternatives, and perhaps why the Vikings can let him go;

Jeff Dugan, TE, 6’4", 258lbs and Garrett Mills, the runt TE in Purple at 6’1 and 235lbs.

Yes, the’re TEs, not FBs, but how much difference is there in terms of what they do on the Vikings? The Vikings carried 4 TEs last year (those two plus Shanko and ‘Sasser), that’s kinda crazy unless they were thinking dual-purpose. So yes, that makes Tahi pretty expendable if they get hard up for another slot.

I don’t think we can begin to have the scope to get into the T-Jack sitch in this thread, it would completely take it over. But I agree… Keep him.

I have different views on most of the players though.

First let me say that I agree with your point about keeping the roster intact for another run but I would refine that to be starters. The depth on the Vikings is very poor as far as starting caliber players or players that can come in and play for any stretch IMO. The Vikings have an opportunity to add some quality depth to some spots. And those players will most likely take over starting positions.

Another thing I noticed is some of the players you listed compensation that does not equal the original round they were drafted. The way RFA works is if another team signs a player that we made a qualifying offer to or placed a tender on then we get the pick the player was drafted in or the tender picks in return if we do not match.

I agree that Cook will not draw interest because he was drafted in the second round and any team that signs him will have to give up a second round pick.

Evans will not draw interest IMO because he did not draw any interest last year when all a team had to give back to us was a seventh round pick. He should be replaced in the draft.

Tahi drew interest from the Bengals last year and we would not have received any picks in return because he was original undrafted. Thus we matched Cincy’s offer. IMO he can go and we should replace him with a youngster like Richard Dickson from LSU or John Connor from Kentucky.

Paymah was drafted in the fourth round so unless we make a qualifying offer I seriously doubt another team would give up a fourth round pick for him. I think he should be replaced in the draft possibly and if he is not picked up by anybody we can always resign him in May or June. That is what I would do.

Frampton who you did not include was drafted in the fifth round and I feel the same about him as I do Paymah. We should replace him in the draft.

TJack was drafted in the second round so we can make a qualifying offer to him without placing a tender on him and receive back a second round pick IF another team wants him. I have serious reservations about whether or not another team will give up a second round pick for TJack. I am in the NO camp right now and I do not see it changing. We can always redo his contract after the draft or after we find out about Favre. If Favre leaves I would give him about the same money as Sage with incentives. Maybe a two or three year deal. If Favre returns then maybe it might be time to let the young man go considering all he has been through with the Vikings. Maybe we can get a 3rd round pick for him?

Edwards must be tendered at least a 2nd round pick because he was drafted in the 4th round and there will definitely be teams willing to give up a fourth for him. He is a starter and it would break a piece off the current team if they let him go. But the kiindof money he may want may be too much cotton for the Vikings. Allen will make 9 mil in 2011. KWill will make 6 mil in 2011. Let’s say we put the highest tender on Edwards which would pay him somewhere around 3 mil in 2010. No team will give up a 1st & 3rd for Ray Edwards because of the reason you put above which was very good. he is Gary Larson and he is garvy training

gravy training off the 3pro bowlers he plays with. So what can the Vikings do after 2010 to keep him? How much will he want and how much can they afford or are willing to pay? I am a firm believer that there is no way they franchise or transition tag Edwards after 2010. No freaking way! One he is not worth it and two that would mean they have 24 mil plus tied up in 3 defensive linemen. That cannot happen for the salary cap to be healthy. I think your answer is yes and yes and if I was running the Vikings I would already be talking with Edward’s agent to find out what they are thinking long term and if I knew it would be too much then I would only put the 2nd round tender on him in this free agent period. Then if a team signs him we get a 2nd round pick in return if we do not match. I also would see if I could trade him for at least a high 3rd round pick before even he got an offer if it looked like he would not get an offer.

It is all about economics and I have been saying this for awhile. I like him and I think he is above average but he may have played himself into a too high of a contract for the Vikings to afford. There is a reason why New England let Adalius Thomas go and it was all about the benjamins. Fans do not like it but it is a reality. We cannot pay everybody top dollar!

I agreed with you mostly in this article. Ray Edwards and Karl Paymah are two plays in the restricted area that Vikes should be trying to get signed and Edwards to a long term deal.

For T-Jack, who knows how he is going to develop. Is he going to be the Randall Cunningham or Quincy Carter. Right now, he is a good backup QB in the NFL. Right now the Vikes need to looking for a QB for the future. Favre is not going to play til 2020 like the SB commercial.

When the Vikes were the worst looking special teams units on the planet ( 2008), at least they looked and felt the worst, everyone complained. Then we fix that by drafting and trading for players that make a difference as back up players and on Special Teams. Then I read how we should just trade those players or let them go. We can replace them in the draft. Really. Its just that easy. No team in NFL history has ever kept more than 1/2 of their draft picks ( overall not just in one year) but we can take a 7th rounder and have them replace players that are proven special team players and capable backups?
I believe in a natural progression of replacement. If the player is not doing his total job you let him go. If he is doing his job you keep him. You draft players who try to earn those jobs from the people on the team.

But before we trash our existing players lets make sure we know all of the things they contribute to the team.

As to Restricted Free Agency I have an interesting question. The new labor contract year starts on March 5, 2010. RFA tenders must be made before February 27, 2010. Since T-Jack and Edwards won’t be RFAs until March 5, 2010 ( they are UFAs by current contract) how can we tender on February 26th? This one has me stumped.

…was anointed the starter in week 16 of 2006. He only needed to beat the likes of Kelly Holcomb, Brooks Bollinger and Gus Frerotte or the starting role in 2007 and 2008 which was effectively the same as anointing the starter in late 2006.

To me, he’s not much of an enigma. He’s a good backup QB who thrives in garbage time. A starting QB needs to be brilliant way more often. Just look back at the highlight reels from each week of 2009 when BF was making brilliant plays on a weekly basis that are 2x a year events for Tarvaris Jackson. Another thing I’m sure of: if TJ falls on his face next time he has a chance to start, whatever potential he supposedly has will not be realized (or it will mean that said potential was an illusion and he simply isn’t and won’t be good). It will not be worth 2-5 more years of development since there are younger QBs with similar or more potential who may learn more quickly and be productive for more years with the team. A coaching change in the next 2-5 years would likely send TJ packing, too.

Excellent insight as usual, but of course I loved the positions listed for Cook, T-Jax, and Tahi the most.

I know there are some folks afraid of what Ray Ray might demand. Especially since he didn’t really come on strong until the end of the season and playoffs. I say pay the man. He has steadily improved; he’s young and he showed up big time at the right time. Plus, as MCF pointed out, he’s always been pretty stout against the run. I also really like the gact that he nutted up and fought off that nasty, freaky knee injury in the playoffs.

Cook. Let the debate begin. People are more than willing to give TJack another shot, I say Cook is more deserving. The proof is in the pudding. The running game suffered mightily this year without Cook and Birk. I put on film from the 07 and 08 seasons, and Cook looked pretty good against Kampman, Merrian and Tuck. I’m not saying he never struggled because I know that he did. But we can’t forget that he was playing a new position. He was a former walk-on turned 4 year starter for the University of New Mexico. He was all-conference at Center. I’d like to see him have a shot at starting next year at either center or guard. If Big Mac does ever get traded, its my opinion that Loadholt could swing over to the left side and Cook could resume his role at RT and we wouldnt miss a beat.

TJack. This is a tough one. I was once an advocate for letting TJack grow into our starting QB. However with a championship caliber team in the fold, there is no way we can afford to turn over the keys to him in 2010. He’s just too inconsistent and injury prone for that matter. I think it’s time to cut ties with TJack, even if # 4 hangs them up. Best case scenario Favre comes back, we draft a rookie in the 3-5 round range and enter camp with Favre, Sage and a rook in 2010.

Who should the Vikings pursue in RFA?

For instance, we missed out on Mark Anderson (12 sacks as a rookie injury replacement while Ray Edwards struggled…they have the same # of sacks now, but Anderson has started a fraction of the games) in the draft, and he could play DE or LB.

Surely there are other examples.

I thought the Vikes loved Tahi. Since that is not the case(I was never that impressed with him) why not bring back Tony Richards. AP had his best days with him.