Hi Guys been reading for a while so finally decided to post so be gentle! Just wondering what would be your ideal changes to the playing personnel this off-season - remember this is what would be your ideal, so feel free to throw in a curveball or two, a daring trade etc! Mine comes after the jump!

I have been semi-serious but always optimistic! whilst we all know both our o-line and secondary suck I believe that we should primarily focus on the offence and try to keep up with the points that Rodgers, Cutler and Stafford put up.

Using the numbers here http://www.dailynorseman.com/2012/1/5/2685018/a-look-at-the-2012-minnesota-vikings-cap-situation (in DJSkillz excellent Fanpost.) If we assume that the Vikings have total cap spent of $92.848M next year with the cap coming at $125 million (as DJ Skillz does). I would make the following cuts

Hutchinson

Griffin

Herrera

Asher Allen

This would save us 14.3 million leaving us with around $46.5 million in cap room if we assume $9.5 million for draft picks we have $37 million to spend on free agents. I would then sign the following free agents.

WR Reggie Wayne 2012 salary cap hit $6.25 million

Ok I know he is 33 but here is my thinking, we need receivers and we need experience/leadership and Wayne offers both, the big names (Bowe, V-JAX, D-JAX etc.) are unlikely to want to come to a 3-13 team acquiring Wayne allows us to get 2-3 years worth of pretty good receiver and that time to find a longer term solution.

WR Robert Meachem cap salary $4.75 million

We get our deep threat in Meachem and this could be pretty good value, these 2 seriously improve our receiving corps and give Ponder multiple targets along with Percy, Rudolph and Shank.

TE Speaking of Visante Shiancoe - cap salary $4.25 million

I bring him back. We saw how good he can be with Favre in 2009, he knows the Musgrave offense and if Musgrave wants to utilise multiple TE sets we need (at least) 2 good catching TE'S. Shank coming back also gives us the opportunity to split out Rudolph as a receiver on occasion.

Guard Carl Nicks - cap salary $9 million

Our o-line sucks, Hutchinson will be gone Imo, Carl Nicks is an excellent guard, lets overpay if we must, but let’s get him.

DT Letroy Guion - salary $1 million

Back as a cheap backup

OLB Erin Henderson $2 million

He has done OK this year

CB Benny Sapp - $1 million

See Guion

CB - Brandon Carr - $5 million bit of a downward year but so did the Chiefs in general, still we pick up a good young player who improves our secondary.

FS - Thomas Decoud - $3.25 million

We need all the secondary help we can get, Decoud had 4 picks in 2011 and we need to turn the ball over more!

This gives us $10 million to sign draft picks we would be close to the cap but could just sneak under! So on to the draft, remember this an ideal so here is my "curveball"

Robert Griffen III has an unbelievable combine and teams love him, Indy picks Luck at #1, the Rams decide they need a weapon for Bradford so take Blackmon @ #2.

So, now we are on the clock, Cleveland are convinced we will trade with the Redskins for a boatload of picks and in their panic TO avoid Washington getting Griffen they trade us their #4 and #36 in order to select Griffen. We then select Kalil(LT) @ #4.

The Vikings then trade back into round 1 pick #17(trade chart value 950) from the Bengals (originally Oaklands pick from the Carson Palmer trade). We send our 2nd rounder #35, our 3rd rounder #67(total value 805) and our second rounder in the 2013 draft in order to do this. We are overpaying a little but this is offset because A) we now have Cleveland second rounder from the earlier trade and B) We have a compensatory pick at the end of the 3rd round. Also the Bengals still also have their own first rounder so may be willing to trade. With the #17 pick we then select David Decastro(guard) Stanford and hopefully have the foundations of a solid o-line for the next 10-15 years.

With pick #36 we Pick Chase Minnifield CB

More secondary help, I am not really sure on any prospects beyond that so will now look at what we can have as our roster to start 2012.

Offense

QB Ponder, Webb, late round pick/free agent.

HB Peterson, Gerhart, Late round pick/free agent

WR Wayne, Meachem, Harvin, Jenkins, Burton, Arcenaux

TE Rudolph, Shiancoe, Shuler, Reisner

LT Kalil, Love, late round pick/free agent

LG Decastro, Charlie Johnson

C Sullivan, Fusco

RG Nicks, Johnson, Berger

RT Loadholt,Johnson, Love, 5th round draft pick?

Our line could now become one of the best in the league, turnarounds like this are possible, just look at Houston’s secondary from last year to this!

Special Teams

Kluwe, Loeffler, Longwell.

Defense

RE Allen, Reed,late round pick/free agent.

LE Robison, Griffin

DT K wil, Ballard, Ayodele, Guion, 4th round draft pick?

OLB Greenway, late round pick/free agent.

MLB 3RD round draft pick?, Brinkley

OLB Henderson, Onatolu

CB Carr, Cook, Sapp, Burton

CB Winfield, Minnifield, Sapp, Sherels

FS Decoud, late round pick/free agent.

SS Sanford, Raymond

As I say a semi-serious look, what I would love to happen, some of it could but I imagine some is unlikely (the trades especially!)

But what would your ideal off-season be, is there any particular player you really want to see in Purple?