The Minnesota Vikings really haven't made a whole lot of moves in free agency this off-season, but I'd like to think that the ones they've made have been relatively solid. Then again, I'm relatively biased.
The folks from ESPN disagree with my assessment, as they've given the Vikings a D+ grade for their moves so far this off-season. Of course, ESPN is relatively biased, too. . .they're just much less forward about admitting that than I am.
I can't give you the link, because it's an ESPN In$ider article, but I can give you what they said about the Vikings.
One good thing I can say about the Vikings is that assuming they pull the trigger on Matt Kalil with the third overall pick, which they absolutely should, Minnesota's offensive line is now set -- and could be quite good with the starters left to right as Kalil, Charles Johnson, John Sullivan, Schwartz and Phil Loadholt. But while Carlson will allow Minnesota to predominantly run double-tight end sets -- and he is rather Christian Ponder-friendly -- the Vikings simply invested too much in Carlson considering his recent lack of production and durability issues. Re-signing Henderson was an excellent move, as he is improving rapidly and is a young guy the Vikings can build around. Minnesota wasn't decimated too much in free agency, but that also is because the roster wasn't all that attractive to begin with.
Well, this team's goal is, and should be, to get considerably younger. Thus far, that's exactly what they're doing, so I can't fault Spielman too much for that. Had they thrown around the kind of money that was thrown at Vincent Jackson, Pierre Garcon, or Carl Nicks, my guess is that the folks from Bristol would have an issue with that, too.
I don't hate what the Vikings have done so far this off-season. No reason to hate it, to be honest.
Only two teams in the NFC (the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals) and three AFC teams (the Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns, and Miami Dolphins) got lower grades than the Vikings' "D+." Four of those teams got straight D's, while the Dolphins garnered a D- for their efforts.