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Over the first week of free agency. . .yes, the "legal tampering" period started a week ago. . .the Minnesota Vikings have stayed relatively quiet. Yes, they made a fairly significant signing in guard Alex Boone, but most of the rest of what they've done has involved either re-signing their own players or making a few low-key signings.
Because of that. . .and because Rob Brzezinski is some sort of a wizard (or warlock or whatever the proper terminology is). . .the Vikings are still in pretty good position in terms of the salary cap.
According to Andrew Krammer of 1500 ESPN, the Vikings are listed by the NFLPA as having $22,094,880 (and 37 cents*) in cap space. Krammer points out that those figures likely don't account for the two re-signings the Vikings made over the weekend in cornerback Marcus Sherels and defensive end Justin Trattou. With the team expected to need approximately $6 million to sign their draft picks, that leaves them $14 million to use for whatever purposes they see fit.
Some of that money could go to offensive tackle Andre Smith, who arrived in Minnesota on Sunday and is still meeting with the team today, a meeting that will include a tour of U.S. Bank Stadium. According to Krammer, Smith's cap figure last year was a shade over $5 million, and if he were to sign a similar deal with the Vikings, Minnesota's available cap space would drop to around $9 million or so.
If Smith does sign, you'd have to think that the Vikings would be just about done in free agency. They will have done plenty to upgrade. . .or at least bring competition on. . .the offensive line, which was the team's most glaring weakness. There's very little out there at the wide receiver position, though they have been linked to Andre Holmes, formerly of the Oakland Raiders. One wouldn't think he'd come with a very high price tag, though.
The Vikings have done a little bit of spending this offseason, but they're still doing just fine for this year. Thanks to Rick Spielman and Rob Brzezinski, they'll likely be in a good situation salary cap-wise for quite a while into the future, too.