Gil Brandt ranks the Vikings’ offseason as one of the NFL’s best

Since the offseason really got underway in March, the Minnesota Vikings have done quite a bit to improve their team before the 2018 season begins. They made a couple of big-time free agent signings, and appear to be a more solid team than the group that made a run to the NFC Championship Game.

Gil Brandt of the NFL Network has taken notice, as he’s put together a list of which teams have had the best offseasons in the NFL. He has the Vikings at #3 on his list. Here’s what “The Godfather” had to say about what the Vikings have done.

This offseason should be considered a win for the Vikings simply because they added a player who they believe can carry them to the Super Bowl: quarterback Kirk Cousins. It’s not like there was anything wrong with Case Keenum last year, really, but there are quarterbacks who can get you to the playoffs and quarterbacks who can advance in the playoffs. Moreover, signing Cousins didn’t prevent Minnesota from also signing top defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson (to pair with Linval Joseph) and extending linebacker Eric Kendricks for multiple years -- Kendricks is the key to this defense.

The only two teams that Brandt placed ahead of the Vikings were the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns. Given that those two teams occupied the top two spots in last month’s NFL Draft, they darn well should have had pretty good offseasons.

Also on the list with the Vikings were the Los Angeles Rams, the Chicago Bears, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Baltimore Ravens.

While it’s true that not many fans appear to be jazzed about the incoming draft class the Vikings put together last month, it’s pretty tough to deny that the Vikings have had a pretty solid offseason. Whatever you think of Kirk Cousins, there’s no doubt that the Vikings made the decision pretty early on that he could be the guy, over and above any of the three options they had on their own roster in 2017. The signing of Sheldon Richardson is probably going to end up being pretty huge as well.

It’s things like this that make it that much more depressing that the start of the 2018 regular season is still nearly four months away. Hopefully all of this praise that’s being placed on the Vikings won’t come back to bite those that made it down the track.