Vikings Off Season Plan - Pre All Star Game Edition

Vikings Off Season Plan - Pre All Star Game Edition

Well, my favorite time of year is here again. The time when the Vikings are eliminated and I can start dreaming about how they can get better and not get eliminated again next year. I believe there could be some turnover in the roster in order to free up cap space. In this version, I am going to be conservative and try to build through the draft.

The Vikings will enter the off season with about 10.985 mil (for 43 players) according to overthecap and 731K (53 players) according to spotrac.

Now spotrac is counting all of the players signed to futures contracts as 645K (3 players), 570K (7 players), and 495K (1 player). Plus there are some slight differences in a few other cap hits.

When I use the Fanspeak Ultimate GM Simulator site (game) it has the Vikings with 7.848 mil available so I am just going to go with that for this silly exercise.

Now the Vikings have some in house free agents they have to decide to make on offer, place a tender amount, or watch them test the market. They also will likely ask to restructure/extend some contracts.

In this version, I am going to think outside the box. There really are not too many attractive free agents on the offensive line. They do not need secondary help. They could consider linebacker and/or defensive tackle help depending on if they extend Barr and Richardson. I do not see a receiver or tight end being added either. I think doing very little is probably the best approach.

If Barr and Richardson go get huge deals then the Vikings could be in line for two 3rd round compensatory picks in 2020. That is the goal here.

So, now that the strategy is out the way, here are the current free agents ...

UFA

Sheldon Richardson - 29 - 43DT

Latavius Murray - 29 - RB

Anthony Barr - 27 - 43OLB

Brett Jones - 28 - C

Nick Easton - 27 - C

Dan Bailey - 31 - K

Marcus Sherels - 32 - CB

Ameer Abdullah - 26 - RB

Tom Johnson - 35 - 43DT

Tom Compton - 30 - LG

George Iloka - 29 - S

Aldrick Robinson - 31 - WR

Trevor Siemian - 28 - QB

RFA

Anthony Harris - 27 - S

Rashod Hill - 27 - RT

ERFA

Matt Wile - 27 - P

C.J. Ham - 26 - RB

Cedrick Lang - 27 - LG

Josiah Price - 26 - TE

I would offer Easton a 2 year 2.5 mil deal with 500K guaranteed

I would place the 2nd round tender on Anthony Harris which is 3.124 mil

Wile, Ham, Lang and Price would get the minimum salary based on their years in the league

That would be all I would offer a new contract at the start of free agency.

Barr and Richardson will likely get huge offers. The rest can test the market.

Moving to the fanspeak here is what I propose ...

Cap Space: 7,848,780

CUT

Name Position

Mike Remmers OT

Andrew Sendejo S

Trade

Waynes to the Colts for their 2nd round pick #58

Mike Davis (RB) accepted your 2 year offer for $1,500,000 per year

Cap Space: 25,767,780

I would offer Easton a 2 year 2.5 mil deal with 500K guaranteed

I would place the 2nd round tender on Anthony Harris which is 3.124 mil

Wiley, Ham, Lang and Price would get the minimum salary based on their years in the league

After these in-house signings the cap space would be down to about ...

Cap Space: 18,000,000

That is it for free agency.

I would wait for players to get cut and then see if I could sign some of them in order to protect the compensatory picks for 2020.

Here is an article that is predicting which players might be cap casualties ...

https://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2018/11/potential_2019_cap_casualties_for_all_32_nfl_teams_calais_ca.html

Some players that I would want to attempt to sign if cut are ...

Marcel Dareus DT, Ronald Leary OG, Kelechi Osemele OG, Danny Trevathan LB, Bobby Wagner LB, & Allen Hurns WR.

... now these players might not get released but I believe the best strategy is to sign a player that is released and NOT an UFA that way you preserve and protect the potential compensatory picks. And you just might get better players.

On to the draft ...

This uses the fanspeak bigboard

https://fanspeak.com/ontheclock/sharedraft.php?d=xfannu

TRADES

HOUSTON TEXANS

SENT: ROUND: 1 PICK: 18 & ROUND: 6 PICK: 35

RECEIVED: ROUND: 1 PICK: 23 & ROUND: 3 PICK: 22

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

SENT: ROUND: 1 PICK: 23

RECEIVED: ROUND: 1 PICK: 29, ROUND: 3 PICK: 37, & ROUND: 6 PICK: 23

DENVER BRONCOS

SENT: ROUND: 3 PICK: 37

RECEIVED: ROUND: 5 PICK: 9 & ROUND: 4 PICK: 10

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES

SENT: ROUND: 6 PICK: 17 & ROUND: 7 PICK: 33

RECEIVED: ROUND: 5 PICK: 25

29: R1P29 DL CHRISTIAN WILKINS CLEMSON 6’4” 300

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

50: R2P18 G MICHAEL DEITER WISCONSIN 6’6” 310

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

58: R2P26 G BEAU BENZSCHAWEL WISCONSIN 6’5” 317

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

81: R3P17 G DALTON RISNER KANSAS STATE 6’5” 308

Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

86: R3P22 S JAQUAN JOHNSON MIAMI 5’11” 190

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

112: R4P10 WR JJ ARCEGA-WHITESIDE STANFORD 6’2” 222

Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

120: R4P18 LB GERMAINE PRATT NC STATE 6’2” 241

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

148: R5P9 TE JACE STERNBERGER TEXAS A&M 6’4” 250

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

164: R5P25 CB COREY BALLENTINE WASHBURN 6’0” 204

Cliff Harris award winner for Small College Player of the Year

http://cliffharrisaward.com/

198: R6P23 QB GARDNER MINSHEW WASHINGTON STATE 6’2” 220

Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

254: R7P38 DL GREG GAINES WASHINGTON 6’2” 320

Jennifer Buchanan-USA TODAY Sports

Obviously in this plan the draft picks are going to have to contribute. But the Vikings would still have Easton, Collins, & Isidora that at least have experience (save for Collins). If this draft happened then I would expect Risner to take over at right tackle (in a year) and O’Neill to move to left tackle.

The main part of not doing any major signings in free agency is that it would preserve the more than likely compensatory picks the Vikings would receive for Barr and Richardson getting big pay days.

Trading Waynes will be met with disdain by some. But the Vikings are probably not going to extend him after 2019. He is going to get over 10 mil per year. If he stays then Hughes may not play too much once he is ready which should be by the start of the season if not sooner. Cook came back early so with Sugarman you cant bet against Hughes being ready sooner.

https://zonecoverage.com/2018/vikings/as-acl-rehabs-evolve-mike-hughes-faces-less-daunting-task-than-he-once-might-have/

I do not see the logic of taking a corner in the 1st round and then not letting him play a lot. As the 4th corner he would get some snaps for sure but Hill performed well for an UDFA last year and should get snaps too.

I think Waynes can get the same trade as Marcus Peters. The Chiefs got a 2018 4th and a 2019 2nd for Peters and a 2018 6th. I think a straight up 2nd is good enough. The Colts need a corner and will have 123 mil in cap space. They wont have any problem taking on his 9 mil salary in 2019 and can decide if they want to extend him which seems likely. It is doubtful they get a corner as good as Waynes at the end of the 1st or in the 2nd.

Of course this may not happen for real but it is happening here. :)

Alternate draft ...

This uses the fanspeak bigboard

https://fanspeak.com/ontheclock/sharedraft.php?d=zcslcj

TRADES

HOUSTON TEXANS

SENT: ROUND: 1 PICK: 18 & ROUND: 6 PICK: 35

RECEIVED: ROUND: 1 PICK: 23 & ROUND: 3 PICK: 22

BUFFALO BILLS

SENT: ROUND: 3 PICK: 2

RECEIVED: ROUND: 3 PICK: 7 & ROUND: 5 PICK: 10

23: R1P23 DL JEFFERY SIMMONS MISSISSIPPI STATE

50: R2P18 G BEAU BENZSCHAWEL WISCONSIN

71: R3P7 OT DAVID EDWARDS WISCONSIN

81: R3P17 WR HAKEEM BUTLER IOWA STATE

86: R3P22 S JOHNATHAN ABRAM MISSISSIPPI STATE

120: R4P18 EDGE JOE JACKSON MIAMI

149: R5P10 TE CALEB WILSON UCLA

192: R6P17 CB IMAN MARSHALL USC

249: R7P33 G HJALTE FROHOLDT ARKANSAS

254: R7P38 LB BOBBY OKEREKE STANFORD

I wont do a final 53 but I think the Vikings would be in pretty good shape if they did very little in free agency and just wait for the players that get released. They should get two very good compensatory picks next year.