Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Mackensie Alexander

DN you got to let me know...should I stay or should I go?

—The Clash (almost)

Happy Friday everyone, and I hope that this all finds you ready for a fun and relaxing weekend. We’re going to continue on with the SISOSIG series, and if you want to get caught up on the players we’ve discussed, check out these past links:

Read about Linval Joseph here.

Read about Everson Griffen here.

Read about Xavier Rhodes here.

Read about Trae Waynes here.

Read about Anthony Harris here.

We’ve got one more player on defense to look at, which we’ll do today. Mackensie Alexander, come on down. But hey, I’ll take requests. I’ve got a couple of players on offense to look at, but if there’s anyone else on defense you think we should profile, let me know in the comments.

2020 Salary Cap (and dead money): Free Agent

Should I Stay?

If you look over the list of players we’ve profiled so far, you’ll notice that every single one plays on defense, and most of those guys are in the secondary. So you could make a strong case for Mac to return just based on roster attrition, assuming most of the other players don’t return. He’s also developed into a heck of a good slot CB, a position that’s vital in today’s NFL. If you look at the players in the secondary that are still on the roster, assuming most of the players we’ve profiled are gone, the only two CB’s with any experience at all are Holton Hill and Mike Hughes, and Hughes is, literally, recovering from a broken bone in his neck.

Alexander, a second round pick in 2016, has improved every year, is a really fundamentally sound tackler, and handles the slot position as well as anyone the Vikings have had since Captain Munnerlyn. I don’t know that you can call him elite, but he’ll win more battles than he’ll lose, and he’s a guy that you don’t have to worry about in coverage. In today’s NFL, that can be hard to find when you get past your top two CB’s.

Should I Go?

Once again, economics may play a bigger role in this decision than talent. Has Mac earned a second contract with the Vikings? I would argue yes, and I’m sure his agent would agree. Spotrac is calculating a market value contract for Mac at about 3 yr/$25 mil, an average right around $8.4 mil a season. It’s a very similar number to Trae Waynes, and adding both of those deals together is just a couple million more than the market value contract Spotrac projects for S Anthony Harris.

If you tried to read between the lines of Mike Zimmer’s press conference at Indy a couple days ago, it appears Minnesota is willing to let Harris walk, because they can’t afford him, and they value the safety position a little less than other positions. If that’s the case, then I expect the Vikings to try and get two of their three CB’s back on the team, depending on how they manage their cap.

Should Alexander be one of those guys, or not?