FanPost

Stock Market Report 2.0: Free Agency

Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Hey folks! I am back after a long winter of 15 hour shifts 6 days a week. Now I finally have some time to critique the Vikings free agency moves. Free agency has left the Vikings with several questions in areas that they have never struggled in before like *checks notes* offensive line. Oh, wait the same area we have had issues since 2014. Anyway, let’s get on with it.

Blue Chip Stocks:

Secondary Help: Even in a vacuum I love the pick up of Patrick Peterson and Mack Alexander. The Vikings had several issues at cornerback last year and a veteran presence in Peterson is a good call. With Mike Hughes doing an excellent impression of Byron Buxton for the Vikings bringing back Mack made sense. With Jeff Gladney’s recent legal trouble these signings are even more important. I still like Cam Dantzler as a starter and the potential with Gladney if he is able to play. Adding the vets gives the Vikings a little more depth. Adding Xavier Woods is another good call.

Releasing Rudolph: This was hard for me. Kyle has been part of the Vikings since I started really closely following the team. He was one of my first favorite Vikings players but moving on was the right move for Minnesota and Kyle. With Irv Smith stepping up and Tyler Conklin looking like a solid TE2 it was time for young blood at TE.

Restructuring Barr: The Barr restructure was a good call. Barr has been up and down with the Vikings and after receiving a huge contract last year the Vikings are setting up to move on after next year. With injuries decimating the LB core last year keeping Barr another year is a good move but lowering the cap hit and getting out from that contract next year is an excellent choice.

Cutting the Chaff: Parting ways with Shamar Stephan and Dan Bailey were moves that everyone saw coming. Stephan was underwhelming at DT last year and Bailey caught a case of the Mike Zimmer Kicker Curse. With Pierce back and Dalvin Tomlinson coming in Stephan was expendable. With Bailey gone maybe the Vikes will just go for it on every 4th down since that would feel better than watching another kicker melt down.

Solid Investments:

Stephen Weatherly: Bringing back Weatherly was a good call by the Vikings. With the return of Danielle Hunter after a season ending injury last year Weatherly can fill in at DE on the other side. While the Vikings will probably pick up a DE in the draft, I can also see a few different players getting some time in on the opposite side of Danielle this year. Weatherly knows the scheme and can help the young guys while still providing value.

Mason Cole: The Vikings did bring in some Oline help by trading for Mason Cole. Cole has played both center and guard and is at least an upgrade on Dakota Dozier. I really hope the Vikings will address guard or tackle with the 14th pick in the draft but Cole gives the Vikings more options at guard outside of Dozier or Samia.

Letting Johnson and Harris walk: Letting Anthony Harris and Jaleel Johnson walk was a good call by the Vikings. Johnson has been here a few years but really made no impression. Harris has done a very good job opposite Harrison Smith but with the cap situation and Harris play dropping off last year it was a good time to just move on.

Junk Bonds:

Losing Reiff: The Vikings lost their starting left tackle without a clear plan on his replacement. Is it Ezra or will O’Neill be moving over? Now this will change if the Vikings get Orlando Brown Jr but for now losing one of your best offensive line players with no clear succession plan in place is a bad idea.

Dakota Dozier’s Return: Dozier was just awful last year and if he is resigned with the idea that he will be the starting left guard in 2021 then something is drastically wrong. If the Vikes want to take another step forward this is the wrong move. If it turns out Dozier will just be a backup guard, I am more comfortable with this. But right now, this is a bad move.

Buy/Sell

Buy: The Vikings secondary upgrade. The Vikings did upgrade the secondary this year and that should pay off during the season.

Sell: The lack of offensive additions. The Vikings really failed to address the offensive line in free agency. There were some attempts to sign at least one top level guard but fell flat. In fact, according to reports the Vikings missed most of their first-choice free agents. This is concerning because it seems to say something about the direction the Vikings are going. We still have the draft so this could change but for now we have another issue with the oline. There is no left side of the oline.

Conclusion:

Well, this is my first stock market report of the new season and I made one major change. I am writing it out in Microsoft Word to try and fix some of the grammar issues. And I finally got my own route at the post office so I get more time to work on this kind of thing. The draft is in just under 2 weeks and I am excited to see the direction the Vikings go.

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.