Could the Vikings (again) look towards free agency to fix the offensive line?

With the start of the new league year about a week and a half away, we’re officially into the “silly season” of rumors about free agency and things of that nature. One particular rumor has our Minnesota Vikings looking to free agency to try to fix their offensive line woes.

Yes, again.

Behind the great E$PN paywall, Jeremy Fowler has been speculating about some of the big money that could be getting tossed around in free agency, and one player that he connects to the Vikings is San Francisco 49ers guard Laken Tomlinson. However, Tomlinson isn’t going to come cheap.

Again with the 49ers. He’s emerging as a top guard available and could spark a bidding war closer to free agency. The Bengals, Panthers, Vikings, Steelers, Jets and Seahawks are among teams that will be in the guard market. Austin Corbett is also a buzzworthy name just below Tomlinson.

Tomlinson was one of the top-rated guards in the NFL this past season by Pro Football Focus, and would likely go a long way towards fixing the Vikings’ problems on the interior of the offensive line. However, as I said, he’s going to be expensive. Last year in free agency, Joe Thuney broke the bank when he signed a five-year, $80 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency, and while I don’t know if Tomlinson is going to command that sort of money, I can’t imagine that it would be all that far off.

Maybe it’s just bias on my part, but I’d really, really like to see what Wyatt Davis could potentially do at guard after getting ignored by Mike Zimmer during his rookie season. It would obviously be significantly more cost-effective for the Vikings to go down that path if players like Tomlinson are going to command big paydays. Given that the Vikings have about a week and a half to clear up as much salary cap space as possible before the start of the new league year, that might be the best route for the Vikings to take.