January 20-25 - Senior Bowl January 26 - Pro Bowl February 17 - First day of franchise / transition player designation February 19-25 - Scouting Combine March 11 - Free Agency begins March 23 - Owner's Meeting April 7 - Off-season workouts begin for teams with new HC April 17 - 2014 Schedule Released April 21 - Off-season workouts begin for teams with returning HC May 2 - Deadline for RFAs to sign offers May 8-10 - NFL Draft
As if Letroy Guion’s three year contract, worth $9 million, wasn’t a big enough hint that Vikings plan to expand his role, we now have confirmation that he will be competing for the starting nose tackle gig with Remi Ayodele.
Guion had previously occupied the three technique position, mostly as a backup to Kevin Williams, and pulled spot duty as a nose tackle but the move sounds like it will be putting him somewhere that he is more comfortable.
“I don’t like it. I love it,” said Guion on Wednesday. “I love the close-quarter combat. Less space than a three technique. I can see the ball better. Read the offensive line better. And I feel more comfortable at nose than at a three-technique.”
Guion, age 24, was drafted in the sixth round in 2008 out of Florida State. At the time, he was regarded as extremely gifted but also extremely raw, and it appears that the Vikings still have faith he can develop under new defensive line coach Brendan Daly.
“He’s an extremely talented athlete,” Rick Spielman said following the agreement. “I know when we had meetings on all of our personnel, we still think there’s a huge, huge upside to Letroy.”
In his four seasons with the Vikings, Guion has three starts, all of which came last season. He has flashed at moments, but has yet to be a consistent contributor on the defense.
It has become clear that your average Vikings fan is frustrated with how Rick Spielman has conducted himself in the first 30 hours of so in free agency this offseason, which is his first as General Manager of the Vikings.
Wednesday, however, Spielman explained the team’s approach and strategy while urging the fan base to be patient.
“We’re going to be patient with this,” Spielman said. “We’re going to strike when we feel there’s a player out there that can help us win ballgames. The ownership has always given us the financial backing we need to go get players if we need to get them. But we’re also going to be very patient and prudent as we go through this.”
“I know plenty of our needs are going to be filled through the draft, but we are not done yet,” he continued. “We are still looking at (unrestricted free agents) as we go along in this process, and we’ll continue to monitor that. There may be a couple guys coming in (for visits) over the next couple of weeks. We’ll continue to add players as we see fit.”
The media pressed Spielman on his conservative approach to free agency.
“I don’t think we’re a player or two away to go out and say you’re going to spend the money that’s being spent on all those players that have gotten contracts early,” he said. “I think what we’re trying to do, again, is find some players that we think are going to be able to help us win ballgames that are going to contribute and then continually to build this through the draft and keep our draft picks and potentially add more draft picks and keep our roster competitive year in and year out that way.”
Spielman called tight end John Carlson a playmaker while revealing plans to move Letroy Guion to nose tackle, which gives you an idea as to what the thinking was behind those two signings.
Additionally, the Vikings are monitoring the status of Erin and E.J. Henderson, but there is very little urgency surrounding the linebacker position at this point. As of this posting, not a single 4-3 outside linebacker has signed with a new team, and only a couple low-level middle linebackers are off the market. Options are still there in this regard, and Spielman may have been wise in waiting for the big money to fly around and get some reasonable contract offers to these guys.
Overall, “patience” seems to be the word of the day.
Once upon a time, I would get ridiculed on an annual basis for drafting Seahawks tight end John Carlson about four rounds too early in my fantasy league. I would get laughed out of the room, in fact.
“Quit it, you guys,” I would whine. “He’s got the potential and skill set to be the best tight end in the NFL, mark my words.”
Umm, yeah… he was usually on the waiver wires by week six.
Now, Rick Spielman finds himself on the defensive as a result of a very similar move, except the stakes are much higher.
News is spreading the Vikings have signed Carlson to a five year deal worth $25 million, with $11 million of that being guaranteed. The move will put former Notre Dame stars Carlson and Kyle Rudolph atop the tight end depth chart in Minnesota for years to come.
A Minnesota native, Carlson was selected 38th overall by the Seahawks in 2008. He got off to a good start, playing in all 16 games of his rookie season and catching 55 passes for 627 yards and five scores.
In his second season, he started all 16 games and caught 51 passes for 574 yards and seven touchdowns. In 2010, the poor condition of Seattle’s offensive line meant Carlson spent a lot more time being a blocker in the offense, and his production dipped down to 31 catches, 318 yards, and only one score.
In 2011, Carlson missed the entire season due to a torn labrum.
Now, as you can tell from the opening paragraphs of this article, I think Carlson has the potential to be a star and I went so far as to single him out in my Offseason Preview of the tight ends. However, I concluded that segment with the following warning:
“I think patience will have to be key here. The Vikings cannot panic and overpay or reach on a Draft choice to fill their needs at tight end.
Building around Rudolph should involve nabbing a few players that present the team with low cost. They cannot panic and offer a ton of money to Shiancoe. They cannot panic and overpay a free agent. They cannot panic and reach on a guy in the Draft.”
Some might view this signing as Rick Spielman panicking and overpaying, while others might view this signing as Spielman targeting the guy he coveted and making sure he got his guy, but I don’t think anyone envisioned this type of deal for Carlson. In fact, the rumor mill suggests that Carlson was so blown away by the offer that he cancelled a trip to Kansas City and rerouted himself to Winter Park.
The Vikings obviously have placed an emphasis on finding the players that will best fit Bill Musgrave’s offensive vision, which includes a lot of two tight end sets, as they have invested one high draft pick and plenty of money into the position in the last two offseasons. So, while the Vikings are very high on second year player Kyle Rudolph, don’t think of Carlson as a true backup player just yet, he will probably see a lot of action.
Carlson is often referred to as a poor blocker, but he was called upon to block quite a bit in Seattle and seemingly improved in this area, and his pass catching skills are fairly elite. Christian Ponder should benefit from having one more solid pass catcher in his arsenal, and also a fairly dependable blocker when needed. Also, Carlson is 27 years old, which is a full four years younger than Visanthe Shiancoe.
I don’t agree with those that think the Vikings didn’t have a need at the tight end position. I don’t agree with those that think Carlson is a terrible player.
As far as whether or not they overpaid to obtain Carlson, however, I am on the fence. A lot will depend on how the contract is structured and whether or not he can finally live up to the expectations that followed him from Notre Dame.
I will put it this way though: I’m still not drafting him in my fantasy league this year.
Day eight of our Community Mock Draft saw the Dolphins select quarterback Ryan Tannehill, which obviously is a pick that stands to be inaccurate if they win the Peyton Manning sweepstakes.
Still, we must forge on.
Up next are the Carolina Panthers. Please your vote and leave your analysis in the comments section.
Vikings cornerback Chris Cook is facing felony charges stemming from an incident involving his girlfriend in 2011.
Today, the defense strategy was to claim he was acting in self defense, and Cook himself spent 96 minutes on the witness stand in an effort to convince the jury of exactly that.
“No. I…no,” Cook replied when asked if he thought before striking the woman. “I was reacting. I wasn’t thinking. I was reacting to pain.”
The attorney’s will make their final arguments Wednesday morning, and then the jury will deliberate. A decision could be coming very soon, and his future with the Vikings could very well hinge on that decision.
Seriously… look outside your window. That’s what it looks like when the sky is falling, not to be confused with what it looks like when a giant Teflon roof is falling.
I’ll admit it. I had high hopes that the Vikings could land cornerback Brandon Carr and wide receiver Vincent Jackson on day one of free agency. I will also admit, however, that I had in no way anticipated the all-out madness that was day one of the NFL’s free agency period.
Seriously, if I could just have one percent of the money that was tossed around on Tuesday, I would buy all of you season tickets and just name that section “Vikings Territory Seating Only.”
The Vikings are in a rebuilding mode, which will probably span multiple seasons, and their strategy was evident on Tuesday: We won’t designate too much of our valuable cap space to one player, because no one player can fix what is wrong here.
I’m not saying it will work out for Rick Spielman, and some of these high profile studs will probably continue to play like high profile studs, but to dismiss the strategy as invalid is just plain silly.
The Redskins and the Cowboys have spent enough money in recent offseason’s to make Mitt Romney choke on his caviar. And where has that got them?
Meanwhile, the Packers haven’t signed an unrestricted free agent in years, and most of them are wearing a big shiny ring right now. Not only should Vikings fans not feel lonely, they should consider themselves in pretty good company. The Ravens, Falcons, Patriots, Lions, Giants, and Steelers were all fairly quiet, too. Let’s face it… the Ravens know how to run a ball club better than the Redskins, so I would much rather see Spielman acting like them instead of Dan Snyder.
In fact, as of this posting only about 14 notable signings have occurred, so there is plenty of players left to spend money on and there should be little doubt that the Vikings can now make their $23 million in cap space stretch further than they would have been able to on Tuesday. I mean, paying Pierre Garcon $8 million per year makes sense and all, but…
We talked about rumors that the Vikings are interested in offensive lineman Scott Wells and tight end John Carlson. While no official visits have been reported, it is obvious that Spielman and company are just letting the funny money fly and will take a well-reasoned approach to filling as many of the numerous holes on this roster as possible with quality football players.
So, when the you wake up Wednesday morning and the sun is shining, and you realize the sky has indeed not fallen, get your ass back here to Vikings Territory and we’ll talk some more about the five hundred (give or take) free agents that are still available.
The long anticipated answer to whether or not the Vikings would land wide receiver Vincent Jackson has arrived, and it is sure to cause some grumbling amongst the masses.
Jackson reportedly signed a five year deal with Tampa Bay on Tuesday worth a maximum of $55.55 million, according to Adam Schefter. $26 million of that is guaranteed.
Wide receivers flew off the shelves on the first day of free agency, and as of this post, the Vikings are not known to have expressed interest in any of them despite their need to stretch the field on offense.
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