Analysis

Letroy Guion’s Contract Details

March 13, 2012, by 5 comments

Letroy Guion is a defensive tackle that has flashed plenty of ability but failed to separate himself from the competition despite a golden opportunity in 2011.

The Vikings, however, are apparently sold on his potential and extended him a decent contract on Tuesday that could make him a low-end starter alongside Kevin Williams.

Guion’s contract is worth $9 million over three years.  He received a signing bonus in the amount of $3.565 million.

The money included in this deal suggests that Rick Spielman and Leslie Frazier have high hopes for Guion’s future with the team.  I have to admit, I like this signing, although I was hoping we would be talking about help being brought in from outside the organization by now.

Less Than A Day

March 13, 2012, by 3 comments

In well under 24 hours the NFL will begin its free agency period, and the Minnesota Vikings have been unexpectedly quiet.

On Monday, they signed Sage Rosenfels to a two year contract that should put him third on the depth chart behind Joe Webb and Christian Ponder.  Other than that, not much was happening.

In fact, pending free agent linebacker Erin Henderson took to Twitter to seemingly let us know that his phone has yet to ring.

He tweeted, “Let’s write a letter. I’ll start it…. Dear Vikings,”

By the time a letter arrived at Winter Park, however, free agency will be well underway and those hoping that Minnesota retains their weakside linebacker better hope they use more modern technology, such as a telephone, to contact Henderson.

The Vikings will forego the chance to tender linebacker Kenny Onatolu as a restricted free agent, as Brett wrote Monday, but they still sound interested in retaining him.

Defensive tackle Letroy Guion is close to signing a contract extension, according to a source in this report, and contract talks were described as “fruitful” on Monday.  No news has surfaced regarding safety Husain Abdullah and his status with the Vikings.

The Vikings are thought to be a team gearing up to be active in free agency when it starts at 3:00 Central Lutefisk Time on Tuesday. 

The top targets talked about are wide receiver Vincent Jackson, cornerback Brandon Carr, and guard Carl Nicks.  These are names we have discussed for quite some time on these pages, and the odds are good that by Wednesday night we will know if the Vikings actually land any of them.  The Vikings were thought to be on a road to disappointment in this regard, but major free agency players such as Washington and Dallas are going to have trouble chasing big money players in light of their punishments handed down by the league for dumping too much money into the uncapped year.

We will be here to cover every last second of free agency, so get all your chores done early on Tuesday… it could be a long and interesting evening.

Vikes To Receive An Extra $1.6 Million In Cap Space

March 12, 2012, by 9 comments

Prior to the signing of Sage Rosenfels, the Vikings were expected to have roughly $23 million in cap space, which is plenty of wiggle room to allow them to be active when free agency kicks off tomorrow.

Today, news broke that the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys have been caught cheating.  They didn’t install a bounty hunter program (that we know of) recently, but they did dump a bunch of money into the uncapped year which the league clearly warned teams not to do.

As a result, the NFL decided to shave the Redskins salary cap by a whopping $36 million, while the Cowboys cap penalty exceeds $10 million.  The NFLPA wouldn’t be happy to see that money just disappear altogether, so the remaining 30 teams that did not cheat will each receive an additional $1.6 million in cap space.

That includes the Vikings.

It also should be noted that Washington was expected to be a major player in the Vincent Jackson sweepstakes, but they now have considerable cap issues that could prevent them from doing so.

In fact, they had to cut safety O.J. Atogwe today, who the Vikings have been previously interested in and who just happens to be married to the daughter of Vikings assistant head coach Mike Singletary.

Griffin Is Out, Too

March 10, 2012, by 16 comments

Well, I have said all offseason long that I was 51% sure that Cedric Griffin and Steve Hutchinson would be back with the Vikings.

It appears I was 100% wr-wr-wr-mistaken.

As mentioned in the post below this one, guards Steve Hutchinson and Anthony Herrera have been released by the Vikings and now we know that cornerback Cedric Griffin is a goner, as well.

“It was a tough decision as we move forward and prepare for the upcoming season and the future of our organization,” said Leslie Frazier.  “All three individuals have meant a great deal to the Vikings organization both on and off field over the years. We wish all of them the best and thank them for their service to the Minnesota Vikings.”

The Vikings have cleared roughly $13 million in cap space by making these three moves which is expected to give them over $20 million in cap space going into free agency, which starts this week.

We will continue to monitor this fluid situation, but it appears the Vikings are done making moves for today.

Things Are About To Happen

March 8, 2012, by 4 comments

Vikings fans are used to being patient.

This team seems to always wait until the very last moment before making transactions.  Whether it signing draft picks, re-signing their own free agents, or jumping into free agency itself, they always keep us waiting.  Heck, one time they waited so much, they forgot to make a first round selection.

Things are expected to start happening this weekend, however, so I want to make sure you are plenty prepared for the action and know what to expect.  Below are the links to my position-by-position breakdown of how I see this Vikings offseason playing out:

The Passers,

The Runners,

The Wide Outs,

The Tight Ends,

The Offensive Line,

The Defensive Tackles,

The Defensive Ends,

The Linebackers,

The Cornerbacks

The Safeties

The Specialists

In the linebackers preview, I project that the team will try hard to retain linebacker Erin Henderson and it appears that they will do just that over the next week or so according to multiple reports like this one.

In the section about the quarterbacks, I predicted that the Vikings will probably bring back Sage Rosenfels to round out their depth chart.  There is a recent rumor floating about that the Vikings and Rosenfels have mutual interest in making his return happen.

In the cornerbacks preview, I mistakenly (undoubtedly due to a lack of research and excess of scotch) thought Marcus Trufant was an unrestricted free agent.  This was not true… but it will be soon.  PFT reports that the Seahawks will release Trufant and his $7.2 million salary soon.  So, let’s just pretend I saw that coming and knew what I was talking about all along, okay?

 

Links Of The Week: Free Agency Starts Soon

March 8, 2012, by No comments yet

Okay, so I know I haven’t been keeping you as up-to-date as I normally like to, but these links should ensure you are all caught up and didn’t miss anything so far this week:

  • Our blogroll has been updated to include another cool Vikings blog.  Check’ em out and tell ‘em who sent you.
  • Could Peyton Manning’s landing spot affect this year’s Vikings draft?
  • Joe Webb is still jumping really high on YouTube.
  • The new Madden video game could, in theory, include either Jared Allen or Percy Harvin on the cover.
  • Unless this is a typo, the “snitch” that spurred “bountygate” was actually a Vikings player.
  • A breakdown of the reasons behind Pro Football Focus’s crush on linebacker Erin Henderson.
  • Chris Cook’s girlfriend testified in court on Wednesday.  Here is a summary of the bizarre testimony that she gave.  He might just be off the hook.
  • Cook’s attorneys argued self defense in court on Wednesday.
  • An argument for a very stiff penalty for the New Orleans Saints.
  • Christian Ponder is preparing (yeah, right) for the possibility of the Vikings drafting another first round quarterback.
  • The Vikings are trying to re-sign linebacker Erin Henderson prior to free agency starting.
  • Some of the key figures involved with the new stadium proposal.
  • Brett Favre says that a referee apologized to him for a missed call in the 2009 NFC Championship game against the Saints.
  • I think some hack blogger has mentioned this before, but gambling is an unpredictable revenue source for a new stadium and could be a sticking point in the proposal.
  • An interesting experiment surrounding the Cris Carter Hall of Fame mystery.
  • Jared Allen takes an even handed approach in answering “bountygate” questions.
  • This mock draft has the Vikings drafting… oh, forget it, you already know.
  • Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.  He is also one of the classiest NFL players of all time.  Any team would be lucky to have a guy like this for as long as Indianapolis had Manning.  So, here it is, your moment of Zen:

Links Of The Week: Bounty Hunter Edition

March 2, 2012, by No comments yet

Normally I try to do this feature on Wednesdays.  On Wednesday there wasn’t enough news floating around to make it worth.

Something changed.

I can’t remember what exactly that was.

But if you give me $10,000 I might suddenly be able to recall.