Posts tagged: vincent jackson

Don’t Abandon Ship, Free Agency Is Still Young

March 14, 2012, by 7 comments

The first day of free agency has come and gone and the Vikings (supposed) lack of activity has left many fans in an all-out panic. While a few teams around the league went on a spending spree and snatched up the big name players, the Vikings choose to pass and not sign anyone on the first day. Like many of you, I was a little disappointed. But it wasn’t disappointment caused by the fact that I feel the team messed up or is making the wrong decisions. Instead, it was more of a selfish disappointment. That feeling as a child when you wake up on Christmas morning and don’t necessarily have what you think you should have under the Christmas tree. When you didn’t get the monster truck you were dying for and, instead, received money bonds from your Great Aunt Betty. You don’t appreciate the bond…The bonds take time. You want the immediate  gratification of having that monster truck – of signing Vincent Jackson. You want something now.

And I understand it, I completely get it.

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Front Office Doesn’t Dive Right In, While Fans Jump From Cliffs

March 13, 2012, by 14 comments

Did you know the sky is falling?

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.

And The Top Receiver Target Is Off The Market

March 13, 2012, by 33 comments

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.

Guion Returns On Three Year Deal

March 13, 2012, by 1 comment

In a move that makes sense but is highly unlikely to satisfy your free agency appetite, it is being reported that defensive tackle Letroy Guion will return to the team on a three year deal.

Terms of the deal are not yet known, but we will keep an eye out for that.

Also, if you haven’t seen by now, receiver Brandon Marshall is the newest member of the NFC North as the Bears have struck a trade with the Dolphins to acquire his services.  The Vikings secondary will have its work cut out for them this season with Marshall, Greg Jennings, and Calvin Johnson within the division.

The good news is, however, that the Bears may now be out of the running for Vincent Jackson.

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.

Top 25 Free Agency Targets

February 29, 2012, by 5 comments

Gregg Rosenthal of Pro Football Talk managed to create a minor stir amongst Vikings fans on Monday when he tweeted a rumor he had heard at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

“Heard at Combine the Vikings are in mix for a few of biggest FA names,” read Rosenthal’s tweet.  “Ready to spend. Bucs as well.”

Fans should probably reign in their expectations a little as the Vikings don’t have a ton of spending power, especially when being compared to Tampa Bay, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see quite a bit of action on March 13th.

So, I decided to dust off my old free agency rankings and make another list of who I think should be the Vikings top targets.  The list takes everything into consideration including salary range, age, talent level, scheme, likelihood of actually hitting the open market, and so on.

Read more after the jump.

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The Number Is In: $115.3 Million

February 9, 2012, by 6 comments

One of the greatest mysteries surrounding this offseason is how things will shake out one year following the new Collective Bargaining Agreement being put into place.

Kevin Seifert over at ESPN has just about figured it all out… or at least seems close.

The NFL salary cap is not expected to grow much from where it was last year, which was $120 million, and the highest number I have seen is $125 million.

According to Seifert, the Vikings currently have a cap total of $115.3 million, which doesn’t give them a whole lot of spending cash considering they are expected to have a large class of rookies in need of a contract.

The top tier free agents of 2012, such as Vincent Jackson or Carl Nicks, will not get the kind of money they are looking for from Minnesota unless the team figures out a way to clear up significant cap space.  This could happen via releasing expensive veterans and/or restructuring contracts.

Either way, if the Vikings are going to make moves like that, we should start hearing about them pretty soon.  Keep an eye on Steve Hutchinson and Kevin Williams.