Don’t Abandon Ship, Free Agency Is Still Young

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.

But, folks, we have to pull back a little bit, take a couple deep breaths and just relax. This is what smart teams do. Dynasties are not built through free agency. As Mike Wobschall, over at Vikings.com, did a great job of pointing out, teams like the Patriots, Packers, Steelers, Giants, etc… hardly ever make a big splash during free agency. And yeah, you could say, “Well, Brett, that’s because they don’t have nearly as many holes as us…” Well, they did at some point and I bet you they didn’t address the needs through signing (and drastically overpaying) big name free agents. No. They utilized the draft, made smart decisions and sat back and watched the Dan Snyders empty their wallets the first day of free agency.

Yesterday was crazy, folks. Teams were drastically overpaying guys like Pierre Garcon, Vincent Jackson and Carl Nicks. Look at how much they were payed… Would you rather have us do that? I personally wouldn’t. The amounts they received are asanine. And I know there are some people that are upset because it just didn’t seem like the Vikes were really doing anything. But, how do we know that? Tom Pelissero, who has connections to the team I can only dream of, reported that the team was being very active and making calls to people. Just because we didn’t sign anybody doesn’t mean we were putting feelers out there to see what’s up. It doesn’t mean Spielman has given up. Just because we didn’t hear about it doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening. I have heard quite a few interviews with Spielman and I can assure you that he wants nothing more than to get this team to the Superbowl. Whether or not he has the ability to do that is up for discussion, I guess. But now that we have a definite person in charge, I am willing to give Spielman the benefit of the doubt and see where he takes the team this season.

And another thing… It’s not like there aren’t any free agents left. Around fifteen people were signed – fifteen out of hundreds. Look at some of the names that are still available:

Evan Mathis, G
Ben Grubbs, G
Kendall Langford, DT
Cory Redding, DT
Erin Henderson, OLB (Who I honestly feel the Vikes will retain)
Jarret Johnson, OLB
Stephen Tulloch, ILB
David Hawthorne, ILB
Brandon Carr, CB (Will be an expensive one…)
Richard Marshall, CB
Tracy Porter, CB
LaRon Landry, S
Mike Adams, S
And hundreds more…

I believe the Vikings will sit back, let the “funny money” be spent and then come back and find the best value. We don’t have one hole to fill on this team, folks. If you haven’t already, it’s time to accept the fact that we are pretty far from being in contention again. This team will only get stronger (long term) through a strong draft and finding some hidden gems in free agency.

Patience – don’t abandon ship just yet, it’s only day two of the offseason. Keep checking back here at Vikings Territoy, though, because if there are any developments, we’ll have them up almost immediately here.

SKOL