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.
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Adam, it's not the fact that they didn't sign anyone but the fact that they werent even looking at anyone. I knew they wouldnt be big players in FA but they didnt even make any effort with anybody. A 3-13 team needs help big time and the best they can do is resign Rosencopter and Gioun? I have 0 confidence in Ricky.
Johnny, I'm not sure how true that is. By all accounts from the beat writers, the front office was active all day reaching out to players and agents. Brett will soon have a story posted about John Carlson coming in for a visit on Wednesday. Just because we haven't heard about it, doesn't mean effort isn't being made.
True enough Adam but Pudd and Tom kept preaching patirnce and not being able to rebuild in one year. I tried to comment on Pudds last post but it wouldnt load.
I think that patience will pay off Johnny. If they can get, for example, Anthony Collins, William Middleton, John Carlson, and Mario Manningham for the same price that the 'Skins paid for Garcon... well, then Spielman will come out looking pretty good.
Its not that....I see a 3 and 13 team...doing nothing...We have alot of holes and speilman wont even give erin henderson a contract. Who was the standout in our LBer core last year...We see the top tier guys get signed and spielman does nothing...But we get a crappy TE to come in on wednesday..Yippiee...that sucks to be honest....Ponder has to be sweating..thinking wtf did i get myself into....spielman is an idiot and will get frazier fired becuase he will give him nothing to work with this year...no the sky is not falling its our roster tbh.
And who does Erin have visits set up with? Maybe Erin had been reading too much PFF and out-priced himself, and the lack of day one interest will bring him down to earth. I'd rather lose Erin Henderson than overpay for Erin Henderson.
I wouldn't say Carlson is crappy. Stats are comparable to Shiancoes...
Lulz...it is still way early meboys...try to save SOME disappointment for later...
Lulz...it is still way early meboys...try to save SOME disappointment for later...
There's an echo in here...nuthin' smart about a smart phone...dumb thing.
last time i heard anything about henderson i dont remember if it was here or another blog...but he stated spielman has never once contacted him bout a contract...it doesnt seem like or sound like spielman is interested in retaining or signing anyone more contented in sitting on his hands and doing nothing...that is the problem thats why everyone is torqued..we need help in alot of areas and the draft alone isnt gunna fix especially after he fs it up..sry..
Yeah, it is risky in terms of making the fan base happy... but I would say we look at how the next few days go before fully judging the performance. Things could start to heat up soon.
There are still a few big names are there, but I agree, the apparent lack of urgency by the front office is a bit of concern. It's hard to truly judge what is actually going without being on the inner though! Until Nicks,Grubbs and a Jason Jones are signed to other teams other than the Vikings I'm happy to watch this all unfold. I wouldn't mind the Vikings having a crack at, Jared Gaither or Eric Winston, they are some very solid players that would help immediately upgrade the Oline. What about Mario Williams lining up opposite Jared Allen, wouldn't that be nice!? Fingers crossed he doesn't end up in Chicago or Ponder might not turn up to camp!
bringing in the center from packers, would move sulliven back to guard and with matt on to the line, i feel the O line is going to be as strong as ponder needs it to be, if we sign the center that is.