Big-Name Free Agents Still Available for Vikings

Odell Beckham
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports.

The Minnesota Vikings own about $12 million in cap space as of May 4th, 2022, which ranks 20th in NFL for money available.

A significant portion of that sum will be needed to sign the 2022 NFL Draft class and undrafted free agents. If new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wants to bolster the depth chart with big-name free agents, he’ll likely have to restructure the existing deals of players like Eric Kendricks and Dalvin Cook. And so far in his tenure, he’s done so with Harrison Smith and Adam Thielen.

Should he do it again, these are four players the Vikings could target in post-draft free agency.

Akiem Hicks (DT)

Akiem Hicks
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports.

With all of the team’s roster decisions — particularly re-upping with Kirk Cousins — the Vikings have implied they’re “all in” for the seventh season in a row.

Of course, Minnesota doesn’t necessarily need another interior defensive lineman, but it also didn’t draft one last week. Acquiring Hicks would make the team better. Plain and simple.

And what do Super Bowl-contending teams wish to do? Get better.

Hicks was rumored to the Vikings a couple of months ago before free agency — and then nobody signed him. He’s still awaiting a phone call. The Vikings new defensive coordinator Ed Donatell has ties to Hicks from his Bears tenure. Badda bing.

Odell Beckham (WR)

Odell Beckham
Odell Beckham

You’ll be tempted here to think, “Oh, stop. The Vikings won’t sign OBJ.”

But that’s your Spielman-Zimmer brain doing the talking. New head coach Kevin O’Connell was affiliated with Beckham for a few months in Los Angeles. Beckham tore his ACL in the Super Bowl and probably won’t be ready to play until midseason.

In the meantime, theoretically, he could join his LSU pal Justin Jefferson on the Vikings. If the Vikings are serious about this Super Bowl prognosis, O’Connell signing one of “his guys” from the Rams adds up.

Like the Hicks move, Beckham — when he’s back to a clean bill of health — would make Minnesota deeper and stronger.

JC Tretter (C)

Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports.

Folks have been pounding the table for this one since March.

The Vikings employ Garrett Bradbury at center, a man who struggles with pass protection. Tretter, if he’s healthy, does not flounder when protecting quarterbacks. In fact, he’s one of the best pass-blocking center on earth.

Tretter and Adofo-Mensah were coworkers in Cleveland. Tretter’s father even “liked tweets,” insinuating an eventual relationship with the Vikings.

Tretter would fix the innards of the Vikings offensive line — once and for all.

Eric Ebron (TE)

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports.

Ebron is only a “big name” because of his 2014 draft stock. The Detriot Lions selected the tight end 10th overall that year.

Don’t look now, but the Vikings don’t have a bonafide TE2 unless Johnny Mundt is truly the real deal. Is he? Maybe. Who knows?

The Vikings often have two good tight ends. And signing Ebron to a dinker deal would be a bet-hedger for Irv Smith Jr.’s health.


Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).

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