Players Perfect for the Vikings Have Contracts Voiding in 2023
This week is the first sign of NFL teams’ offseason intentions. Several contracts are voiding this week, making the players unrestricted free agents when the league year begins on March 15th. Of those contracts voiding, there are two players perfect for the Vikings.
The offseason often brings fans joy and optimism as we look at how the team will improve heading into the next season. Free agency is the first of several steps along this path and is often the most exciting — big-time free agents signing massive deals, players are being restructured, and extensions galore.
What is more exciting than watching your team sign a player you love watching? To be honest, not a whole lot besides the Vikings actually winning games. Perhaps the Vikings will figure out their salary cap issues and be able to be somewhat aggressive in free agency.
However, the reality is they probably won’t be able to make enough cap space to target the best of the best. Therefore, they will have to target some value acquisitions.
Of the players listed in the tweet below, there are a couple of names to watch for the Vikings to target in free agency — D.J. Chark and Cameron Sutton.
While there is a fair amount of speculation about who the Vikings will select in the draft, ranging from a quarterback to cornerback to wide receiver. They will still need to address all of these positions in free agency. After that, we will better understand who they might be targeting in the draft.
If the Vikings sign D.J. Chark and Cam Sutton, there will not be as much desperation in drafting either of these positions with the 23rd overall pick. This would obviously give Kwesi Adofo-Mensah more options in how he wants to utilize his draft picks.
Chark and Sutton are Players Perfect for the Vikings in 2023
While I am not married to the idea of picking up either of these guys in free agency, they would undoubtedly be good fits. The best part is that the Vikings could sign them without breaking the bank.
Why exactly are these players good fits?
D.J. Chark is well known for his speed, as he clocked a 4.34 40-yard dash in the combine. He was also a Pro Bowler with Jaguars and torched the Vikings this year in the Week 14 matchup. Some have already projected him to land in Minnesota during free agency.
Adding a wide receiver who is good at everything would be great. However, those wide receivers are typically costlier. If the Vikings could add a burner opposite of Jefferson, that could potentially take some pressure off of him, as safeties would need to account for Chark’s speed.
Cameron Sutton is another player that could find himself in Minnesota. Sutton has been a staple of the Steelers defense for the last six years and posted a PFF coverage grade of 70.4 in 2022. But now it appears that time is coming to an end.
Oddly enough, the Vikings’ new defensive coordinator, Brian Flores, is already familiar with him as a player. This makes it even more likely that he ends up with the Vikings. Sutton also fits the mold that Flores wants in terms of being able to play multiple positions.
During his tenure with the Steelers, Sutton has played outside and slot cornerback. This is exactly the type of player that Flores is looking for.
In terms of how much these players will cost against the cap, do not fret. Their contracts would be very doable. Chark signed with the Lions for a total of $10 million in the 2022 offseason, and Sutton averaged $4.5 million with the Steelers over the last two seasons.
Neither of those contracts is out of the range for the Vikings this offseason, and both signings would add to positions of need.
Mitch Massman is a lifelong Vikings fan. His first heartbreak was the 1998 NFC championship game. His full-time job is as an economic development professional in rural Minnesota. He fantasizes about the Vikings winning a Super Bowl one day, but until then he will write about the Vikings. Follow him on Twitter @skol_vikings3
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