What if … The Vikings Lose Everyone?
This offseason, the Minnesota Vikings have a boatload of cap space. They also have a significant amount of free agents hitting the open market. There’s a possibility that they re-sign some of them, but there’s also a world in which all top players go elsewhere.
What if … The Vikings Lose Everyone?
What does that look like? If Byron Murphy Jr., Stephon Gilmore, and Shaq Griffin were all gone, the Vikings would have massive holes at the cornerback position.
What if Harrison Smith retires and Cam Bynum chases the bag somewhere else? Then Josh Metellus is left wondering who will help him at the safety position.
What if Aaron Jones and Cam Akers look for new employers? Ty Chandler has already been cast aside as a starting option once, and he’d be the only running back with NFL experience left on the roster.
Of course, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has salary cap room to backfill those departures. He would have to. The Minnesota Vikings aren’t going to field a barebones roster, and they still need 53 bodies to show up on a weekly basis.
It’s true, though, that the Vikings have many key contributors that remain twisting in the wind. There is simply no way all of them are back. In fact, both Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell should not want all of them back.
The Vikings must decide which players they are willing to prioritize. Murphy Jr. and Bynum seem like ideal answers, but they will both have substantially heightened costs, given what the franchise has learned.
Regardless of how little O’Connell intends to lean on the running game, something must also be done in the backfield. Youngster J.J. McCarthy will take over under center at some point, and despite ideal receiving weapons, he needs the talent to hand the ball off as well.
It’s scary to think about how many Vikings players are on their way out. That said, Minnesota doesn’t want most of them back and will replace them with new faces. They have to get the important ones right, though.
Ted Schwerzler is a blogger from the Twin Cities that is focused on all things Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings. He’s active on Twitter and writes daily for Minnesota Sports Fan. As a former college athlete and avid sports fan, covering our pro teams with a passion has always seemed like such a natural outlet.
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