Vikings Successfully Outbid 5 Other Teams to Secure a Free Agent
The Minnesota Vikings have earned a ton of praise for their first-wave free-agent signings, acquiring help on both the offensive and the defensive lines and re-signing top cornerback Byron Murphy Jr.
He will now handle the coverage duties on a defense that will look a lot different, with defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in the mix.
Vikings Successfully Outbid 5 Other Teams to Secure a Free Agent
In training camp, those two guys will challenge the interior of the offensive line, an area in which the Vikings desperately needed some reinforcements. On Monday, news broke about the arrival of former Colts center Ryan Kelly. He is a significant upgrade along the offensive line, especially his pass-protecting skills, which will help keep J.J. McCarthy safe.
A day later, when GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made his big moves, Kelly’s former teammate Will Fries was suddenly in the news for agreeing to terms with the purple franchise.
Interestingly, the franchise landed in a bidding war for his services.
According to Albert Breer, six teams were pursuing him. “There was a lot of action on Fries—the Colts were trying to bring him back, and the Patriots, Giants, Seahawks and Cardinals were also involved.”
Ultimately, Fries landed a huge five-year contract with a whopping salary of $88 million. He is coming off a strange season that started with Pro Bowl-caliber play and ended with him on the cart in Week 5 with a broken Tibia, prematurely ending his campaign.
Still, the market appreciated his early play rather than focusing on the injury.
His average annual salary of $17.6 million ranks him tenth among guards in the NFL.
Recently, the Vikings chose to find starting guards in discount shopping, often leading to terrible offensive lines. That’s how the previous regime ended up with guys like Dakota Dozier or Tom Compton.
Even this regime hadn’t made much of an investment to solidify the interior of the offensive line. Now, they finally had some budget (and the willpower) to fix the problem.
It’s a new day in Minneapolis. Not only did the Vikings enter a bidding war, but they opened their checkbook to make sure to win the battle. Guards are no longer overlooked, and the fans finally get their wish for more interior protection granted.
After the disappointing playoff loss, head coach Kevin O’Connell suggested that the offensive line would be a point of emphasis:
“There’s no question we’ve got to find a way to be able to give a quarterback, especially with players like Justin (Jefferson), Jordan (Addison), T.J. (Hockenson), we’ve got to find a way to solidify just the interior of the pocket. There can be a thousand excuses made, whether it’s losing [Christian Darrisaw], or even midway through the game losing [Brian O’Neill] tonight, but for me, it’s the foundation of the interior of the pocket that we’re going to have to take a long look at.”
Fries enters an offensive line group that appears to be set at four of the five positions, with Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill handling the tackle duties, Fries at right guard, and Kelly at center. At left guard, last year’s starter Blake Brandel should be considered the heavy favorite to keep his job, barring any additional signings or draft picks.
Fries, 26, will be a strange sight for Vikings fans if he can rekindle his pre-injury level of play because a guard that good hasn’t played for the Vikings in a long time.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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