One Young, One Old?
For the purpose of this thread let's assume Rhodes gets cut and both Waynes and Alexander find bigger FA deals than what Rick (or I) would offer.
So an early pick will go towards CB. Again. Barf. But also unavoidable. Now, unless Boyd has already progressed enough to become a Starter (unlikely) or Spielman and Zimmer trust Hill to stay clean (way unlikely) Minnesota will also need to sign someone. Someone who won't bust the bank.
Here's some interesting names. Kendall Fuller was a great Slot CB before he got tradedto Kansas City in the Alex Smith deal, where he struggled and ultimately got moved to Safety, which wasn't a good fit at all. He won't cost much and could bounce back fast back in the Slot in a 4-3.
Darqueze Dennard should be at least a little familiar to Zimmer. I think Mike left Cincinnati before he was drafted, IIRC, but would probably have been part of the scouting. Dennard is inconsistent too. That's what you're facing with this Tier of Free Agency. But he's flashed as much as Waynes.
I expect some big changes to the Secondary next year. Hopefully Hughes moves to the Slot. Put a 1st or 2nd Round pick out there with a guy like Dennard and you will still be fielding a group of CBs that can be the weakness of a Top 10 Defense. Just like Rhodes and Waynes were the Achilles Heel of this years Top 5 Defense.
I can easily see a scenario where there's a run on Tackles and Minnesota has no shot at one at 25. There's a chance it comes down to the 3rd best Corner on the Board vs. the 3rd or 4h best 3T. The dropoff from Brown and Kinlaw to Elliot and Madubuike at al is fairly steep. At least one of Fulton or Henderson or Hall or Diggs will likely be available at 25 and also be ranked a fair bit higher on the Vikings Big Board than a DT left.
If things fall that way you can't get cute. Rick blocks his wife's number and goes CB in the 1st. Pair him with a veteran for Zimmer to work his reclamation magic on and things night even look better than the Rhodes/Waynes crapfest we just witnessed.
What are some of your FA CB ideas?
The Vikings CB situation is a mess and after spending three high picks on CBs in a short period of time, I really don't want to spend another high pick on a corner, when we have so many glaring needs on the roster. Unfortunately, Rhodes has declined faster than anticipated & Hughes has been a disappointment (in part due to an ACL tear), but given the choice I'd keep Alexander and Waynes over Rhodes and Hughes, but we'll likely be stuck with the wrong two CBs. I'd really like to see them address CB through FA and if we must draft a corner, then wait until at least the 3rd round. It frustrates me that Zimmer has a reputation for being a CB guru, but seems to only be able to function with 1st round talent. I get that the past picks that they spent are a sunk cost, I'm just not excited about spending another high pick on a corner especially if we continue to ignore needs like DT and LT.
Edit: Hill & Boyd are somewhat exceptions to the rule, Hill is too erratic off the field to trust as a fixture of the D and Boyd is still developing.
To those that don't think it is wise to spend 10+ mil on your starting safeties...
The Vikings run a 4-3 defense and paid two of their starting LBs a boatload of money last off-season... which I argued was not a good allocation of our cap space.
This time, I actually think we should pay Harris. He's a playmaker back there and yes, he benefits from playing next to Harrison Smith. However, he is really good in coverage and frees up Smith to roam the field and play up at the LOS.
After seeing us use Barr the same way we always have, it wasn't a good move to hand him that big ass contract. If we hadn't, we wouldn't even be talking about letting Harris walk IMO.
@"Wetlander" said: To those that don't think it is wise to spend 10+ mil on your starting safeties...The Vikings run a 4-3 defense and paid two of their starting LBs a boatload of money last off-season... which I argued was not a good allocation of our cap space.
This time, I actually think we should pay Harris. He's a playmaker back there and yes, he benefits from playing next to Harrison Smith. However, he is really good in coverage and frees up Smith to roam the field and play up at the LOS.
After seeing us use Barr the same way we always have, it wasn't a good move to hand him that big ass contract. If we hadn't, we wouldn't even be talking about letting Harris walk IMO.
This is a really good point, Wet. I’d disagree on letting Barr walk but it definitely isn’t how you draw up using your resources which is almost a mirror image of the safety situation.
wonder what the chances are that Rhoades does some soul searching and figures out how to extend his career. Id hate to restructure him and lock ourselves into him for say 2-3 more years only to find out this year a trend not an anomaly.
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