Theo Jackson Extended

That's starter money.

So are we losing Cam Bynum or Harrison Smith? Really need to figure out a way to keep Josh Metellus.

MaroonBells wrote:
That's starter money.

We’re going to need a new celebration coordinator.

This seems to indicate that re-signing Cam Bynum is not in the plans.

Rumors are he wants to get PAID. Probably not a position where we want to pay Bynum AND Harry (if he runs it back for one more year) top dollar.

AGRforever wrote:
So are we losing Cam Bynum or Harrison Smith?  Really need to figure out a way to keep Josh Metellus.

I think you have to assume that there’s a good chance that we’ll have 3 Safeties get a starters quantity of snaps.  In 2024, we had 3 safeties with over 87% of defensive snaps. Which ones the odd man out though. Maybe Harrison is retiring or something and the choice is easy.

JustInTime wrote:

We’re going to need a new celebration coordinator.

I think you might be right. Or Harry's decided to retire. One thing I think we can say about our GM is that he seems to be a believer in spending money commensurate with positional impact. IOW, if you're investing more in your guards than your tackles and more in your safeties than your corners and more in your run stuffers than your pass rushers, you're doing it wrong.

We've officially hit domino season, Theo is in the "standing" category, Bradford might have fallen, we'll see. Early days....

The #Vikings and S Cam Bynum “couldn't find common ground on a number” likely meaning that he will depart in free agency, per @alec_lewis. The two sides negotiated an extension up to the season, and Minnesota didn’t want to lose him, but it’s likely headed that way.

The recent… pic.twitter.com/Uy3Hb5os1M

— VikingzFanPage (@vikingzfanpage) March 6, 2025

And here’s the other shoe dropping.

JustInTime wrote:
https://x.com/vikingzfanpage/status/1897697286949576766?s=46&t=TjjB9Q4BmOwmN74RrrMjoQ

And here’s the other shoe dropping.

I don't understand this at all. They are letting the one guy who most thought was a "must sign" for this team walk out the door? Bynum has been one of the better young safeties in the league and a leader on this defense. It makes even less sense if Harrison Smith is truly retired because I don't think you want to move Mattelus from that rover position.

supafreak84 wrote:

I don't understand this at all. They are letting the one guy who most thought was a "must sign" for this team walk out the door? Bynum has been one of the better young safeties in the league and a leader on this defense. It makes even less sense if Harrison Smith is truly retired because I don't think you want to move Mattelus from that rover position.

We'll know more when we find out what Bynum's number is. I know they really like Jackson and I do have a hunch Bynum is going to get more than he's worth. If his money is used to bring in a top corner, I have no problem with it.

StickierBuns wrote:

I agree with this choice, I'm sure the team would have liked to keep him but can't pay a safety too much. Or you shouldn't. I'm one of the few on the board I think that never really thought Bynum was that good, more opportunistic than anything. JMO. Tough decisions now to benefit the grand plan.

I’m in agreement here. I think we have to make a few hard decisions and Bynam wasn’t the 1 of 2 I’d keep.

MaroonBells wrote:

We'll know more when we find out what Bynum's number is. I know they really like Jackson and I do have a hunch Bynum is going to get more than he's worth. If his money is used to bring in a top corner, I have no problem with it.

And what top corner would that be? There's not a lot out there

At some point you have to pay the guys that have produced, especially when they are young core players, and does anybody disagree that Bynum has been a core player and leader for our defense? If we were up against the cap, maybe you could justify letting him walk...but not when you are one of the league leaders in cap space and it's an extremely weak crop of free agents as is. This would be one of the dumber decisions in free agency if it plays out

Yeah, I’m not paying premium dollars for a very mid S. I believe we’ll see a shift to paying guys closer to the ball or premium positions.

I love Bynum, but if he wants a top of the market deal I think we need to invest that money elsewhere. You only pay a safety big money if he's a future HOF like Harrison Smith.

I assume at this point the decision came down to whether they wanted to spend on Murphy or Bynum. It wasn't going to be both. Guess we'll find out soon.

TheWinterSKOLdier wrote:
I assume at this point the decision came down to whether they wanted to spend on Murphy or Bynum. It wasn't going to be both. Guess we'll find out soon.

I'm not going to be shocked if its neither...

purplefaithful wrote:

I'm not going to be shocked if its neither...

I have a strong feeling Murphy will get grossly overpaid elsewhere.

Word from the local beat writers over the last couple months has been Bynum is gone, Murphy is probably going to get more $ than the team is willing to spend. None of it should be a big surprise and this point.

They want Murphy back but aren't going to throw financial discipline out the window regardless.

Bynum did a lot for team chemistry, was a leader and made the game fun, he brings a lot intangibles to the game and those are the guys who are worth overpaying for. I think his presence will really be missed on and off the field and more than many realize. A must sign in my opinion.

supafreak84 wrote:

And what top corner would that be? There's not a lot out there

At some point you have to pay the guys that have produced, especially when they are young core players, and does anybody disagree that Bynum has been a core player and leader for our defense? If we were up against the cap, maybe you could justify letting him walk...but not when you are one of the league leaders in cap space and it's an extremely weak crop of free agents as is. This would be one of the dumber decisions in free agency if it plays out

Reed, Ward, Douglas, Davis, Samuel, Hilton, Rodgers, Sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions...