An additional reality to this is that the trend in the draft is for OL prospects to be poorly prepared for the NFL game and lacking in a variety of skill sets. That will lead to veterans, even guys like Kalil, to commanding a premium. A possible outcome if they let Kalil go is that they do not find a viable alternative for several years. That would make giving him what would be considered a disproportionately large contract (in terms of the past) more likely to occur.Mothman wrote: Reliable O-line stats are hard to find.
There seems to be an underlying assumption here that the Vikings can just choose to re-sign Kalil on their own favorable terms. However, if the Bengals re-sign 35 year old LT Andrew Whitworth, Kalil could end up being the top free agent left tackle available, or at least one of them. That might be hard for Vikes fans to comprehend but the market is thin because teams rarely let good left tackles get away. It's no longer up to the Vikings alone to decide if they want to "move on" from Kalil. He can decide if he wants to return and he can also decide if he's willing to accept a potential contract offer from the Vikes before free agency begins or if he wants to field offers.
As for potential alternatives in free agency: there's Reiff (who I think is better-suited to the right side) or they could roll the dice on Redskins backup and restricted free agent, Ty Nsekhe, who performed well when asked to start last year.
This brings me back to the question I was asking about Wagner in another thread: how much is too much? If Kalil IS the best option, what should they be willing to pay him and for how long?
For those that hate on Kalil, and I get why they do, please understand that the above isn't an endorsement of his performance so much as it is Kalil being lucky to be playing LT in 2017. This is why they paid him his 5th year option last year despite his not playing at level commensurate with the pay. If there is scarcity, even a subpar version of what is scare is worth more than it would be otherwise. There is currently scarcity in the NFL for young, competitive OL.
Perhaps they roll the dice on Kalil one more year, make a run at Reiff to play RT, and grab a 2nd tier FA at Guard?
I suspect that the value of OL in the draft is going to evolve over the next few years. It sounds like the value proposition and risk/reward on those positions are likely to be risky where 15 years ago they were considred among the safest picks.