Vikings Roster Review

[fiestavike]

This time of year, I always start to get excited about the offseason, and begin peaking at Overthecap to get a sense of what changes we might expect. Last year I was near certain that we'd be moving on from Waynes, Rudolph, and probably Everson Griffen, so take any thoughts here with a grain of salt, but peaking ahead, here are the players of note who will be moving into Free Agency.

Rashad Hill
Steven Weatherly
Dakota Dozier
Mack Alexander
Trae Waynes
Dan Bailey
CJ Ham
Anthony Harris
Jayron Kearse
Andrew Sendejo
Eric Wilson

forgive me if I have missed any of note. Some of these guys might be brought back for cheap (sendejo, wilson, ham, bailey, dozier) but I suspect the others have the chance to cash in pretty well in free agency. It'll be interesting to see who we retain.

The next group is the list of players who could be used to get significant cap savings. This includes:

Everson Griffen - 13 million
Riley Reiff - 9 million
Linval Joseph - 10.5 million
Xavier Rhodes - 8 million
Harrison smith - 8.75

Harrison and Linval are unlikely to go anywhere. Reiff will be hard to replace. If they like Rashod Hill enough, Maybe they move on from Reiff and take the cap relief, but an external replacement is fairly unlikely. Hill, Collins and Udoh all got reps against the Bears in week 17, so they had a chance to evaluate the backup tackles in real action. Xavier still have 4 million dead money...maybe they can restructure or maybe they eat it and let him go. Everson seems as good as gone, as he hasn't performed as an elite DE all season.

The vikings only have 2.65 million in cap space, so unless they are willing to trade Kirk Cousins and his 31 mil, expect no action in FA besides keeping a few of our expiring contracts, unless they are willing to move on from 3 of the 5 names listed above. Even that may only be enough to allow us to retain one or two of our more in demand players on expiring contracts.

[CharVike]

I'm no CAP expert and really don't even look that much. Obviously signing FA can help your team tremendously. It can also hurt your team the same way. Everyone has an opinion about that. Last year I thought we would go after that G that became available but teams were jumping. Did he help a team make the playoffs. We were able to keep our core team. You can create CAP by cutting some guys that aren't doing enough. Rhodes comes to mind right off the bat. He's makes a ton and zero interceptions. That's a shut down CAP hit. That don't work. Waynes needs to hit the road also. That's not a good way to build your team. Huge CAP nothing in return hurts. They will find the CAP with no problem. The bigger question is who will be available? Is there any all world CBs that will be sitting there? Is there a stud LT that shuts down the pass rush who will be available? The studs typically don't hit the market. Especially LTs and CBs. Every team wants them. But they do and we will find the CAP if needed.

[CharVike]

This time of year, I always start to get excited about the offseason, and begin peaking at Overthecap to get a sense of what changes we might expect. Last year I was near certain that we'd be moving on from Waynes, Rudolph, and probably Everson Griffen, so take any thoughts here with a grain of salt, but peaking ahead, here are the players of note who will be moving into Free Agency.

Rashad Hill
Steven Weatherly
Dakota Dozier
Mack Alexander
Trae Waynes
Dan Bailey
CJ Ham
Anthony Harris
Jayron Kearse
Andrew Sendejo
Eric Wilson

forgive me if I have missed any of note. Some of these guys might be brought back for cheap (sendejo, wilson, ham, bailey, dozier) but I suspect the others have the chance to cash in pretty well in free agency. It'll be interesting to see who we retain.

The next group is the list of players who could be used to get significant cap savings. This includes:

Everson Griffen - 13 million
Riley Reiff - 9 million
Linval Joseph - 10.5 million
Xavier Rhodes - 8 million
Harrison smith - 8.75

Harrison and Linval are unlikely to go anywhere. Reiff will be hard to replace. If they like Rashod Hill enough, Maybe they move on from Reiff and take the cap relief, but an external replacement is fairly unlikely. Hill, Collins and Udoh all got reps against the Bears in week 17, so they had a chance to evaluate the backup tackles in real action. Xavier still have 4 million dead money...maybe they can restructure or maybe they eat it and let him go. Everson seems as good as gone, as he hasn't performed as an elite DE all season.

The vikings only have 2.65 million in cap space, so unless they are willing to trade Kirk Cousins and his 31 mil, expect no action in FA besides keeping a few of our expiring contracts, unless they are willing to move on from 3 of the 5 names listed above. Even that may only be enough to allow us to retain one or two of our more in demand players on expiring contracts.

Smart teams seem to be able to find away around this CAP stuff. The Pack pay big time QB CAP but they also put together a very good D. Maybe based on some stat that D blows but they don't give up points and get TOs and that allows them to win games. SF pays QB money but they also play some D and win games. They did it also. Seahawks also pay big QB CAP but that D will keep them from going to the Super Bowl. They didn't do a good enough job. Same thing happened to us. Big QB CAP no D. I don't know the answer. Better drafting maybe?

[Maelstrom88]

https://mobile.twitter.com/PFF_Vikings/ ... 1542548480

Top priority imo is Anthony Harris. That guy is a playmaker and a ballhawk. It's too bad that we will probably lose Kearse. He is great for matchups with big tight ends but he's good enough to start somewhere and we have Harris and Smith.

I think Rhodes is the most likely cap cut. He had a good performance yesterday for the most part but has really struggled this year. I'm thinking this secondary will see a major shake up this off-season with Waynes and Mack up too. Could easily see them taking a cornerback in the first round.


Griffen is still solid and had a great game yesterday but with Odenigbo behind him you have to weigh the cap with the benefits he brings to the team.

Reiff is certainly not worth the money but who replaces him? Can O' Neil slide over or would they be better off leaving him where he has found success?

[Pondering Her Percy]

This time of year, I always start to get excited about the offseason, and begin peaking at Overthecap to get a sense of what changes we might expect. Last year I was near certain that we'd be moving on from Waynes, Rudolph, and probably Everson Griffen, so take any thoughts here with a grain of salt, but peaking ahead, here are the players of note who will be moving into Free Agency.

Rashad Hill
Steven Weatherly
Dakota Dozier
Mack Alexander
Trae Waynes
Dan Bailey
CJ Ham
Anthony Harris
Jayron Kearse
Andrew Sendejo
Eric Wilson

forgive me if I have missed any of note. Some of these guys might be brought back for cheap (sendejo, wilson, ham, bailey, dozier) but I suspect the others have the chance to cash in pretty well in free agency. It'll be interesting to see who we retain.

The next group is the list of players who could be used to get significant cap savings. This includes:

Everson Griffen - 13 million
Riley Reiff - 9 million
Linval Joseph - 10.5 million
Xavier Rhodes - 8 million
Harrison smith - 8.75

Harrison and Linval are unlikely to go anywhere. Reiff will be hard to replace. If they like Rashod Hill enough, Maybe they move on from Reiff and take the cap relief, but an external replacement is fairly unlikely. Hill, Collins and Udoh all got reps against the Bears in week 17, so they had a chance to evaluate the backup tackles in real action. Xavier still have 4 million dead money...maybe they can restructure or maybe they eat it and let him go. Everson seems as good as gone, as he hasn't performed as an elite DE all season.

The vikings only have 2.65 million in cap space, so unless they are willing to trade Kirk Cousins and his 31 mil, expect no action in FA besides keeping a few of our expiring contracts, unless they are willing to move on from 3 of the 5 names listed above. Even that may only be enough to allow us to retain one or two of our more in demand players on expiring contracts.

I love offseason threads but I don’t understand some of your takes above.

Griffen is still a very good DE. Not elite but very good. Zim mentioned early in the year that he thinks he’s back to pro bowl form. He’s still abusing tackles with that spin move as well. One being Armstead yesterday who’s one of the best LTs in the nfl. I think griffen is far from gone, especially given he just took a pay cut last year

And Reiff hard to replace? This is where I say you draft your left tackle early on. I don’t think they replace him this year but I know I would if I could. The problem with Reiff is when he’s bad, he’s BAD. Like times 10. Then the next game he doesn’t give up a pressure. I mean I guess it’s better than Kalil who was bad every game. And maybe hill could replace him? Rashod hill is downright horrendous as a starter. Don’t mind him as a strict backup but he’s been in the starting lineup plenty of times and has been brutal more often than not.

Although I’ve said since day 1 of O’Neill starting last year that they should move him to LT and either move Reiff to right or let him go and draft a right tackle. O’Neill is pushing elite status as a pass blocker if he’s not already there yet. Hasn’t given up a sack in his first two years? That’s literally unheard of. He HANDLED cam Jordan yesterday. Jordan had a sack yesterday but it was on that weird/awful series we had towards the end where we did nothing but go backwards and cousins took a sack on like 3rd and 19.

The rest is what it is for right now. Yeah Harris is 100% a priority. Weatherly, Mack and Waynes would all be nice to have back but it’s going to be tight. Bailey I would like back at this point. Ham and Wilson are must re-signs. I like Kearse but it looks like he wants out. Sendejo is whatever at age 34. Dozier and Hill are ok depth pieces but only depth, not starters.

[Maelstrom88]

So when Griffen restructured it had a clause that voided his deal after this season if he got at least 6 sacks. He had 8. So from my understanding his 13 million for next year is off the books and he will be a UFA.

[CharVike]

https://mobile.twitter.com/PFF_Vikings/ ... 1542548480

Top priority imo is Anthony Harris. That guy is a playmaker and a ballhawk. It's too bad that we will probably lose Kearse. He is great for matchups with big tight ends but he's good enough to start somewhere and we have Harris and Smith.

I think Rhodes is the most likely cap cut. He had a good performance yesterday for the most part but has really struggled this year. I'm thinking this secondary will see a major shake up this off-season with Waynes and Mack up too. Could easily see them taking a cornerback in the first round.


Griffen is still solid and had a great game yesterday but with Odenigbo behind him you have to weigh the cap with the benefits he brings to the team.

Reiff is certainly not worth the money but who replaces him? Can O' Neil slide over or would they be better off leaving him where he has found success?

You bring up some good stuff. Harris needs to stay no doubt. Reiff needs to stay. Nothing behind him. Kearse run in with the law will hurt him. Griff still has some great games but disappears for long stretches, Age.

[CanUDiggsIt?]

So when Griffen restructured it had a clause that voided his deal after this season if he got at least 6 sacks. He had 8. So from my understanding his 13 million for next year is off the books and he will be a UFA.

I think we need to bring back Everson as a veteran leader to groom the next Hunter (as Robison did for us). Try to convince him of this role, as I do not see him being a starter for much longer. I like what I see from Odenigbo, but he is still young and raw.

As for Reiff, we need to restructure his contract because he isn't worth a nickel. Rhodes needs to take a pay cut or say bye bye.

[StumpHunter]

So when Griffen restructured it had a clause that voided his deal after this season if he got at least 6 sacks. He had 8. So from my understanding his 13 million for next year is off the books and he will be a UFA.

I think we need to bring back Everson as a veteran leader to groom the next Hunter (as Robison did for us). Try to convince him of this role, as I do not see him being a starter for much longer. I like what I see from Odenigbo, but he is still young and raw.

As for Reiff, we need to restructure his contract because he isn't worth a nickel. Rhodes needs to take a pay cut or say bye bye.

They just can't afford Griffen. He will make 15 million per year based on this year's performance, which is precisely why he did what he did with his contract this past off season. Would love to have him back, but he is good as gone.

Reiff is our highest graded lineman according to PFF. That is not based on just run blocking either, he apparently was our best pass blocker? Seems legit. He isn't great, he isn't bad. He is an average LT making average LT money.

I think Rhodes is back at a much reduced salary. He will not make top 10 money as a Viking next season.

[StumpHunter]

This time of year, I always start to get excited about the offseason, and begin peaking at Overthecap to get a sense of what changes we might expect. Last year I was near certain that we'd be moving on from Waynes, Rudolph, and probably Everson Griffen, so take any thoughts here with a grain of salt, but peaking ahead, here are the players of note who will be moving into Free Agency.

Rashad Hill
Steven Weatherly
Dakota Dozier
Mack Alexander
Trae Waynes
Dan Bailey
CJ Ham
Anthony Harris
Jayron Kearse
Andrew Sendejo
Eric Wilson

forgive me if I have missed any of note. Some of these guys might be brought back for cheap (sendejo, wilson, ham, bailey, dozier) but I suspect the others have the chance to cash in pretty well in free agency. It'll be interesting to see who we retain.

The next group is the list of players who could be used to get significant cap savings. This includes:

Everson Griffen - 13 million
Riley Reiff - 9 million
Linval Joseph - 10.5 million
Xavier Rhodes - 8 million
Harrison smith - 8.75

Harrison and Linval are unlikely to go anywhere. Reiff will be hard to replace. If they like Rashod Hill enough, Maybe they move on from Reiff and take the cap relief, but an external replacement is fairly unlikely. Hill, Collins and Udoh all got reps against the Bears in week 17, so they had a chance to evaluate the backup tackles in real action. Xavier still have 4 million dead money...maybe they can restructure or maybe they eat it and let him go. Everson seems as good as gone, as he hasn't performed as an elite DE all season.

The vikings only have 2.65 million in cap space, so unless they are willing to trade Kirk Cousins and his 31 mil, expect no action in FA besides keeping a few of our expiring contracts, unless they are willing to move on from 3 of the 5 names listed above. Even that may only be enough to allow us to retain one or two of our more in demand players on expiring contracts.

Harris and Mack will be extended and given big contracts. Bailey, Weatherly and Kearse are probably back on smaller deals.

I think we have to say goodbye to the rest, including Griffen as I stated above. They will move some money around, pushing cap hits further down the road to 2021 and beyond. I would be shocked if even with that, they sign a FA capable of starting at any spot next year.

Everything depends on the draft, but if it isn't one of the best we have had as a franchise, this defense for sure will take a step back in 2020.

[Pondering Her Percy]

This time of year, I always start to get excited about the offseason, and begin peaking at Overthecap to get a sense of what changes we might expect. Last year I was near certain that we'd be moving on from Waynes, Rudolph, and probably Everson Griffen, so take any thoughts here with a grain of salt, but peaking ahead, here are the players of note who will be moving into Free Agency.

Rashad Hill
Steven Weatherly
Dakota Dozier
Mack Alexander
Trae Waynes
Dan Bailey
CJ Ham
Anthony Harris
Jayron Kearse
Andrew Sendejo
Eric Wilson

forgive me if I have missed any of note. Some of these guys might be brought back for cheap (sendejo, wilson, ham, bailey, dozier) but I suspect the others have the chance to cash in pretty well in free agency. It'll be interesting to see who we retain.

The next group is the list of players who could be used to get significant cap savings. This includes:

Everson Griffen - 13 million
Riley Reiff - 9 million
Linval Joseph - 10.5 million
Xavier Rhodes - 8 million
Harrison smith - 8.75

Harrison and Linval are unlikely to go anywhere. Reiff will be hard to replace. If they like Rashod Hill enough, Maybe they move on from Reiff and take the cap relief, but an external replacement is fairly unlikely. Hill, Collins and Udoh all got reps against the Bears in week 17, so they had a chance to evaluate the backup tackles in real action. Xavier still have 4 million dead money...maybe they can restructure or maybe they eat it and let him go. Everson seems as good as gone, as he hasn't performed as an elite DE all season.

The vikings only have 2.65 million in cap space, so unless they are willing to trade Kirk Cousins and his 31 mil, expect no action in FA besides keeping a few of our expiring contracts, unless they are willing to move on from 3 of the 5 names listed above. Even that may only be enough to allow us to retain one or two of our more in demand players on expiring contracts.

Harris and Mack will be extended and given big contracts. Bailey, Weatherly and Kearse are probably back on smaller deals.

I think we have to say goodbye to the rest, including Griffen as I stated above. They will move some money around, pushing cap hits further down the road to 2021 and beyond. I would be shocked if even with that, they sign a FA capable of starting at any spot next year.

Everything depends on the draft, but if it isn't one of the best we have had as a franchise, this defense for sure will take a step back in 2020.

I dont think there is any way they let Griffen walk given that he's still playing at a high level. I think that would be foolish. Negotiate, figure something out, etc. But dont let him walk just because it could be tight on the cap. If he was washed up, that's one thing. But he's far from it. B-Rob played until he was 34 and had 11.5 sacks in his final two seasons and wasnt even starting. Griffen is a much better DE than B-Rob was and a much better athlete. He just turned 32 a few weeks ago. He still has a lot of good play left in him. Maybe not at $13 million but I'm sure something can get figured out.

And Kearse tweeted that he wouldnt be back with the Vikings a month or so ago.

As for the money situation, we've said every year that "we wont have money for this or wont have money for that" and they still manage. Bryzinski is a wizard. As long as he is here, anything can happen.

I think the two that are expendable are Reiff and Rhodes. If we're going to try and find more cap room, I hope those are the two that are let go.

[StumpHunter]

Harris and Mack will be extended and given big contracts. Bailey, Weatherly and Kearse are probably back on smaller deals.

I think we have to say goodbye to the rest, including Griffen as I stated above. They will move some money around, pushing cap hits further down the road to 2021 and beyond. I would be shocked if even with that, they sign a FA capable of starting at any spot next year.

Everything depends on the draft, but if it isn't one of the best we have had as a franchise, this defense for sure will take a step back in 2020.

I dont think there is any way they let Griffen walk given that he's still playing at a high level. I think that would be foolish. Negotiate, figure something out, etc. But dont let him walk just because it could be tight on the cap. If he was washed up, that's one thing. But he's far from it. B-Rob played until he was 34 and had 11.5 sacks in his final two seasons and wasnt even starting. Griffen is a much better DE than B-Rob was and a much better athlete. He just turned 32 a few weeks ago. He still has a lot of good play left in him. Maybe not at $13 million but I'm sure something can get figured out.

And Kearse tweeted that he wouldnt be back with the Vikings a month or so ago.

As for the money situation, we've said every year that "we wont have money for this or wont have money for that" and they still manage. Bryzinski is a wizard. As long as he is here, anything can happen.

I think the two that are expendable are Reiff and Rhodes. If we're going to try and find more cap room, I hope those are the two that are let go.

Rhodes is for sure not coming back at his current cap hit, but why would you let PFF's best graded Viking's olineman go?

[Pondering Her Percy]

I dont think there is any way they let Griffen walk given that he's still playing at a high level. I think that would be foolish. Negotiate, figure something out, etc. But dont let him walk just because it could be tight on the cap. If he was washed up, that's one thing. But he's far from it. B-Rob played until he was 34 and had 11.5 sacks in his final two seasons and wasnt even starting. Griffen is a much better DE than B-Rob was and a much better athlete. He just turned 32 a few weeks ago. He still has a lot of good play left in him. Maybe not at $13 million but I'm sure something can get figured out.

And Kearse tweeted that he wouldnt be back with the Vikings a month or so ago.

As for the money situation, we've said every year that "we wont have money for this or wont have money for that" and they still manage. Bryzinski is a wizard. As long as he is here, anything can happen.

I think the two that are expendable are Reiff and Rhodes. If we're going to try and find more cap room, I hope those are the two that are let go.

Rhodes is for sure not coming back at his current cap hit, but why would you let PFF's best graded Viking's olineman go?

PFF has had Reiff graded high the last two years and I dont really get it. Like I said earlier in this thread, when Reiff is bad, he is BAD. I would say it happens a solid 3-5 times a year. That's probably why he's grading higher than you'd expect because he has more good games than bad each year so it cancels a lot of that bad play out.

Like when Griffen isnt playing well, it's not like he's drastically costing our defense. He might have a dumb penalty or two by jumping offsides but that's probably the biggest mistakes you'll see. Reiff on the other hand drastically effects this team when he is not playing well. The two games that really pop out at me are last year vs. Buffalo and week 16 this year vs. GB. He was downright horrendous to the point where our QB was lucky he wasnt carted off on a stretcher. At this point, I would rather just draft a RT and move O'Neill or draft a LT. Like yeah, sometimes he plays great but I just cant take how bad his bad games really are.

[fiestavike]

Rhodes is for sure not coming back at his current cap hit, but why would you let PFF's best graded Viking's olineman go?

PFF has had Reiff graded high the last two years and I dont really get it. Like I said earlier in this thread, when Reiff is bad, he is BAD. I would say it happens a solid 3-5 times a year. That's probably why he's grading higher than you'd expect because he has more good games than bad each year so it cancels a lot of that bad play out.

Like when Griffen isnt playing well, it's not like he's drastically costing our defense. He might have a dumb penalty or two by jumping offsides but that's probably the biggest mistakes you'll see. Reiff on the other hand drastically effects this team when he is not playing well. The two games that really pop out at me are last year vs. Buffalo and week 16 this year vs. GB. He was downright horrendous to the point where our QB was lucky he wasnt carted off on a stretcher. At this point, I would rather just draft a RT and move O'Neill or draft a LT. Like yeah, sometimes he plays great but I just cant take how bad his bad games really are.

Reiff probably stays because they likely can't get better for much less. I know there are those who hate him, but unless they deem Hill to be not a significant downgrade, I can't see them seriously advocating letting him go. There are going to be some interesting decisions, which is basically what I was trying to initiate a discussion about.

Rhodes might go, but for 8 million, who can they retain/get to replace him? There is a big chunk of dead cap with his contract either way.

A big question is whether the Vikings are focused primarily on 2020 or on long term consistency. In 2020, Griffen might be worth keeping, but do you want to let Weatherly and/or Odenigbo walk to keep Griffen for 1, maybe 2 less than prime years?

[StumpHunter]

PFF has had Reiff graded high the last two years and I dont really get it. Like I said earlier in this thread, when Reiff is bad, he is BAD. I would say it happens a solid 3-5 times a year. That's probably why he's grading higher than you'd expect because he has more good games than bad each year so it cancels a lot of that bad play out.

Like when Griffen isnt playing well, it's not like he's drastically costing our defense. He might have a dumb penalty or two by jumping offsides but that's probably the biggest mistakes you'll see. Reiff on the other hand drastically effects this team when he is not playing well. The two games that really pop out at me are last year vs. Buffalo and week 16 this year vs. GB. He was downright horrendous to the point where our QB was lucky he wasnt carted off on a stretcher. At this point, I would rather just draft a RT and move O'Neill or draft a LT. Like yeah, sometimes he plays great but I just cant take how bad his bad games really are.

Reiff probably stays because they likely can't get better for much less. I know there are those who hate him, but unless they deem Hill to be not a significant downgrade, I can't see them seriously advocating letting him go. There are going to be some interesting decisions, which is basically what I was trying to initiate a discussion about.

Rhodes might go, but for 8 million, who can they retain/get to replace him? There is a big chunk of dead cap with his contract either way.

A big question is whether the Vikings are focused primarily on 2020 or on long term consistency. In 2020, Griffen might be worth keeping, but do you want to let Weatherly and/or Odenigbo walk to keep Griffen for 1, maybe 2 less than prime years?

If Griffen were on the same contract and didn't need a new one with more guarantees, he is a great value. Unfortunately, they had to re-work him this year and now we are looking at paying a large chunk of guaranteed cash to an aging DE. Like you said, great for next season, but probably not long term.