Anthony Barr/Sheldon Richardson...Good riddance!!!

[Purplepain2018]

I say good riddance to both of these guys. Lets take a look at them one at a time.

Anthony Barr-simply just not productive enough to warrant the money that he wanted from the Vikings and especially not worth the
money that he got from the Jets. There were games where he would flash and would make some plays, but overall
the guy would be invisible on the field. Barr has all the tools, size and athletic ability to be a really good player, but I
I do not know if he is just not motivated or it could be a mental thing. The Vikings can get either someone in free
agency or through the draft or could already be on the roster that will match or exceed the production of Barr.
Sheldon
Richardson- Frankly, I was really not all that impressed with the guy. He, like Barr, would have games where he would flash and
make some plays, but Richardson was not all that consistent. The Vikings have already signed former Vikings Shamar
Stephen to a 3 year/12 million dollar deal. So I like the Stephen signing.

Now what the Vikings need to be focused on is the offensive line. The Vikings could still trade three players Everson Griffen, Xavier Rhodes or Trae Waynes. I would be okay with Griffen and Rhodes being traded and either getting picks or players for these guys. I hope they keep Waynes, but we will see. There are some good offensive lineman in this years draft and depth so if the Vikings can
maybe stockpile some picks that could be what they end up doing.

[Maelstrom88]

Well apparently Barr decided to stay

[PurpleMustReign]

Well apparently Barr decided to stay

Whoa!

[Dames]

Purplepain2018 has been removed from Barr's Christmas list.

[Pondering Her Percy]

You spoke too soon pal

[Purplepain2018]

I don't understand why we are paying Barr this kind of money when we can get somebody to match or exceed his production at a cheaper price. We need OL help more than we need Barr!!!!

[PurpleKoolaid]

I don't understand why we are paying Barr this kind of money when we can get somebody to match or exceed his production at a cheaper price. We need OL help more than we need Barr!!!!

Dont second guess the Rickster, ever!

[mansquatch]

I think they have made it clear that they prize their defense above all else. I can certainly see why many will feel that this was a mistake given the cap situation. As much as Barr hasn't made splash plays, my sense was that we might have missed him. His physical/athletic abilities would have definitely been hard to replace. Was it worth the cap hit? Debatable IMO.

So they cut Remmers. So we currently have Nick Easton and ??? for Guards. Tackles are Reiff and Oneil. Elfelin at Center. At this point it seems like the plan is to hope that Kubiak and co can work some magic with either existing young players or eventual draft picks. I can see why many will be skeptical, myself included. Can this coaching staff succeed where last year's failed? Time will tell, but I suspect these moves will be linked throughout the offseason/ regular offseason.

Murray is gone. So who is the #2 RB? They need one bad. Cook is not a 25 carry a game guy. I will not be surprised to see them go RB early in the draft.

Still early in FA, but lots of gaps and no money.

[StumpHunter]

I don't understand why we are paying Barr this kind of money when we can get somebody to match or exceed his production at a cheaper price. We need OL help more than we need Barr!!!!

There is production that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. Barr takes on blockers and contains so Kendricks can get tackles. If he were gone, Kendricks would be the focus and Wilson, Brothers or Gedeon would have to make a tackle. No one wants that.

[halfgiz]

I don't understand why we are paying Barr this kind of money when we can get somebody to match or exceed his production at a cheaper price. We need OL help more than we need Barr!!!!

There is production that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. Barr takes on blockers and contains so Kendricks can get tackles. If he were gone, Kendricks would be the focus and Wilson, Brothers or Gedeon would have to make a tackle. No one wants that.

I'm not to sold on either Brothers or Gedeon. Neither one have great speed. Brothers can't even crack the lineup. Special teams is basically keeping him on the team.

[720pete]

Guess we won't be signing any big name offensive linemen then.

[YikesVikes]

I don't understand why we are paying Barr this kind of money when we can get somebody to match or exceed his production at a cheaper price. We need OL help more than we need Barr!!!!

There is production that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. Barr takes on blockers and contains so Kendricks can get tackles. If he were gone, Kendricks would be the focus and Wilson, Brothers or Gedeon would have to make a tackle. No one wants that.

He doesn't take on blockers. He is horrible at it. When blitzing, he simply does not do well with contact.

[StumpHunter]

There is production that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. Barr takes on blockers and contains so Kendricks can get tackles. If he were gone, Kendricks would be the focus and Wilson, Brothers or Gedeon would have to make a tackle. No one wants that.

He doesn't take on blockers. He is horrible at it. When blitzing, he simply does not do well with contact.

K. I wonder why they brought him back then?

[mike2mike]

Guess we won't be signing any big name offensive linemen then.

The structure of the contract was good, less than 50% guarenteed, spread over 5 years, a lot less than the 18M number per year thrown around, probably less up front, he took less then he was offered by the jets to stay with us.
Also, the Vikings upping their offer in the eleventh hour suggests they have some unforeseen cap windfall. There are 3 ways that this could happen. Either we had some money allocated to defense and Sheldon and Suh and others had too high of aśking price or a player who was previously unlikely to restructure that we planned on keeping was willing to take a cut and we may be finalizing something like Reif restructuring or Linval Joseph or something. The possibility of signing Suh might motivate Joseph to restructure to stick around for instance.
The third and I think most likely scenario is we have a silent bidding war between GMs and we are close to finalizing a trade that sends a player away and saves cap room that we weren’t sure would be available.
A possible long shot twist would be trading Rudolph that might explain why we haven’t asked him to restructure yet even though it’s probably Waynes.

[UKno1VIKING]

I found myself redfaced and steam coming out of my ears on the way home from work (the news dropped in the evening UK time) when i heard on ESPN radio that we'd agreed this contract with Barr. I'm still scratching my head about many things regarding this scenario, but can also see some plus points to come out of it.

For me, the move was to move away from Barr, and use our first pick on a LB.
I've never been a big fan of Barr, he seems to go missing a lot. And people can say its the scheme, he does things off the ball etc. But is it just a coincidence that he suddenly becomes a visable menace the last four games of his contract year? Something stinks for me there.
On quite a lot of draft boards, both Devin's were still available, and if not White then Bush was always available. A rookie LB contract over 13.5m a year Barr makes a lot more sense financially, so we can sort out other areas with a lot more resources (O-line). And we could ptoentially in the "Devin's", have a future star on our defense.

However, the fact he has taken less money (not by much, but less anyway) may be a signal that he does want to play to win? That's a straw i'm clutching at.

He's also a very good athlete, with tons of talent. There's no question mark there at all, it's more about whats going on in his head that will determine which Anthony Barr we see going forward. Years 1 and 2 Barr (yes please). Years 3 and 4 (no thanks).

Overall, i feel he is a great talent. And if he plays to that talent, we are a very lucky team.
However, as far as the finances go, paying for a top 5 (salary at least) LB, may have condemned us to another season like last. With very little space to improve the area we know needs work (O-line). Would i have felt better with Saffold in, instead of Barr? Absolutely. And at a smaller number too.
we also now need to find cap for a genuine no.2 RB.

I have a bad feeling about this season, and that is down to this signing. I hope i'm wrong.