2016 Vikings Free Agency Thread (Discussion Thread)

[halfgiz]

Anybody else hear anything? Or is this fake?


Andre Smith ✔‎@BigSmitty71
Minneapolis here I come...Excited to join the great Vikings organization today on a 1-yr deal!!#SKOLVikings!!
11:51 AM - 17 Mar 2016

[James]

Anybody else hear anything? Or is this fake?


Andre Smith ✔‎@BigSmitty71
Minneapolis here I come...Excited to join the great Vikings organization today on a 1-yr deal!!#SKOLVikings!!
11:51 AM - 17 Mar 2016

It must be true. That's his legit Twitter profile.

[Denardus]

It must be true. That's his legit Twitter profile.

Also reported on PFT.

[dead_poet]

Reported 1-year, $3.5 million ($4.5 million if meeting incentives)

[fiestavike]

He's struggled lately but its another body to compete. That clearly seems to be the route they are taking. I wouldn't expect them to make a push for one of the top Tackles or even to draft a tackle in RD1 this year.

[James]

So I'm going to assume this means Loadholt will most likely ride the bench this year, maybe. Even if they do let them compete at camp, I doubt he will beat out Andre Smith. That and I don't think Smith would've signed for anything less of the starting role.

[fiestavike]

So I'm going to assume this means Loadholt will most likely ride the bench this year, maybe. Even if they do let them compete at camp, I doubt he will beat out Andre Smith. That and I don't think Smith would've signed for anything less of the starting role.

Well, he wasn't very good last year from reports I have heard (I don't think I personally watched a Bengals game last year), so I'm not sure about that. I am curious to see if he might be allowed to compete at RG should he lose out on the RT competition.

Kalil, Boone, Sullivan, Smith, Loadholt

That would be a whole lot of beef up front.

[dead_poet]

So I'm going to assume this means Loadholt will most likely ride the bench this year, maybe. Even if they do let them compete at camp, I doubt he will beat out Andre Smith. That and I don't think Smith would've signed for anything less of the starting role.

Expect a true competition. Don't rule out Loadholt. FWIW the book on Smith is he's been better in pass protection than run blocking. Smith would've faced the same competition in Arizona. He's also been on a pretty steep decline as of late.

The one thing I'll say is our depth has improved (except at LT, of course). However Boone has the size and athleticism to kick to LT, if needed.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Wouldnt surprise me if we draft someone that can play RT too. Going to be hard to beat Phil out if he is healthy, but it would be nice to see 2 guard and a LT who knew how to play compete.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

I wonder if Smith could play RG at all? He definitely has the size to play guard.

[dead_poet]

I wonder if Smith could play RG at all? He definitely has the size to play guard.

Doubtful. He's never played it. But he WAS a LT coming out of Alabama. However he'll compete with Loadholt and Clemmings at RT. We have enough competition at guard (especially if we sign a rookie).

[HardcoreVikesFan]

Doubtful. He's never played it. But he WAS a LT coming out of Alabama. However he'll compete with Loadholt and Clemmings at RT. We have enough competition at guard (especially if we sign a rookie).

I wonder if the staff believe that T.J. Clemmings could play LT, or if they view him as someone who could play guard? It would be really hard to imagine this team getting rid of Smith, Loadholt, or Clemmings before the start of the regular season.

[fiestavike]

I wonder if the staff believe that T.J. Clemmings could play LT, or if they view him as someone who could play guard? It would be really hard to imagine this team getting rid of Smith, Loadholt, or Clemmings before the start of the regular season.

If Boone is the presumptive backup at LT, its hard to imagine all three (smith, loadholt, clemmings) make the team unless one of them has the ability to slide inside to G.

[S197]

Spielman taking the 00 Buck approach. And this approach is not cheap (although to be fair has minimal impact beyond 2016):

Even before the Smith signing, the Vikes had the NFL's most expensive offensive line for the 2016 season, according to Spotrac. Without Smith, they had just south of $35 million in cap space invested in the guys up front, over 25 percent of the total room available. Smith's $3.5 million hit raises the total investment to over 28 percent of the cap. The next closest team is the Jets at 24.6 percent.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-foo ... ive-o-line

[fiestavike]

Spielman taking the 00 Buck approach. And this approach is not cheap (although to be fair has minimal impact beyond 2016):
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-foo ... ive-o-line

Thanks for the link. Interesting! There will be a lot of money coming off the books next year from all these one year deals, and APs likely re-negotiation or release. If they can get a good group, I'd imagine they'll have the cap space to keep them together into 2017 and still end up spending less on the OLine than they will this year.