2022 Offseason Discussion - moves, stats, pressers, misc.

(2022 numbers)
Name Age Cap #
QB Kirk Cousins 34 $45M
I don't have a definite idea for Cousins, although I’m in the camp to be done with him soon. Plenty of threads devoted to him…I would listen for trade offers and see if someone makes a great offer, but if not, don't force it. Maybe wait and see if some team has an injury early and makes a Bradford offer.

RB Dalvin Cook 27 $12M
Call me crazy, but I would look for a trade. He's great but he's hitting "middle age", has been hurt, and his salary jumps in '22. Otherwise, Mattison is gone after next year, and in 2023 we'll have an older Cook with an even higher salary and no proven backup. This team has never had a "supply chain" of RBs even though they are not that hard to find - under Spielman we have always put all our eggs into one expensive RB. That should change. Unfortunately, the ideal time to trade Cook was probably before the 2021 trade deadline, when a team truly close to contending (Buffalo comes to mind) might have seen him as the missing piece.

RB Alexander Mattison 24 $1.1M
See above. If we could trade Cook, I would extend Mattison. But I think we'll lose him. Fortunately, backup RBs we lost to free agency (Toby Gerhart, Jerrick McKinnon) have not come back to haunt us. Yet.

WR Adam Thielen 32 $17M
This is a tough call. I think he can start for at least a couple more years and he’s a fan favorite. But…big cap hit for a #2 WR, especially one with growing injury history and a strong 3rd WR behind him. I wouldn’t do anything with Thielen this offseason…but after 2022, his dead cap money drops a lot, and KJ Osborn will be entering the last year of his contract, time to extend if we want to keep him. If Osborn still looks good a year from now, I would shop Thielen in the 2022-23 offseason – but not now.

TE Tyler Conklin 27 UFA
If we let Conklin walk, we’re making a damn risky bet on Irv Smith. This one really depends on hunches and maybe the scheme of our offense next season, but….I would not bet on Smith so I would try to sign Conklin before he hits free agency. Sure, Smith is potentially more explosive, but Conklin does all the “essentials” of a TE: good blocking and has extremely sure hands and long arms for red zone and possession catches. I don’t know that Smith will ever excel at those things and have yet to see the Vikings consistently use a TE as a primary downfield receiver…and Smith is hurt. Keep Conklin.

C Garrett Bradbury 27 $4M
The first decision about Bradbury is whether to pick up his 5th-year option for 2023, which will give him a guaranteed salary that year estimated at $12.8M. If anyone doesn’t scream “No way!!”, they haven’t been paying attention. So the next question is whether to cut him after another bad season in 2021. Unless someone makes a trade offer (which I doubt), we’re stuck with his salary, so we may as well let him compete for a backup spot next year. But this team needs to get a new starting Center for 2022 via the draft or free agency.

C Mason Cole 26 UFA
He had some good play against weak competition but was exposed when he played against high-quality DTs. I don’t see a compelling reason to bring him back.

All the 2021 free agents on one-year deals that expire when this season ends:
I’m interested if others have strong opinions, but TBH, I don’t care much about any of these guys. They are all free agents, so keeping any of them becomes, “Do I want this player who was here during the lousy 2021 season, or a similar player who is available in free agency?” We don’t have any contractual control over them after March 1. If the coaching staff changes, these guys don’t really have any edge over other FAs due to knowing the system. Finally, none have really impressed that much (outside of Patrick Peterson, and even that, only modestly).

CB Patrick Peterson 32 UFA
He’s been our best CB, but…is that a great thing? He’s getting older, and he will probably want to test the FA waters. I don’t mind if we retain him at a modest deal but I’m mostly ambivalent about him.

S Harrison Smith 33 $13.4M
Smith has given us some great play and good memories. But the contract extension that Spielman gave him…sorry, it looks bad starting next year and it only gets worse. I know, they never expected Smith to play here at age 36 for $20M, but should they let him go? I think they can, but probably need to designate him as a post-June 1 cut or trade; otherwise the dead cap money is very high.

I know we would miss Smith. But I also have my doubts if he will be as effective in a scheme other than Zimmer’s, where he was moved around and in a lot of cases almost played like a WLB. If Zimmer is a DC somewhere else next year, I could see Smith wanting to follow him.

S Xavier Woods 27 UFA
My preference would be to keep Woods and let Harrison Smith walk. If we don’t, we should let Woods leave and get Cam Bynum on the field full-time.

CB Mackensie Alexander 29 UFA
Does anyone think his second tour of duty here was better than his first? I suppose he is going to have to take vet minimum to play anywhere next year, but I think we can do better. What a shame, despite all the picks invested at CB on this team, we’re going to need to pick one in the first 2 rounds, even if we retain Peterson.

LB Anthony Barr 30 UFA
I think we’re done with Barr. Anyone want to convince me otherwise? Another player who may follow Zimmer if the opportunity exists.

LB Nick Vigil 29 UFA
He’s been OK this year, but not enough to want to give him a bigger or longer contract. Chazz Surratt should be able to take his place – though I have my doubts.

DE Danielle Hunter 28 $26M
One of the best players of the Zimmer era but another “time bomb” contract Spielman negotiated. And now, after 2 lost seasons, he is no longer quite so young and declared a lock to break a bunch of sack records and walk into the HoF on the first ballot. Another shame, though mostly for injury reasons.

I hate betting on injured players. I hate betting on twice-injured players even more. The Vikings cannot pay him the $26M, so Danielle has to renegotiate to stay here. Maybe he will give the Vikings another chance but it’s probably going to be up to him and not so likely with new coaches taking over.

DL Sheldon Richardson 32 UFA
Relatively decent for the small part of the season he has played. Meh.

Name Age Cap #

QB Kirk Cousins 34 $45M
Trade him if any team offers a 3rd or better. If not, add a couple of 10 million a year void years and extend him if gets you to the SB.  So in other words pay his final year and move on.  

RB Dalvin Cook 27 $12M
Do nothing. He is still contributing at a level where 12 million is a bargain. 2023 you cut him or force a restructure if he declines in 2022.

RB Alexander Mattison 24 $1.1M
Do nothing. A capable backup nearing the end of his shelf life.

WR Adam Thielen 32 $17M
Do nothing. Like Cook, he played too well this year to force him to take a restructure.

TE Tyler Conklin 27 UFA
I don't see how we keep him. Offer him 2 years, 12 million and if he gets a better offer there isn't really anything the Vikings can realistically do.

C Garrett Bradbury 27 $4M
Let him play out his final year and look to draft his replacement. Awful pick.

C Mason Cole 26 UFA
See ya.

CB Patrick Peterson 32 UFA
Would really like to extend him with how well he is playing this year. 2 years, 20 million.

S Harrison Smith 33 $13.4M
Do nothing. The Vikings extended him and are overpaying at a position where average is good enough, but he hasn't played a minute on that extension yet, and I don't expect them to rework his deal before he does.

S Xavier Woods 27 UFA
See ya. Bynum has looked good and Woods is just a mediocre safety.

CB Mackensie Alexander 29 UFA
See ya.  He isn't as bad as his PFF grade, but we need to upgrade.

LB Anthony Barr 30 UFA
If he has any pride he is gone. Players don't get forced to take a restructure and then re-sign with that same team.

LB Nick Vigil 29 UFA
See ya.  A player that is likely fighting to make a roster of another team.

DE Danielle Hunter 28 $26M
Vikings need to just let him play out his final year. His injury history now makes extending him a big risk, and he is just way too valuable to the Vikings to trade away.

DL Sheldon Richardson 32 UFA
Offer him a 1 year, 6-8 million deal to play opposite Hunter. We have nothing else.

I'm with the FSUVike plan.

Time to get younger and use 2022 to get the salary cap in better shape, similar to what Brandon Beane did his first year with the Bills.

Both probably my two favorite players, that being said they arent getting any younger. I guess I would rather keep Thielen even though he hasnt stayed healthy. Im honestly over this entire team and not sure who you pick to stay and build a new culture, its like the Rick/Zim/Kirk issue for me. Everyone wants to pick sides I say get rid of them all, dont want to keep any "rats" around. Oneill, Jefferson, Cleveland, Darrisaw and any other players drafted in the last two years can stay other than that im packing anyones bags whose got a big contract. I can wait 2+ years to be a contender ive been waiting my whole life.

It depends on how you define "team-friendly deal" as players agreeing to reduced pay could be considered by a "team-friendly deal" and we've had a few of those...

- Riley Reiff took a $5m paycut in his base salary in 2020 so the Vikes could fit Yannick Ngakoue under the cap. He could have made $2m back via incentives
- Stephen Weatherly took a $0.5m paycut in his base salary in 2021 after DJ Wonnum won the starting job over the summer
- Brenton Colquitt took a paycut of $1.375m in his base salary in 2021 after seeing the Vikings release Dan Bailey, Riley Reiff and Kyle Rudolph get released
- Anthony Barr took a paycut of $2.9m in his base salary in 2021 (and had the last 2 years of his deal voided) to stick with Vikings in 2021
- Brian Robison took a $2m paycut in 2018 (was due $3.5m in base salary in 2018 and agreed to reduce to just over $1m + $90k incentive)

Also, Barr initially spurned the Jets and took less money to return to Minnesota...here's a couple snips from an ESPN article on that contract: link


Lastly, one could argue that Yannick Ngakoue took a paycut when he was traded to Minnesota before the start of the 2020 season. He refused to sign his $17.8m franchise tender from the Jags and took a $5.8 million salary cut to join the Vikings when he agreed to a 1-yr, $12 million contract instead of playing under the terms of the franchise tender.

I think all of these players - from Robison in 2018, to Yannick/Reiff in 2020, to Weatherly/Colquitt this past year - all believed the Vikings were in "win-now" mode and were closer to a Championship than they ended up being in reality. 

And with the team's failures during that "win-now" window of the Cousins era, you have to wonder if Rick has diminished any credibility for future players who we may want to keep here via a paycut. Future players who Rick wants to keep here and have them take a paycut probably will look elsewhere as the Vikings haven't exactly delivered on their offeseason "win-now" promises.

I think that's something the Wilfs need to take into consideration when it comes time to make a decision on Rick...how much he'll be able to sell to current/potential players in the future vs. a new GM/HC combo that start with a clean slate of credibility to free agent players...

I wouldn't be bothered to see them all gone, especially those who could bring back draft capital. If you could get a 1st for Kirk and a 2nd for Cook do it!

Let's see what else is out there:

2022 NFL Free Agents:



www.profootballnetwork.com/2022-nfl-free-agents-top-free-agents-by-position-available/