Vikings Offseason Projections / 2022 Cousins Trade

[OhioColt]

After reviewing the Vikings financials tonight the are already projected to be over $12 million in the hole for Cap Space.  Would not be at all surprised to see the team cut S Harrision Smith, WR Adam Thielen, and LB Anthony Barr especially with the young emergence of Eric Wilson.  The Vikings should also consider restructuring the bonus money for both D. Hunter and E. Kendricks.  The following players should get resigned Anthony Harris, Eric Wilson, Jaleel Johnson, Chris Jones, Ifendi Odenigbo.  With these movements alone the team should have around $7 million in cap space for 2021. 

 

The last big name cut I can see the Vikings do is release Riley Reiff and end up with ~$18 million in cap space.  Almost forgot about Brian O'Neill on the team who I thought was one of the best LT coming out of college a few years ago.  O'Neill moves from RT to LT taking over for Reiff.  With releasing Reiff the Vikings available cap for 2022 jumps to ~$44 million of which the only big name player to resign is O'Neill.

 

My sales pitch is to resign Brissett this year ($9 million) and have an open QB competition with Eason.  Then in 2022 offer up a trade for Cousins which immediately  saves the Vikings $35 million and only have a $10 million dead cap hit giving the Vikings ~$80 mill in cap space for 2022.  As for the Colts this year am looking to free up cap space with restructuring the bonus money for Buckner (6m-2021 / 10m-2022) and Kelly (1.5m - 2021 / 3.150m - 2022).

 

FA Additions

LT Roderick Johnson (Texans) - Solid backup that played well this year.  Knows we need a left tackle and could be a quick deal signing for 4 year offer of $2 million to start

 

LT Trent Williams (49ers) Say what you will about Williams but he is that generational player who got stuck on a very bad Washington team.  Williams is the best of the best at his position and even at his age can see him playing until his late 30's.  I believe he has 4-6 good years left and at his high level of play now compared to a rookie LT I would much rather bet on Williams long-term over a rookie who is nearing the end of their career about the same timeframe as Williams.  Pay this man 4 year deal $18m+

 

MLB Jayon Brown (Titans) Beware of what we ask for the grass isn't always greener when trying to replace players like Anthony Walker (or Bethea as history has proven).  It took me a while going over player profiles and much data to find an equal or slightly better player than Walker.  Our linebackers needed an upgrade and Brown should be good to go for 4 years on a $6 million contract to start.

 

RDE Carl Lawson (Bengals) Not many Edge players on either side of the line that I felt were able to give this team the boost we need.  The only other player thought about is RDE Trey Hendrickson (Saints) more of a one-year wonder.  Give me Lawson here to complete the rebuild of this team.  Lawson annually get 20+ hits on the QB and about 5 sacks per year.  Give Lawson a 3-4 year deal in the range of $10-12 million easily.

 

According to OTC the team still had ~$10 million in available cap space heading into the draft

 

Colts Draft (short version)

1) LDE Jaelan Phillips (Miami) - Really had a hard time finding a replacement for Houston and would of resigned him if not for going after Lawson to replace Autry as it was.  Phillips is the BPA LDE 

2) WR Nico Collins (Michigan) - Have a strong feeling he doesn't last this long but the Colts need someone to replace Hilton.

3) SLB Charles Snowden (Virginia) - Following up with more of the fans reaction around here saying we need to improve our Linebackers.  I like Snowden was hoping to see what he could do at the Senior Bowl.  Tall and long and could probably play Edge as well am hoping.  If not he should push Okereke as the starter if Okereke regresses again this year.

4) MLB Garrett Wallow (TCU) - More like an insurance plan for Brown.  Colts have been great at finding mid-round LBs in the past and hoping Wallow doesn't disappoint  

 

Even with Brissett starting he should get us 20 TDs and about 8-10 INTs, throw for low 3000+ yards and should rarely get sacked.  Give my hats off to the Colts brass for putting out the Luck ticket hoping to hear from him and maybe he changes his mind which we all seriously doubt Andrew will.  As for the Eagles draft they should be in an ideal situation to replace Thielen with one of the top WRs such as Jaylen Waddle (Alabama).  Rounds 2-3 will have to target LG and RT and right now LG Quinn Meinerz is making a name for himself and should be within range for the Vikings to select.

 

Bottom line here with the off-season additions and draft picks we know our OL is a beast for the next 4-6 years.  We have a great RB group in place.  The WRs am feeling good about with room to improve,  Next year we focus on TEs keeping the main three together this season.  On defense our DL is also one of the best units in the league like our OL.  Linebackers am thinking are much improved.  Our DBs could always use improvements here in 2022.  The Colts already said they wish to have a veteran QB in place and sometimes you got to make sacrifices to build a strong team on both sides of the ball one year to achieve your long-term goals.  Indianapolis should be set on both sides of the ball for a good 4-5 years and next year is when we offer a trade for Cousins where we can get a good 5-6 years for him.  

 

 

 

 

[BProland85]

Yeah let's not deal for Kirk Cousins. And your draft isn't very appealing. 

[DougDew]

I think we could get Phillips in the 2nd.  He is not really an EDGE rusher as much as he is more of a complete (less twitchy) LDE in a 43.

[Gigc]

No cousins. Mediocre.

[NFLfan]

On 1/29/2021 at 10:00 AM, OhioColt said:

Would not be at all surprised to see the team cut S Harrision Smith, WR Adam Thielen, and LB Anthony Barr especially with the young emergence of Eric Wilson.  The Vikings should also consider restructuring the bonus money for both D. Hunter and E. Kendricks.  The following players should get resigned Anthony Harris, Eric Wilson, Jaleel Johnson, Chris Jones, Ifendi Odenigbo.  With these movements alone the team should have around

 

There is no way the Vikings are parting with Adam Thielen. He is a MN native and University of MN alum who grew up a Vikings fan. He is the face of the Vikes. I also don't believe we will cut Harrison Smith, but we may cut Kyle Rudolph. I hope not but he is expendable. We probably will not re-sign Anthony Harris. I hope we cut Barr; I was so pleased when reports had it that the Jets signed him last year, but then we re-signed him. It was not a good move. I do hope we re-sign Odenigbo. 

 

I wish we can do something to free ourselves from the Kirk Cousins contract. Because of it, we had to let go of several valued players. He is not worth his contract.