The Vikings agreed to a six-year, $42 million deal with free agent receiver Bernard Berrian, and in doing so managed to accomplish two things...
1. Improve their Receiving Corps
Here are the receivers that were on the Vikings roster before they acquired Berrian Saturday night:
Martin Nance, Justin Surrency, Aundrae Allison, Brent Little, Joel Filani, Sidney Rice, Bobby Wade, and free agent Robert Fergusen.
With the addition of Berrian, the top four receivers for the Vikings look promising for the future. Berrian, Rice, Wade, and Allison all have the potential to be good, if not great, NFL wide receivers.
2. Weaken the Chicago Bears
Either the Bears have total faith in the receiving abilities of Devin Hester, or they have plans to sign at least two top receivers later in the free agency period.
With the loss of Berrian, and the previous loss of Mushin Muhammed, Chicago doesn't have any decent options to throw the ball to, besides Hester.
This is obviously a smart move for the Vikings. When they play the Bears twice in 2008, they won't have to focus entirely on stopping the pass. In fact, they can almost completely focus on defending the run.
The Vikings accomplished both of these things without much cost. Besides a weekend spent almost entirely with Berrian, the only other thing the Vikings gave up was some extra cap room. Berrian gets $16 million in guaranteed money, while earning $42 million over six years, which equals $7 million a season.
This is a steal of a deal for Minnesota, at every angle.
5 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Joe Willett about 1 year ago
you forgot to mention insanely overpay for a wide receiver who never sniffed a 1,000 yard season or a pro bowl, trust me, i saw him close up as a bears fan, he is nowhere near a steal at 42 mil, in fact, we just got a guy who made 3 strait pro bowls for 6 mil less over the same time, i think we got the better of the deal, take berrian, and enjoy that salary cap hit. besides, hester and berrian are the same player except hester is faster.
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Andrew Kneeland about 1 year ago
Well, I respect your opinion as a Bear's fan, but your's is the first argument I've seen saying that the Bears got the better end of the deal.
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Joe Willett about 1 year ago
well, the bears still have a lot of problems, but at least they didn't overpay for an average wide receiver. that's at least a plus, and lance briggs is a better deal than berrian, from that point, the bears got the better end of the deal
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Jon Grilz about 1 year ago
Let's not overlook the fact that we still need to find someone that can complete a pass to him.
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Rich Tandler about 1 year ago
While there's no doubt that the Vikes overpaid, that and the release of Muhammad leaves the Bears beyond thin at WR. Hester's got great speed and moves but many have their doubts that he will ever become a polished receiver, much less a #1.
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