When the clock struck midnight (Eastern) last Thursday/Friday, the NFL free agency season officially began.
As Vikings fans, this is usually a very depressing time. You watch players that you know (or think) could make your team better getting swooped up by the opposition. The whole time you find yourself thinking, “Why didn’t we sign him? We could afford (insert a few million dollars).”
However, that is not the case this year. Zigmund promised us the Purple would be active in free agency. We were armed with $30-plus million in cap space and multiple glaring needs.
So with that, here’s a little chatter between Dogg and I about our thoughts on the Vikes’ moves as well as others made, and not made, by other NFL teams. Enjoy.
Dogg: The Vikings are making a splash this offseason by picking up high-potential WR Bernard Berrian and already-proven safety Madieu Williams. Ziggy is not messing around and when he told MN that he likes to spend money—at least he wasn’t lying and has stuck to his word.
I would’ve liked to see DE Justin Smith sign here, but maybe Ziggy has a different plan up his sleeve (Jevon Kearse?) Do you like what the Vikings have done thus far?
Q: I'm going to be negative on the Vikes’ offseason so far.
We paid waaaay too much for Bernard (I believe he's the fourth-highest paid receiver in the league now)—a guy who has never caught more than 71 balls and hasn't had a 1,000 yard season yet. Plus, we already have a deep threat in Sidney Rice.
When you have a young quarterback who has struggled in the past, you need possession/slot receivers and good pass-catching tight end. Our tight end is an overpaid chump who has caught 10 balls in his career.
It seems like Zigi is willing to spend money, but he spends it on the wrong guys and overpays when he does. I do like what I hear about Williams, because we need a good cover safety. However he's also making a decent chunk of change for a guy that really has had one good season and one average season.
Then there's Tapeh. Sure, he's from Minny, but it just seems to me like he's another one of Chilly's boys from Philly and that's why we signed him.
Dogg: Q, this is professional sports and money doesn’t mean anything anymore. Paying for guys like Berrian and Williams is no big deal because every other FA out there will come close to making the same money. I like the signings a lot thus far.
Q: Money is an issue where you and I always disagree. I know they are going to get paid, and usually get more than they are worth. The problem I have is when we sign guys for way more than anyone else in their right mind would have offered.
Seriously, $7 million a year for Berrian? That's absurd. Even $5 mil a year would have been overpaying him. The same thing happened with Shiancoe last season. It's just like when the Twins pay almost $4 million to Craig Monroe when no one else in the league would have given him more than a million per.
It just seems like we're wasting money that we don't need to. Especially when you're dealing with a set salary cap, like the NFL has, then it becomes an even bigger issue. We can't just throw out absurd contracts just because we feel like it. It will hurt the ball club in the long run.
Dogg: The only thing is about the money issue is if we low-ball Berrian right away, he flies somewhere else and signs for just a shade over what we offered him. He’s a top WR on the FA market this year so I’m assuming we really wanted him and maybe jacked it up a mil a year but I think that’s smart.
If you get him here, put your best offer on the table because if he leaves without a contract, there was slim chance at getting him. Then what? We go out and sign D.J. Hackett? He probably would’ve made our team worse. That’s the last thing we need is another guy who can just run eight-to-10-yard out patterns.
Maybe we overpaid a little bit but I think the signing is well worth the cash…Shiancoe is a pile of crap, so I will definitely give you that one.
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