Keep or Cut Decisions for Minnesota Vikings' 2015 Free Agents
After a 7-9 finish and another early end to the season, the Minnesota Vikings roll into the offseason with a few important decisions to make when it comes to free agency.
Minnesota has numerous unrestricted free agents, a few restricted free agents and two players under contract with salary situations that may need addressing. Four of the players were starters back in Week 1, and six of them finished out the season in the lineup due to injuries, suspensions and otherwise.
Decisions should be made solely on future value while considering the cost each player has. In some cases, bringing a player back and releasing the player might have costs. Minnesota may be in win-win situations with inexpensive players. Each decision holds its own set of factors to be considered, including age of the player and where he fits in the depth chart.
Players are ordered by the importance of their situations and the predicted impact each decision would have on the 2015 roster.
Adrian Peterson
1 of 9
Let's first set aside the moral issue of Adrian Peterson. The team will have its own process for evaluating whether Peterson should return under the circumstances. It also may have a different prerogative than fans and analysts.
Considering on-field play and cap impacts though, Minnesota still may have a decision to make.
Peterson is set to rake in over $15 million in base salaries and signing bonus. That figure tops all running backs in base salary and average salary. The Vikings would only be on the hook for $2.4 million, the remaining signing bonus, if they were to trade or cut Peterson. Either move would open up $13 million in cap space for 2015.
Those are the reasons Minnesota might consider dumping Peterson. He is incredibly expensive with mostly insignificant costs to get rid of him. He is basically coming off a year away from football, so some rust may have also accumulated.
The Vikings may ultimately decide he is worth that money to them, though. Peterson is a foundational offensive player defenses have to adjust their plans entirely for. He is the prototype at the RB position for an offense with a young quarterback.
Minnesota will look at its Peterson predicament from an infinite number of ways, and its final determination may or may not have to do with on-field play.
Chad Greenway
2 of 9
The second big decision the Vikings will have to make on a player under contract is veteran linebacker and team leader Chad Greenway.
Greenway's base salary, the part of his contract the Vikings can void, makes a big leap from $5.5 million in 2014 to $7 million in 2015. While he is not the mastermind behind contract dealings, Mike Zimmer admitted this is a problem moving forward, per Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press:
"While Mike Zimmer says he wants Chad Greenway back, he's obviously not the one paying him potentially $7 million next year.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) December 30, 2014"
Cutting Greenway makes the most sense. The Vikings would only eat $1.7 million in 2015, and then the costs disappear. They may also opt to extend and restructure, but that only pushes that $7 million into the future and could leave the Vikings in cap trouble down the road.
On the field, Greenway's contribution is largely in the leadership department at this juncture of his career. The Vikings found little drop-off when replacing him with Gerald Hodges or Audie Cole, both young, inexpensive players with futures in the starting lineup.
In no way will Greenway get that $7 million in 2015. The Vikings may find a way to bring him back for less, though.
Matt Asiata and Jerome Felton
3 of 9
The Vikings have two more decisions to make in the offensive backfield, each with its own set of circumstances.
Matt Asiata will be a restricted free agent, which means any team in the league can make an offer but the Vikings will have a chance to match it. As a depth back aside from emergency situations, it seems unlikely that Asiata will be heavily pursued. Expect him to return. The Vikings value his reliability, which makes him worthwhile behind one or two more talented backs.
Jerome Felton's situation is quite a bit more clear. He is under contract in 2015 but will opt out and test the waters in free agency, via Tomasson:
"Fullback Jerome Felton will be a 12th free agent since he told me he will opt out of his contract after season.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) December 27, 2014"
In Norv Turner's offense, Felton saw his role take a major hit in 2014. He only played 175 snaps this year, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), a sharp decrease from the 304 snaps of 2013 and 402 snaps of 2012.
With a salary accelerating to over $2 million for 2015, the Vikings were unlikely to bring him back anyway. It's a win-win situation.
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Jasper Brinkley
4 of 9
Jasper Brinkley returned to Minnesota before the 2014 season but only signed a one-year deal, so the Vikings will re-evaluate where he stands. His cap hit was only $830,000 this season. And his next contract should be similar, so he's far from expensive.
The Vikings should opt to go younger though. When Audie Cole finally got his chance in the lineup late in the season, he absolutely shined. Cole had a game-high 14 tackles against the Chicago Bears, flying around the field, making plays and showing his merits as a future starter for Minnesota.
By starting Cole at the "Mike" spot, Minnesota's defense gets younger and faster.
Brinkley put in a commendable shift in 2014. He has strength in the box and is a reliable tackler. His limitations give the Vikings little reason to go back to him though. Brinkley does not often make plays at the perimeter, can be too slow to come downhill and offers little in the way of making game-changing plays.
Minnesota, like most defenses, also spends more time in the "Nickel" package than anything else. That means Brinkley was essentially not a starter, and his value can be easily replaced.
Tom Johnson
5 of 9
The story to Tom Johnson's 2014 season goes in the opposite direction of Brinkley's. While not a starter in the base package, Johnson was highly impactful as a rotational player.
As a sub-package player for the most part, Johnson played only 447 snaps on the season in comparison to Linval Joseph's 744, per Pro Football Focus. Johnson was incredibly efficient as a rusher in his role. Of all defensive tackles who played 25 percent or more of their defense's snaps, Johnson grades out as Pro Football Focus' No. 12 rusher in terms of efficiency out of 72 qualifiers. Considering sacks, hits and hurries, Johnson was terrific.
His cap hit was only $845,000 in 2014. The figure should certainly rise after the year he had.
Johnson can be an important player for the Vikings moving forward, though, and should be valued. At 30, they may not wish to invest too much into Johnson in the coming years. The goal of building the defense by developing young talent still exists. Johnson is just too good a fit to pas up, and Minnesota should do what it can to bring him back in 2015.
Corey Wootton
6 of 9
The decision on whether to retain veteran defensive end Corey Wootton or to let him walk seems to have already been determined on the field.
Wootton was poor in 2014. As the No. 3 DE he made little impact as a rusher, finally getting his first sack in Week 17. He looked much too heavy and much too slow to make any kind of a difference, even with a small snap count. Only Chad Greenway had a worse Pro Football Focus grade on Minnesota's defense, but Wootton was on the field for 500 fewer snaps.
Opting for youth is another reason the Vikings should move on. Rookie DE Scott Crichton never seemed to have Zimmer's favor in 2014, only getting 16 snaps all year, but he cannot possibly be worse than Wootton. Crichton also has growth potential as a young player, whereas Wootton only appears to be getting worse.
Minnesota bringing Wootton back for 2015 seems an impossibility. He did nothing in 2014 to get his job back.
Joe Berger and Mike Harris
7 of 9
Joe Berger and Mike Harris, two late-season fill-ins on the right side of the offensive line, are both unrestricted free agents. The Vikings should have different plans for the two of them.
Berger will be 33 years old before the start of the 2015 season, but the quality of his play should lead Minnesota to bring him back. With 626 snaps in 2014, Berger earned a 3.3 grade from Pro Football Focus, only trailing John Sullivan along the Minnesota offensive line.
His reliability helped stabilize the OL down the stretch. Brandon Fusco will have his job back at right guard in 2015, but Berger provides quality depth at a position where that is not easily found.
Mike Harris provides little future value to the Vikings, however. Per Pro Football Focus, Harris gave up a sack on 2.3 percent of his pass-blocking snaps, a higher rate than Matt Kalil had in his disastrous season. Harris was only an emergency option for Minnesota, not a tackle it wished to utilize, but he brings nothing to the table that cannot be found in a rookie offensive tackle or replacement-level tackle on the market.
In an effort to keep some continuity, the Vikings should retain Berger. Harris is a lost cause, though.
Vladimir Ducasse
8 of 9
Vladimir Ducasse might similarly fit into the category of lost causes. When Ducasse was on the field in 2014, he was an accident waiting to happen.
His minus-14.9 Pro Football Focus grade is spectacularly awful considering he played only 417 snaps. He was average at best in the ground game but much worse in pass protection. Ducasse gave up four sacks and nine hurries in only 263 pass-blocking snaps, also via PFF. Those numbers are certainly poor for an interior offensive lineman.
When going through Vikings film, aborted plays in the passing game were commonplace. All too often they were the result of a whiff from Ducasse, leaving Teddy Bridgewater to scramble for life before the play ever began.
Expect the Vikings to take the necessary steps to reboot their offensive line with new bodies in the starting lineup and behind them. Bringing Ducasse back for another season would be insanity. In no situation does an NFL team want him on the field, at least not for its own team.
Christian Ponder
9 of 9
Embattled quarterback Christian Ponder has no future with the Minnesota Vikings. Master Tesfatsion of the Star Tribune quotes Ponder upon the conclusion of this season, who knows his future lies elsewhere:
"Christian Ponder on what was likely his last day at Winter Park #Vikings pic.twitter.com/JRsqsnK2oB
— Master Tesfatsion (@MasterStrib) December 29, 2014"
Vikings fans certainly will not look back on the Ponder era with much fondness. At best, he was a mobile quarterback who created yards with his feet and made a terrific throw or two a game. At worst, he was quite awful.
The team can take solace in the new, more promising direction it is headed in at the game's most important position.
Statistics via ESPN.com unless noted otherwise. Player ages via Vikings.com.
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