Trade Window And Official Free Agency Begins!

[PurpleMustReign]

It looks like Easton will be playing for the Saints this year. From Twitter:

@AdamSchefter
Former Vikings’ G Nick Easton is signing a four-year, $24 million deal with the Saints, per source.

Lol. We have like three players on the OL now. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

[J. Kapp 11]

It looks like Easton will be playing for the Saints this year. From Twitter:

Lol. We have like three players on the OL now. I don't get it. I just don't get it.

Hey Drew Brees, here's some free advice. Take care of your family. Increase your life insurance.

[Maelstrom88]

Yeah I don't think Easton is a big loss. Saints are desperate.

[S197]

That's a lot to pay for a guy coming off a serious neck injury and playing a position he struggled with here. Best of luck to him.

[Mothman]

Hey Drew Brees, here's some free advice. Take care of your family. Increase your life insurance.

[mansquatch]

Even before they resigned Barr they were never going to make a big splash on a FA OL, the cap situation virtually guaranteed this outcome. The OL will live or die on the coaching it gets this year.

BB and co signed a bunch of late cycle free agents and were able to turn them into a competitive OL in just a single season. I get it, it's BB. The point is that there is evidence that it can be done. The question for this season is if the Stefanski/Kubiak project can achieve similar results with essentially the same type of late cycle FA and what might be later round draft pick talent. I'm sure this offseason will be filled with skepticism on this topic due to Zimmer and Spielman still being at the helm. I get that. However, let's give Stefanski and Kubiak a little benefit of the doubt. We've never seen them run the ship on offense before.

I'm really not all that agitated about this offseason, as I implied at the onset, it seemed obvious going into FA that there just wasn't enough money to make anything happen through that avenue of improving a roster. I'm OK with this. Historically, Free Agents are a mixed bag, so it isn't like we let a sure thing pass.

I would temper expectations on the draft. Spielman does not frequently draft OL early. It should be no surprise if that trend continues. Again, I get the angst over this, but read the tea leaves. I'll be more surprised if we do take OL in the 1st round that if we do not. .

[PurpleKoolaid]

Even before they resigned Barr they were never going to make a big splash on a FA OL, the cap situation virtually guaranteed this outcome. The OL will live or die on the coaching it gets this year.

BB and co signed a bunch of late cycle free agents and were able to turn them into a competitive OL in just a single season. I get it, it's BB. The point is that there is evidence that it can be done. The question for this season is if the Stefanski/Kubiak project can achieve similar results with essentially the same type of late cycle FA and what might be later round draft pick talent. I'm sure this offseason will be filled with skepticism on this topic due to Zimmer and Spielman still being at the helm. I get that. However, let's give Stefanski and Kubiak a little benefit of the doubt. We've never seen them run the ship on offense before.

I'm really not all that agitated about this offseason, as I implied at the onset, it seemed obvious going into FA that there just wasn't enough money to make anything happen through that avenue of improving a roster. I'm OK with this. Historically, Free Agents are a mixed bag, so it isn't like we let a sure thing pass.

I would temper expectations on the draft. Spielman does not frequently draft OL early. It should be no surprise if that trend continues. Again, I get the angst over this, but read the tea leaves. I'll be more surprised if we do take OL in the 1st round that if we do not. .

Why are you "ok with this"? Why do you think there will be a different outcome from the other years where Rick ignored the Oline? Are you familiar with the definition of the word insanity?

[halfgiz]

So far it appears Rick is playing the same ole game with the OL.
I think he is setting Cousins up for failure.
How many offensive free agents have we have come in to visit?

Zimmer is taking care of his defensive side.

[fiestavike]

The best they could do with the guys currently under contract is probably LT, O'Neill. LG, Reiff. C, Elflein. RG, Collins. RT, Hill.

I expect they will replace at least two of those players as starters via the draft at this point. If they go with a true T, Reiff will have to slide in to guard. Most likely they'll grab two interior guys, slide O'Neill back to RT and Reiff back to LT.

[J. Kapp 11]

So far it appears Rick is playing the same ole game with the OL.
I think he is setting Cousins up for failure.
How many offensive free agents have we have come in to visit?

Zimmer is taking care of his defensive side.

With $4 million in cap space, what was Spielman supposed to do? This was a weak free-agent class. The worst thing we could have done was overpay. That leaves trades. Who were we going to give up for Zeitler?

It's not wrong to say Spielman & Co. set this up with their cap management to this point, but there's little they can do at this point until the draft. Overreacting just to appease fans would be a very bad idea.

We all need to get used to the idea that Reiff, O'Neill and Elflein are going to start. That means we need two guards. Disagree if you want, but that's where we are.

[Pondering Her Percy]

So far it appears Rick is playing the same ole game with the OL.
I think he is setting Cousins up for failure.
How many offensive free agents have we have come in to visit?

Zimmer is taking care of his defensive side.

With $4 million in cap space, what was Spielman supposed to do? This was a weak free-agent class. The worst thing we could have done was overpay. That leaves trades. Who were we going to give up for Zeitler?

It's not wrong to say Spielman & Co. set this up with their cap management to this point, but there's little they can do at this point until the draft. Overreacting just to appease fans would be a very bad idea.

We all need to get used to the idea that Reiff, O'Neill and Elflein are going to start. That means we need two guards. Disagree if you want, but that's where we are.

Exactly Kapp. We aren’t just going to sign offensive lineman to sign them. Nor are we going to overpay for bums like Billy Turner, JR Sweezy and Bobby Hart. Guys need to relax with the whole OL thing. Clearly Spielman isn’t going to head into next season with no guards. We’re drafting an offensive lineman early. That’s almost a guarantee. Maybe even two. We have Josh Kline coming on a visit too. Guys love to complain that Spielman isn’t doing his job but those same people have yet to give an alternative.

The last great OL that was full of free agents and little draft picks was the raiders. How long did that last? They had one of the worst offensive lines in the league this year. Got rid of Osemele. Got rid of Penn. Jackson flopped last year then got hurt. Howard was a journeyman that never lasted. They had 1 draft pick and 4 free agents on their starting offensive line in 2016. They are now down to their one draft pick (Jackson) and Hudson and had one of the worst lines in football.

Now a line like the cowboys was built entirely through the draft and has stayed consistent for a long time and will continue to stay that way. Granted they got hit with injuries this year but that happens. They aren’t soaking dead money because they signed flop free agents every year like others do. That’s not how you build an offensive line.

My guess is, after this years draft, Spielman will be doing similar. I see our starting OL being a combination of (no particular order) Reiff, Kline, Elflein, rookie and O’Neill or Reiff, rookie, rookie, Elflein and O’Neill. That would give us 3-4 draft picks on our OL with the only FAs being Reiff and possibly Kline.

Either way, diving into FAs just because we need guys isn’t the way to approach it. And I’m glad they haven’t done that. This draft is OL deep. Let’s the draft play out and relax

[Punkoholic]

Not sure if it was mentioned but the Vikings, along with the Jets have interest in former Eagle, Stefan Wisniewski. Apparently they reached out to him last week. Is he any good?

[PurpleMustReign]

With $4 million in cap space, what was Spielman supposed to do? This was a weak free-agent class. The worst thing we could have done was overpay. That leaves trades. Who were we going to give up for Zeitler?

It's not wrong to say Spielman & Co. set this up with their cap management to this point, but there's little they can do at this point until the draft. Overreacting just to appease fans would be a very bad idea.

We all need to get used to the idea that Reiff, O'Neill and Elflein are going to start. That means we need two guards. Disagree if you want, but that's where we are.

Exactly Kapp. We aren’t just going to sign offensive lineman to sign them. Nor are we going to overpay for bums like Billy Turner, JR Sweezy and Bobby Hart. Guys need to relax with the whole OL thing. Clearly Spielman isn’t going to head into next season with no guards. We’re drafting an offensive lineman early. That’s almost a guarantee. Maybe even two. We have Josh Kline coming on a visit too. Guys love to complain that Spielman isn’t doing his job but those same people have yet to give an alternative.

The last great OL that was full of free agents and little draft picks was the raiders. How long did that last? They had one of the worst offensive lines in the league this year. Got rid of Osemele. Got rid of Penn. Jackson flopped last year then got hurt. Howard was a journeyman that never lasted. They had 1 draft pick and 4 free agents on their starting offensive line in 2016. They are now down to their one draft pick (Jackson) and Hudson and had one of the worst lines in football.

Now a line like the cowboys was built entirely through the draft and has stayed consistent for a long time and will continue to stay that way. Granted they got hit with injuries this year but that happens. They aren’t soaking dead money because they signed flop free agents every year like others do. That’s not how you build an offensive line.

My guess is, after this years draft, Spielman will be doing similar. I see our starting OL being a combination of (no particular order) Reiff, Kline, Elflein, rookie and O’Neill or Reiff, rookie, rookie, Elflein and O’Neill. That would give us 3-4 draft picks on our OL with the only FAs being Reiff and possibly Kline.

Either way, diving into FAs just because we need guys isn’t the way to approach it. And I’m glad they haven’t done that. This draft is OL deep. Let’s the draft play out and relax

Whatever. Spielman put us in this place. Somehow we have money to sign Barr but we don't to sign an OL? Do you guys even read what you post sometimes? No one on this board said sign someone just to sign someone. But there are/were options available. Yes, most of them are being overpaid but that is the nature of teh beast now.
And to answer Kapps question... We have plenty of options to trade. We have 3,500 CBs on the team and two of them are very high on some people's lists. If spielman is so good, why can't he figure something out? PHP even admitted that it was a miss.
I'm sick of the excuses. I'm sick of the long sentences from Rick that justify his reasoning. The bottom line is our OL sucked last season, and they are actually worse now.

[J. Kapp 11]

Exactly Kapp. We aren’t just going to sign offensive lineman to sign them. Nor are we going to overpay for bums like Billy Turner, JR Sweezy and Bobby Hart. Guys need to relax with the whole OL thing. Clearly Spielman isn’t going to head into next season with no guards. We’re drafting an offensive lineman early. That’s almost a guarantee. Maybe even two. We have Josh Kline coming on a visit too. Guys love to complain that Spielman isn’t doing his job but those same people have yet to give an alternative.

The last great OL that was full of free agents and little draft picks was the raiders. How long did that last? They had one of the worst offensive lines in the league this year. Got rid of Osemele. Got rid of Penn. Jackson flopped last year then got hurt. Howard was a journeyman that never lasted. They had 1 draft pick and 4 free agents on their starting offensive line in 2016. They are now down to their one draft pick (Jackson) and Hudson and had one of the worst lines in football.

Now a line like the cowboys was built entirely through the draft and has stayed consistent for a long time and will continue to stay that way. Granted they got hit with injuries this year but that happens. They aren’t soaking dead money because they signed flop free agents every year like others do. That’s not how you build an offensive line.

My guess is, after this years draft, Spielman will be doing similar. I see our starting OL being a combination of (no particular order) Reiff, Kline, Elflein, rookie and O’Neill or Reiff, rookie, rookie, Elflein and O’Neill. That would give us 3-4 draft picks on our OL with the only FAs being Reiff and possibly Kline.

Either way, diving into FAs just because we need guys isn’t the way to approach it. And I’m glad they haven’t done that. This draft is OL deep. Let’s the draft play out and relax

Whatever. Spielman put us in this place. Somehow we have money to sign Barr but we don't to sign an OL? Do you guys even read what you post sometimes? No one on this board said sign someone just to sign someone. But there are/were options available. Yes, most of them are being overpaid but that is the nature of teh beast now.
And to answer Kapps question... We have plenty of options to trade. We have 3,500 CBs on the team and two of them are very high on some people's lists. If spielman is so good, why can't he figure something out? PHP even admitted that it was a miss.
I'm sick of the excuses. I'm sick of the long sentences from Rick that justify his reasoning. The bottom line is our OL sucked last season, and they are actually worse now.

So you'd rather let a known quantity like Anthony Barr walk in favor of another mediocre offensive lineman? Are you even aware that Barr's cap hit for 2019 is now $5.6 million, which less than Mike Remmers' would have been? Please, please explain to me how that was a bad move.

There's ONE CB with trade value, and that's Trae Waynes. And it's very possible he only has significant trade value in the eyes of Vikings fans. With a $9 million+ cap hit, I guarantee you Spielman listened to offers for Waynes, but they weren't going to give him away for nothing.

As for the other 3,499 cornerbacks, nobody's going to give up the farm for a possibly declining Rhodes, a guy in Alexander who just started playing with any consistency, or two guys in Hughes and Hill who just came off their rookie seasons.

So yeah, I do read what I post. Do you? Or do you just look for any excuse to blast the Vikings and Spielman?

[halfgiz]

So far it appears Rick is playing the same ole game with the OL.
I think he is setting Cousins up for failure.
How many offensive free agents have we have come in to visit?

Zimmer is taking care of his defensive side.

With $4 million in cap space, what was Spielman supposed to do? This was a weak free-agent class. The worst thing we could have done was overpay. That leaves trades. Who were we going to give up for Zeitler?

It's not wrong to say Spielman & Co. set this up with their cap management to this point, but there's little they can do at this point until the draft. Overreacting just to appease fans would be a very bad idea.

We all need to get used to the idea that Reiff, O'Neill and Elflein are going to start. That means we need two guards. Disagree if you want, but that's where we are.

I agree with what your saying...But bringing Kline in who graded worst than Remmers did last year.
Doesn't make me feel good. Slick Rick has brought at least 1/2 guys like that and they no longer played for us because they sucked.