With the breaking news of Aaron Rodgers returning to the Green Bay Packers for a currently-unknown length of time, the Minnesota Vikings fall back into looking up at the (expected) divisional leader instead of being a favorite to win the division. As Kevin O’Connell heads into his first season as the team’s head coach, it will be on him to fully maximize Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, and others on this team so they can experience the postseason again.
The Vikings struggled to an 8-9 record in the first season of 17 NFL regular-season games and the final year of Mike Zimmer leading the team. As they head into the offseason with a young but intriguing, offensive-minded coaching staff, things are starting to look up for this team, even with certain money issues plaguing them.
Currently eating over 20 percent of the cap sheet is Cousins and his $45M cap hit he is on the books for this season. While it is the final year of his deal, Cousins could see his contract extended so the team can lower his cap hit this year while keeping some solidarity at the QB position moving forward – regardless of how they handle their current roster, the following two players are options that should not be considered during NFL free agency this offseason.
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Vikings Free Agents To Avoid
C.J. Uzomah
Yes, losing Irv Smith Jr. to a season-ending injury dealt a massive blow to the tight end room for the Vikings, especially after they let Kyle Rudolph go. And yes, both Tyler Conklin and Chris Herndon are free agents this offseason, so there is a hole in the depth chart that needs to be filled.
But at the rate C.J. Uzomah will likely be looking for, it shouldn’t be something the Vikings go after this offseason.
The 29-year-old is coming off of the best year of his career, hauling in 49 passes for 493 yards and 5 TDs across 16 games from Joe Burrow. While the Vikings did utilize their TEs a lot in play-action schemes in the past, it remains to be seen how big of an importance O’Connell will place on that position, showing that the Vikings should look for a cheaper option in free agency instead.
Regardless of if the money makes sense or not in the long run, the Vikings should try and avoid any high-priced safeties this offseason, which includes Jabrill Peppers.
Having suited up for the New York Giants for the past three seasons after being included in the Odell Beckham Jr. trade, Peppers has not experienced a ton of success and has been bitten by the injury bug across his five-year career.
The Giants were betting on his ceiling to become their next star safety, but instead, they got a high-upside player that could not stay on the field, and that provided consistent but underachieving results when healthy enough to be on the field.
Getting into a bidding war over a player that has struggled during his brief career is a move that could help keep the Vikings behind the financial eight ball for years to come – while their defensive secondary certainly does need upgrades this offseason, Peppers should not be their focal target during free agency.
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