The Vikings May Have to Make a Difficult Free Agency Choice
Josh Frey
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With training camp well underway and preseason about to begin this weekend, there are a few spots on the Minnesota Vikings roster that have been worrisome. Most notably, these concerns apply to the center position and backup quarterback after struggles from Garrett Bradbury, and Kellen Mond has been unable to handily take the QB2 spot. In addition to these position needs, the Vikings have been pegged as the favorites to land All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. All of these could be hypothetical options to fill in the remaining free agency market.
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As things currently stand, the Vikings have just over $10.4 million in cap space, per Over The Cap. They are one of 18 teams in the NFL with $10+ million to work with heading into the preseason, so they are not in a bad spot by any means. However, unless a trade suddenly comes up, the Vikings may have to make a choice regarding what they want to do with their remaining cap space.
They could feasibly address their backup QB position fairly easily in the free agency market. There are a number of players available that would come cheap. That said, if they truly do want to add Suh to the squad, it will likely take away much of the Vikings flexibility to add other players around the roster.
The 35-year-old veteran won’t be cheap for whoever eventually signs him. Suh’s last contract with the Buccaneers was worth $9 million in 2021. If the Vikings gave him a contract near that price, it would eat up almost all of their remaining cap.
Additionally, any centers left on the market would take a large chunk out of the Vikings salary cap. JC Tretter has been the choice of many Vikings fans ever since free agency began, but with his knee issues being a continuous concern, there haven’t been much of any discussions on that front. Another option in free agency is Matt Paradis, who played with the Panthers in 2021, but again, likely costs the Vikings muh of their cap space. He recorded a PFF grade of 66.9 last year.
Overall, the Vikings needs at center are the most desperate at this point, considering that they don’t have a true backup behind Garrett Bradbury to take over. Whether or not they choose to address this need will be determined by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s desire to fill other areas of the roster. The first preseason game this Sunday should go a long ways towards determining where they choose to address roster needs.
