The Vikings Still Have Work to Do in Free Agency
Josh Frey
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It has been a solid start to the free agency period for the Minnesota Vikings. Over the past 10 days, they’ve been hard at work towards bringing in faster and younger players on the defensive side of the ball while maintaining a number of players that helped them click in 2022.
That being said, the job is not done yet. The Vikings still have work to do during this free agency. Here are three positions that the Vikings would be wise to improve in the coming weeks with more free agent acquisitions.
Cornerback
The Vikings made an outstanding move last week by signing CB Byron Murphy to a two-year contract worth $17.5 million. He’s a versatile player, and at only 25 years old, he has plenty of great football in front of him.
However, especially with Duke Shelley leaving the team to join the Raiders, Minnesota is in need of another veteran presence in the secondary. Currently, outside of Murphy there a combined 3 NFL starts between Kalon Barnes, Andrew Booth Jr., Akayleb Evans, and Tay Gowan.
Safety
Over the past few seasons, veteran safety Harrison Smith has had his fair share of injury troubles. While these haven’t derailed any seasons to this point, he’s missed a pair of games in each of the last two years.
At age 34, it makes sense for the Vikings to have a backup plan for the veteran safety. 2022 first-rounder Lewis Cine largely has not shown what he can do on defense at the NFL level, either, so it’s difficult to say how much impact he can have for the Vikings.
Even if it is just someone to compete in training camp, Minnesota would be wise to find another veteran safety to join this group. Far better to be safe than sorry in this situation.
EDGE
At this point in time, it’s difficult to say exactly what is going to happen with Za’Darius Smith. It is certainly possible that the Vikings trade the veteran pass rusher, but a release seems unlikely.
If the Vikings do move on from the veteran via trade, it becomes imperative that they add another veteran to this group to help bear some of the weight for Marcus Davenport and Danielle Hunter.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.