The Vikings’ High-Priced Free Agent Who is Almost Certainly a Goner
Cam Robinson was brought to town to fill-in for Christian Darrisaw, the normal starter at left tackle. As a result, there’s next to no chance that Mr. Robinson, the Vikings’ high-priced free agent, will be sticking around.
The former Jaguar is a touch older — he’s 29 but will hit his 30th birthday in the upcoming season — but is still a solid starter. There’s a team out there that’s going to hand him a large contract, meaning his time as a Viking will almost certainly be just the ten regular season games alongside the postseason contest.
The Vikings’ High-Priced Free Agent: LT Cam Robinson
In theory, Minnesota could look to do a short-term deal with Robinson if Darrisaw’s recovery is going poorly, but that seems like a far-fetched scenario.
Mr. Darrisaw went down in the LA Rams game from Week 8 (late October). Nothing is guaranteed when coming back from a serious injury, but there’s certainly a chance that he’s ready to roll for most (if not all) of the upcoming season. Keep in mind that Darrisaw agreed to a beefy deal before getting hurt: a four-year commitment coming in at a total of $104 million.
The commitment to Darrisaw means that Robinson isn’t going to get the paycheck he would want out of Minnesota.
On PFF, Robinson comes in as the 17th-ranked free agent. Consider what they have to say: “Robinson was part of a Jaguars team that had a dismal start to 2024. But individually, he was a reliable option at left tackle before being acquired by the Vikings at the trade deadline. His 95.1 pass-blocking efficiency rating this regular season was the worst mark of his career, but if anything, that’s a testament to his play over the past four years.”
The belief from the analytics website is that the left tackle is going to land a three-year deal that’s coming in at $18.75 million per season. Or, put differently, a total of $56.25 million across the trio of years with $35 million in guarantees.
Standing at 6’6″ and weighing 335 pounds, Cam Robinson possesses a great build to be an NFL left tackle. He was snagged at No. 34 back in the 2017 NFL Draft, performing well for Jacksonville across the years.
Last season, Robinson was guilty of allowing 7 sacks, 7 QB hits, and 52 pressures. Far from dominant, but the 64.7 PFF grade — alongside a 70.4 pass-blocking grade — means someone is going to sink some money into the veteran.
Meanwhile, the Vikings will be looking to recoup a compensatory selection for his departure, offsetting the cost of acquisition at the trade deadline. If the GM can thread the needle, then we’ll look back at the trade as being a pretty sharp move from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
The Vikings are expected to be active when it comes to addressing the offensive line. For the most part, that means fortifying the interior three positions — the two guard spots and the center position — but it remains to be seen how that occurs. Quite possibly, Adofo-Mensah will continue to seek value along the iOL.
The legal tampering portion of free agency gets going on Monday, March 10th. We likely won’t need to wait very long before we learn who Cam Robinson’s next employer is going to be.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.