The Vikings Really Really Really Want To Extend Anthony Barr

For the duration of the offseason, many debates centered around which talent the Vikings should lock up if they can’t hang on to everyone. Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, Stefon Diggs and Anthony Barr were all entering contract years. Now, the first three are locked up through 2023.

That leaves Anthony Barr as the central topic of debate until he signs a deal. But for the Vikings, there’s no debate to be had. At every turn, they’ve emphatically declared that they want to get a deal done with the 5th year UCLA product.

At the moment, the Vikings have a little under $6 million in cap space for 2019. But they have $10 million in space this year. Depending on how incentives for players like Sheldon Richardson, Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen work out, some of that will roll over to 2019, leaving enough room for a reasonable extension.

It’s all up to whether or not the Vikings want to take the plunge. Spoiler: They do.

”HE FITS EVERYTHING THAT WE WANT AS A MINNESOTA VIKING.”

Barr himself didn’t have much to say about his situation in a media scrum after practice, which is par for the course. Most players are instructed to keep their lips sealed while negotiations progress. But the team hasn’t been so sheepish.

”Anthony is… not only great football player for us that we drafted, that the coaches developed, but he’s been a great person off the field,” said Rick Spielman of his former 9th overall pick. He wouldn’t go into the details for obvious reasons, but was clear about this: “He fits everything that we want as a Minnesota Viking.”

Spielman went on to talk about their contract negotiation process. While it’s quiet, behind-the-scenes work is going on. It’d be an error to interpret silence as stagnation.

“I want him here.”

Mike Zimmer is even more bullish. “Anthony is a guy that has a unique skill set in that he is excellent in coverage, he’s an excellent rusher, he’s excellent against the run, he’s a guy that other teams account for all the time…

…he’s smart as heck, so I can tell him to do all kinds of things, make all kinds of checks and adjustments. He has great size, and length, and speed. He dictates the game in a lot of different ways that don’t show up on the stat sheet.” It’s clear that Zimmer genuinely believes in Barr, and this isn’t simply media-deflecting lip service. “I want him here.”

I do disagree with Zimmer on one point though. Barr’s “dictation” on the game would show up in other player’s stat sheets. As teams warp their protections to account for Barr, or simply fall for his alignment disguises, it allows for other players to make plays that they’d get credit for, not Barr. Maybe Zimmer’s talking about the wrong stat sheets.

”He dictates the game”

Take PFF grades, which will often give a player like Barr a 0 (perfectly neutral) on a play where he lines up in the B gap, then backs off into a shallow zone and isn’t targeted. But that alignment may result in a negatively graded play from the QB if they mess up the protection, or a positively graded play from a blitzer who was able to get through. Proper execution of that assignment isn’t something any linebacker can do.

Their message wasn’t always this rosy. During a tumultuous 2016 season, Mike Zimmer famously scolded Barr to the media, saying he ‘has a tendency to coast’ and ‘hasn’t made the explosive plays’. But 2016 was a long time ago. It paints a stark contrast to the way Zimmer is talking about Barr now, and proves that he’d be willing to be honest if he was truly uninterested in extending him.

Even if his actual value is debated, it’s clear which opinion the team has. They ask their linebackers to have a very particular skill set, and are more than satisfied with how well Barr can execute his assignments. And if all this is a lie, well it’s inspiring how in-depth the ruse goes.

Thanks for reading!

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