Vikings Free Agent Tracker: Championship Edition
Josh Frey
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It is officially conference championship weekend, and as these two games will officially determine this year’s Super Bowl, obviously there are plenty of reasons to watch. Among those reasons are potential Vikings free agent targets later this offseason. We did a similar version of this article for the divisional round, and today, we’ll discuss the potential fit of two more players, one from each game.
CB Eli Apple (Bengals)
Since being drafted by the New York Giants in the first round of the 2016 draft, Eli Apple has bounced around the league for some time now. He was traded to the New Orleans Saints in 2018, and after a season and a half there, he went to Carolina where he spent the majority of his stint on IR before being released in October. This year though, Apple again earned himself a starting position in 2021, this time for the Cincinnati Bengals. Because of that, he will now be playing in his second conference championship game in four years.
Of course, Apple has not proven to be the most talented CB on the market. His 61.0 PFF grade doesn’t jump off the page by any means. However, part of that probably has to do with the fact that he has no business being a CB1 or CB2. Every place he’s spent an extended amount of time in, he’s had to play this role. There’s no reason to believe that in a limited role, he couldn’t thrive.
In Minnesota, he shouldn’t have to play that role. Assuming the Vikings bring back Patrick Peterson and Cam Dantzler continues his progression, along with the possibility of drafting another CB, Apple would be at most a CB3 or CB4 for the team. Again, this being the premiere Vikings free agent acquisition would make the 2022 offseason a bit of a disappointment, but another depth piece with playoff experience would be great.
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G Austin Corbett (Rams)
Admittedly, a lot of the players discussed to this point have been depth pieces that likely wouldn’t cost a ton of money or play more than a reserve role. That would not be the case in this scenario. The Minnesota Vikings have continuously struggled on the interior of their offensive line in the Kirk Cousins era. With the new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in place, he may look to be aggressive towards immediately fixing that problem.
Of course, they could again go into the draft to find that sort of talent, but we’ve all seen how the Wyatt Davis selection has worked to this point. It may make more sense to bring in a proven name, and Austin Corbett is one that certainly comes to mind. Corbett was the top selection of the second round of the 2018 draft by the Cleveland Browns, and ever since being traded to the Rams in 2019, he has played a large role in LA’s offensive line being a great strength.
In addition to being the 14th ranked guard in terms of PFF grade in 2021 (69.3), Corbett is very versatile. He can play at either guard spot as well as center. Sounds exactly like the type of player the Vikings could use along that o-line. The only question mark here is price, though. Spotrac projects Corbett to have a market value of around $8.7 million this offseason. Obviously, that would be a steep price for a cap-strapped Vikings team to pay. It may be a deal worth the price tag, though.