If you missed Part One, you can get caught up here!

So, all of our in-house moves are complete and we’ve worked our way into $46.8m in 2024 cap space. Teams tend to reserve about $10m for the incoming draft class and we’ll adhere to that as well. 

Free Agent Priorities

Defensive Front

     Danielle is back but the defensive front is still the most concerning area of this team for multiple reasons. Even with Hunter slated to start at edge, the current roster lacks both high-end starting talent as well as depth. The only two other edge players currently under contract are Patrick Jones II who has shown flashes and has great burst but has graded poorly in 1 on 1s and as a run defender, and UDFA Andre Carter III who is likely a couple years from being viable. 

On the interior, Harrison Phillips is a plus starter, particularly as a run defender. Past him, it’s just second-year man Jacquelin Roy, who is an interesting player but shouldn’t yet be counted on to start. For this reason I really like bringing back Jonathan Bullard. The Florida man has provided stability and veteran presence at  the 3 and 5 technique on early downs and is an unsung reason behind the quality of the Minnesota run defense this season. 1yr/$2m to keep the 31-year-old in the building. 

On the open market there are two names I’d love for the Vikings to target. First and most impactful is Christian Wilkins of the Miami Dolphins. Drafted by Brian Flores’ staff in 2019, the 28-year-old would make a ton of sense as a splash move. A versatile interior player of his ilk is exactly what the defense needs. A stout run defender with superior pass-rush chops to any Vikings IDL in recent memory. Spotrac.com projects the Clemson alum to command ~$21 per year so I went with 4yr/$81m, structured such that his 2024 cap hit is $9.1m.

Next I wanted to target a pure pass-rusher who could take some heat off of Danielle on late s downs. Why not back to the well? Josh Uche is not a player who overlapped with Flores (drafted in 2020) but is one who is familiar with a similar defensive scheme. Uche has proven to be a solid pass-rusher in this league and even if he is more specialized in this defense as a late-down  blitzer, with plenty of athleticism to drop into coverage in a pinch. I see his value as similar to Arden Key’s last offseason. 3yr/$24m for the 26-yr-old, carrying a $6.1m cap hit fpr 2024.

A wild card here is Marcus Davenport. If he walks he leaves a $6.8m dead cap hit due to the four void years tacked on to his 1yr/$13m deal last offseason. The Vikings could bring him back and hardly increase his 2024 cap hit as the void years will not accelerate if he’s retained. I won’t bore you with much more of the contractual jargon surrounding his situation. Just know that the Vikings pushed back his void date to buy more time in negotiating, so this may be something they are seriously considering.For this exercise, we’ll eat the dead cap hit and target edge in the draft.

Linebacker

Perusing the free agent market for a feasible Jordan Hicks upgrade, two players caught my eye: Azeez Al-Shaair and Blake Cashman. Both players are bigger linebackers who can stop the run and would compliment Ivan Pace Jr. nicely, but I think Cashman could provide more versatility as a blitzer and in coverage (Gopher bias withstanding). 2yr/$12m feels pretty realistic to me, a similar AAV to Jordan Hicks’ in 2022 that for this exercise will be a 2024 cap hit of $4.3m. 

I’m not opposed to Jordan Hicks coming back for one more year but we saw that his speed can present some issues given what Flores asks his linebackers to do in coverage when simulating pressure.  

Secondary

Theo Jackson is an “exclusive rights free agent” meaning the Vikings can offer him league minimum money for 2024, and he can not seek offers from other teams unless he doesn’t receive one from Minnesota. Pressing this button brings Theo back for just under $1m ($0.95m). Jackson was serviceable in a small role in 2023 and another year in this scheme will only further his viability.

Next, I wanted to target a veteran cornerback with diverse experience on the outside. Steven Nelson is a great candidate in my opinion. Nelson spent an effecitve season under Lovie Smith in Houston and another last season under Demeco Ryans who runs a multitude of zone coverages. The Patrick Peterson Pittsburgh deal (2yr/$14m) is a good benchmark for what the veteran might command on the open market. The usual song and dance gets his 2024 cap hit to $5.5m fully guaranteed, with just $2.6m guaranteed in 2025. 

Guard 

We did let Dalton Risner walk in order to assess the guard market in free agency. I don’t think he is a guy that the Vikings will be rushing to re-sign. He was serviceable but they could definitely find an upgrade. A player I liked is Damien Lewis from Seattle if they can’t retain him. He’s been very consistent for them as a 3rd-round pick in 2020. He started 61 games over 4 seasons with the Seahawks and would be the type of player at 6’2” 327 who the Vikings should be seeking to round out the o-line. In my opinion, the issue with the run game was lack of diversity and a mauler like Lewis could open the door for more gap-scheme runs as opposed to the mid-wide zone to which this team has been married since the Kubiak days. 3yr/$20m is close to the projections I’ve seen for him, structured to incur a 2024 cap hit of $4.125m. 

Draft Day

QB of the Future

Whether Kirk is back in 2024 or not, my number one priority on draft night is getting one of the Top-4 quarterbacks, and that worked out ideally for Josh and I in our live mock draft. We got J.J. McCarthy right at pick 11 and that’d be a huge win in my opinion. Coming off of a national championship in his true Junior season, McCarthy will be a 21-yr-old rookie who can sit and learn behind Kirk Cousins who is not just a veteran QB, but a veteran QB entering his 3rd season operating Kevin O’Connell’s offense. The Michigan product has a pretty good arm and great mobility for the position. He’s also been very effective in high-leverage situations like 3rd down dropbacks and redzone opportunities. I got a chance to be a part of an interview with college scout Thor Nystrom about the top QB prospects and he outlined what could make McCarthy a great fit for the Vikes. For some more in-depth McCarthy analysis, you can check out that interview here. 

The other early impact draftees we acquired in this exercise are Bralen Trice (EDGE, 6’4” 275lbs), Sedrick Van Pran (IOL, 6’4” 310lbs), Khyree Jackson (DB , 6’3” 195lbs), Brenden Rice (WR, 6’3” 210lbs), Mohamed Kamara (EDGE, 6’1”, 250lbs). We also grabbed a kicker in the late 7th to compete with Greg Joseph, based more on the idea of getting a kicker (more likely an UDFA) than on the player himself. You can not make me study college kickers. 

Diversify This Offense

Van Pran is a guy who could certainly win one of the guard jobs in camp. On the conservative side, he’s a long-term replacement for Garrett Bradbury at center. He’s not a player I’ve seen much of, but scouts seem to like his anchor as a pass-protector, which has been the most consistent complaint of Bradbury.

How much more do I need to say about Jerry Rice’s son?! Of course that is surface-level analysis but Rice will present some very valuable traits at the next level, specifically for the Vikings. He mostly lined up at X receiver on the line of scrimmage, but has shown some slot flexibility. I’m a huge fan of his bigger frame in the slot.

More Juice

Trice would be an excellent addition to the defensive front. He could play as a super-sized OLB or a penetrating 5-technique on the interior in base defense. He led the nation in pressures in 2023 so he should be a day one Nickel/Dime 3-technique on passing downs, but he was also  a strong run defender so he could be a 3-down starter for this team sooner than later.

Khyree Jackson is a Brian Flores defensive back. Versatile, ball-of-clay type player who could flex to safety, press on the boundary, or even run-fit from the slot. He allowed just a 44.1 QBR when targeted in 2023 and many scouts praise his ball skills. 

Mo Kamara is a twitchy, low-investment edge rusher who had good production in college. 2nd in the nation in overall pressures and top-20 in pass rush win rate. Depth at edge will be crucial for this defense. 

2024 Minnesota Vikings

I’ve worked out how the starting lineups might look and at first glance, it looks like a better team than 2023 to me. Assuming health, this team should make some noise in 2024. 

• Improved interior pass rush

      –   Improved speed and versatility at linebacker

      –   More juice at edge rusher outside of Danielle

      –   More beef at LG

      – QB of the future acquired

The main thing missing here is another running back. This is an issue they could address in the final wave of FA or in the preseason once teams begin making cuts. I’d love a guy like Braelon Allen in the draft but it didn’t fall that way for us. Like we say on the BiteSizeVikes podcast, Skol to the Bowl!

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