Free Agent Thread

[JP Z]

Figured I would start up a thread with new Free Agent Signings and the like. Don't have to be just Vikings.

I'll start it off.

#Eagles have agreed with WR Riley Cooper on a five-year, $25 million contract, per an NFL source.

Now we just need to see if they want to bring back Maclin.

[zepman]

They need to start to upgrade the defense in this years FA period big time.

They can start with just about any position but CB, LB, and DL would be a great starting point.

Heard reports that the Vikes have requested a visit from D'quell Jackson (MLB), who has just been released by the Browns. That would be a good start.

[BuckSutherland]

There are some pretty good guy available at CB and Safety. I wouldnt be opposed to picking up 2 good DBs, one for sure. I would like to see us draft DT and LB. Also gonna need to draft a QB or two and someone that can play guard and annother RB.

Between our draft picks and the cash available for FA we should be able to be in playoff contention already next year. Gotta love the NFL. It doesnt take much and a little coaching to get everything turned around in one season.

[zepman]

Figured I would start up a thread with new Free Agent Signings and the like. Don't have to be just Vikings.

I'll start it off.

#Eagles have agreed with WR Riley Cooper on a five-year, $25 million contract, per an NFL source.

Now we just need to see if they want to bring back Maclin.

Maclin signed a one year deal with Philly earlier today.

[JP Z]

He did? Wow, that is probably the best for him. A "prove it" contract to see if he is worth the big bucks after that.

[JP Z]

Ravens gave TE Dennis Pitta a five-year deal worth $32 million, per sources

[zepman]

Reports are coming out that the Vikings have met with Chris Cook and are giving him his walking papers...or at least not planning on resigning him.

Another solid move by the Vikes...but, he was a starting corner. Could be telling that they're targeting a corner early in the FA period.

No news coming out on what the Vikes plan on doing with Williams or Allen yet...

[Scott K]

Quote:

Vikings released TE John Carlson.

The Vikes are admitting their mistake on one of the worst free agent deals of the post-lockout era, cutting Carlson just two years into the five-year, $25 million pact he signed in March 2012. The move frees up $2 million in cap space, and $4 million in real savings. Carlson caught only 40 total passes in 27 games as a Vikings, and saw his 2013 cut short by the third-known concussion of his professional career. Carlson briefly considered retirement, but plans to play in 2014. He turns 30 in May.

Quote:

Free agent Jared Allen has every intention of reaching the open market.

"He’s going to see what 32 teams have to offer," were the words of Allen's rep to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport. Neither the Vikings nor Allen would have much to gain by agreeing to a pre-free agency deal. The Vikings are rebuilding, while Allen is going on 32. This could be Allen's last shot to not only get paid, but play for a winner.

Quote:

Free agent CB Chris Cook put out a series of tweets Monday evening after speaking to new Vikings coach Mike Zimmer.

"Talked to Zimmer today," Cook said. "He told me like it is. If it's in the cards I look forward to having him at the helm." It sounds like Zimmer didn't beat around the bush with Cook, which is something players respect and Zimmer is known for. We'd love to see what Zimmer could do with Cook, a 6-foot-2, 212-pound press corner with 4.4 wheels who's been an underachiever to this point.

[zepman]

Good move in releasing Carlson too. Too bad he just didn't retire.

I didn't mind the signing of Carlson as a player at the time BUT the contract and $$$$ they gave him was insane. IMO, they could have easily signed him for half of that...maybe a third.

That was a bad signing...glad he's gone.

[FISHINGURU]

C'MON MAN!!

Rudolph and Carlson were gonna be the next Gronk and Hernandez combo!!

[JP Z]

The Minnesota Vikings may ask DT Letroy Guion to reduce his base salary of $3.95 million and $4.3 million cap number.

I ask was he even worth this kind of coin in the first place?

[DrJuice1980]

No way was he worth that much. Guys not even average.

[JP Z]

That's what I was thinking. He was part time player at that......

[zepman]

He should be released...not worth the league minimum.

Any late round draft pick could give us way more than what he has over the last few years.

[Scott K]

Quote:

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the Vikings are expected to pursue free agent CB Nolan Carroll.

Minnesota's new defensive coordinator George Edwards was the Dolphins' LBs coach last season and knows Carroll. Miami would like to re-sign Carroll, but he wants starter money and is fully expected to test the open market. The Vikings need a No. 2 corner to pair with Xavier Rhodes. Carroll shouldn't be expensive.

[zepman]

I see we signed Asiata today for @ 570,000...one year deal.

[FISHINGURU]

I'd like to see us sign CB Verner.

[LMITOUT]

Champ Bailey is available...

[fishersofmen]

I heard this guy is available. If Jared thought it hurt getting slapped on the a$$ before......

[JP Z]

The #Bucs signed RB Bobby Rainey, who was an exclusive rights FA, to a two-year deal.

This gives them a very impressive backfield......granted need to see if Dougie can stay healthy.

[fishersofmen]

On Tuesday, Houston Texans head coach Bill O'Brien was seen at Eastern Illinois QB Jimmy Garoppolo's pro day. On Thursday, word leaked out that O'Brien and the Texans might be interested in free-agent to be quarterback Matt Cassel, and that he in turn might, you know, like them too.

Hmm, so what, if anything, might this mean for the Texans' No. 1 overall pick in the draft?

First, the news: Cassel is set to hit the market after opting out of his contract with the Minnesota Vikings, leaving $3.7 million on the table, after a solid performance there last season. Looks like a fairly smart move now, considering that Cassel not only could get a chance to start — or be a bridge quarterback for a rookie — and maybe make more than what the Vikings would have paid him. It is, after all, a weak free-agent crop of quarterbacks.

Cassel and O'Brien have a connection ... sort of. Cassel played in New England when O'Brien was the Patriots' wide receivers coach in 2007 and 2008 when Cassel was Tom Brady's backup that first season and then in '08, the man who replaced Brady when he went down with a torn ACL. Cassel started 15 games that season and led the Patriots to 10 wins in that stretch, earning him a trade to the Kansas City Chiefs.

O'Brien became the Pats' play caller the following season, in 2009, after Josh McDaniels left to take the Denver Broncos' head-coaching job. So O'Brien never directly worked with Cassel, but they obviously crossed paths a lot in those two years in Foxborough. And the concepts O'Brien will use with the Texans clearly would have a lot of familiarity to Cassel.

So back to Tuesday. O'Brien personally worked out Garoppolo, who is considered a late-first or early-second-round possibility. The Texans currently own the first pick of the second round. Could they go defense — say, Jadeveon Clowney or Khalil Mack — with the first pick and swing back and take a quarterback with their second selection?

That would mean that none of the top tier of quarterbacks, which include Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater and Johnny Manziel, has got O'Brien all hot and bothered. Which is entirely possible. We say that because even if O'Brien felt one of those defensive players was truly elite, it also would be tough to see a quarterback-needy team pass on one if it felt there was someone worth building a franchise around. Quarterbacks trump everything else, even pass rushers.

The plot thickens. This much we know: Cassel signing with the Texans will not definitively state the team's intentions with the first pick. But it would give them options. Stay tuned.

[Scott K]

Maybe they still want a rookie QB with the #1 pick, but they dont want him to start game 1 next season.

[thatoneguy]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000...-a-playoff-team

Adrian Peterson says Vick makes the Vikes a playoff team. I disagree, but I don't really have a say in the matter.

[Scott K]

Quote:

Adrian Peterson tweeted his desire for the Vikings to sign free agent QB Michael Vick.

Peterson never shies from giving personnel advice. This offseason, he's stated he doesn't want the Vikings to roll with a first-round rookie, instead preferring they re-sign Matt Cassel. Now he took to Twitter to say he believes Vick would instantly make the Vikings a playoff team. Peterson's desire to win now is understandable entering his age-29 season. The problem is that Vick would be a heavy underdog to stay healthy long enough to reach January. ESPN's Adam Schefter has previously written that he doesn't see the Vikings going after Vick.

[Scott K]

Quote:

Free agent ILB Jameel McClain will visit the Vikings.

McClain has already visited the Giants and Bills, and is believed to be at the Medowlands on Thursday. He'd help man the middle in Minnesota.

Quote:

Vikings released NT Letroy Guion.

The move clears $2.2 million in cap space. Guion started 13 games last season, but was ineffective, rotating snaps with Fred Evans and Kevin Williams. He managed only 21 tackles and one sack across 397 snaps, struggling as both a pass rusher and run stopper. He won't generate much interest in the first wave of free agency.

Quote:

Vikings waived WR Greg Childs.

A 2012 fourth-rounder, Childs has never appeared in an NFL game after suffering double patellar tendon tears in August 2012. He spent all of 2013 on the PUP list. Although he's only 24 (on Monday), Childs' career is likely through.