Winfield's new deal

So, about Antoine Winfield...

The new deal is reported to be a 5-year deal with $16 million guaranteed that could be worth as much as $36 million, with incentives, making it potentially similar to the 6-year, $33 million deal he signed during the 2003-04 offseason. The difference, of course, is that Winfield is now five years older and will be 36 years old when this new deal expires. As I pointed out earlier, cornerbacks in their mid-30s don't typically turn in great seasons. Even so, this is probably a pretty good contract for the Vikings.

While Winfield did have a career year last year, making his first Pro Bowl at the age of 31, it would be foolish to expect him to maintain that same high level of play as he advances through his 30s, even if he stays healthy. By committing only $16 million guaranteed to Winfield, the Vikings make a relatively small investment should he fall completely off the map and a slightly larger one if he does defy the odds and continue to produce Pro Bowl-caliber seasons. Winfield is clearly a unique cornerback, given his great tackling skills, so it's possible he won't decline much.

Even if he does lose a (or perhaps "another") step or two, he can serve as an insurance policy against Madieu Williams and Tyrell Johnson, if either should suffer lasting injuries or their quality of play should drop. Winfield would seem like a natural for a safety position if his duties as a cornerback prove too much as he ages, and the Vikings have a few potential replacements (such as Marcus McCauley and Asher Allen) for the other corner spot opposite Cedric Griffin, should Winfield be needed elsewhere. There might be some issue about whether Winfield would accept a "demotion" to safety -- his twice grousing about his contract leads me to think he's not exactly the definition of a "team player" -- but that's a distraction we won't have to worry about until at least after this year, when Brad Childress gets replaced by a coach who displays a smidge of authority (I can hope).

Here's the kicker, though, and why this contract could potentially be great for the Vikings: A major holdup in the signing of the contract was said to be the Vikings' unwillingness to tie up a bunch of money in Winfield while they were still courting Brett Favre and trying to keep enough money available for his eventual signing. Maybe, just maybe, they actually got tired of waiting for him and signed Winfield with some of the money earmarked for His Favreness, who will now decide that the piddling few millions the Vikings are willing to pay him aren't enough to come down off his throne and mingle with the commoners in training camp. If all that proves true, this might very well be the best contract the Vikings have ever given out.

Williams almost back? And more notes

It's a bye week for the Vikings, which means things are pretty quiet, though things are looking up for one of the Vikings' big off-season free-agent acquisitions.

* S Madeiu Williams finally looks ready to make his regular-season Vikings debut after suffering a neck injury in preseason that has kept him sidelined for nine weeks. Rookie Tyrell Johnson has started in his place and hasn't done much of anything to slow down other team's passing attacks, so Williams should be a welcome addition to a typically soft secondary.

* In other transaction news, the Vikings cut LB Erin Henderson, promoting LB Rufus Alexander from the practice squad, and then re-signed Henderson two days later, cutting Alexander. Bizarre.

* Speaking for guys who were cut and re-signed by the same team (and former Bengals, like Williams), it's a good thing Cincinnati re-acquired WR Chris Henry in the off-season, with owner Mike Brown essentially forcing him on head coach Marvin Lewis. No other multiply arrested, dumb-as-a-rock third receiver on an 0-7 team could have managed four catches in three games (Henry was suspended for the first four games of the season). Maybe when Lewis is inevitably fired after this season, he might be worth a look by the Vikings; I'd be interested to see what he can do when he doesn't have to babysit felons.

* Speaking of wide receivers who shouldn't be in the NFL, Troy Williamson -- who, as usual looked great in training camp and had many Jags fans thinking he was a "steal" -- still officially has just two catches for 11 yards with the Jaguars. The next time someone tells you that Usain Bolt would make a great wide receiver (and boy, did ESPN hammer that into our skulls for about two weeks), remind them that being fast doesn't automatically make you a good receiver.

* Pacifist Viking posts a great assessment of the 2008 Vikings and his (and, to a large extent) my feelings on their chance for success. Meanwhile, Brad Childress is up two points and is finally second in overall votes cast -- to a guy who was fired.

* Finally, after insisting that he didn't want to "wait for one of my fellow quarterbacks to suffer a serious injury," and retiring in September, Daunte Culpepper has taken the Brett Favre approach to retirement and is apparently looking for work again. Because, you know, teams need depth at the QB position because...wait for it...guys are getting hurt. Or in the case of Kansas City, who was apparently inquiring about Daunte's availability before signing Quinn Gray, all their quarterbacks are just awful.

The Vikings' first round picks in 1999 were Culpepper and Demetrious Underwood, who suffered from depression and tried to commit suicide. I'm starting to wonder which of the two was the bigger head case.

Vikings lose a Williams

More important, I think, than how a team actually plays in preseason is whether they can survive the four-game schedule without suffering any significant injuries. When news came through that reserves Jayme Mitchell and Heath Farwell would miss each miss the entire 2008 season with injuries, it was a blow, but not a terribly serious one. More of a concern now is the neck injury suffered by safety Madeiu Williams, signed to a big free-agent deal in the offseason. The Star-Tribune says that Williams will miss about six weeks with the injury, which would eliminate the rest of his preseason and the first three games of the regular season. Second-round draft pick Tyrell Johnson, who may have been the best safety available in the draft, will take his place and could play reasonably well, but it's definitely going to be a step down, especially considering the Vikings' early schedule.

The team opens with with a game at Green Bay on Monday night, followed by Indianapolis and Carolina at home. There's little doubt that the Packers will try to establish the pass early in their season, to show fans they made the right decision in sticking with Aaron Rodgers, and the Colts, I hear, can throw the ball pretty well. That's two pass-heavy offenses the Vikings will have to face without their starting free safety.

Carolina's tougher to judge, since most of their quarterbacking in 2007 was done by people other than Jake Delhomme, who figures to be healthy and slingin' it again in 2008. If that weren't enough, the Minnesota game will also mark Steve Smith's return to the lineup following his two-game suspension for starting a brawl in Panthers camp. Remember the last time the Vikings faced a team welcoming back its star player from a two-game suspension to start the season? Jared Allen sure does, and Kelly Holcomb would like to forget it.

Even with Williams in the lineup, I would have probably given the Vikings a 2-1 record during that span. Carolina should be a win, and I would have had us beating Green Bay and losing to Indy. Williams is only one man (though I did rank him at #10 in my list of Top 20 Vikings for 2008), but his loss could be profound, especially considering the team's early schedule. At the very least, we'll get a good look at what Tyrell Johnson can do out of the gate. Hopefully, the results will be good.

Vikings are raiders in free agency

It's hardly news to say that the Minnesota Vikings have been active in free agency this offseason. With free agents Bernard Berrian, Madieu Williams, and Thomas Tapeh and trade acquisition Jared Allen all wearing purple this year, the Vikings have made a bold statement that they plan to win not just now, but for years to come.

It was a little surprising to me, though, to see just how active the Vikings were in free agency this spring and summer and how much they raided other teams' rosters for their free agents, compared to other teams. Using ESPN's free agency tracker, I found out how many players each team signed and how many of those players came from other organizations:

Team	OwnFA	OtherFA	TotalFA	%Other
NY Jets	0	6	6	100%
Miami	2	12	14	86%
Minnesota	2	9	11	82%
Tampa Bay	4	10	14	71%
Seattle	3	7	10	70%
San Francisco	4	7	11	64%
Philadelphia	3	5	8	63%
Denver	5	8	13	62%
Tennessee	5	7	12	58%
Kansas City	3	4	7	57%
Oakland	6	8	14	57%
Atlanta	7	9	16	56%
St. Louis	5	6	11	55%
Carolina	9	10	19	53%
New England	7	7	14	50%
Buffalo	5	4	9	44%
Jacksonville	5	4	9	44%
Houston	9	7	16	44%
Detroit	8	6	14	43%
NY Giants	4	3	7	43%
Chicago	3	2	5	40%
New Orleans	9	6	15	40%
Cleveland	7	4	11	36%
Arizona	12	6	18	33%
Baltimore	4	2	6	33%
Cincinnati	6	3	9	33%
Green Bay	2	1	3	33%
Pittsburgh	8	3	11	27%
Dallas	3	1	4	25%
San Diego	3	1	4	25%
Washington	6	1	7	14%
Indianapolis	4	0	4	0%

As you can see, the Minnesota Vikings got 82% of their free agents -- the third-highest figure in the league -- from other teams. Their total of nine free agents gained from other teams ranks fourth, behind only Miami, Carolina, and Tampa Bay. Obviously, this chart doesn't take rookie free agents, draft picks, and trades into account, but it does seem to confirm that the Vikings took a head-first dive into free agency this offseason, picking the best (or so we hope) from other teams' rosters and making them their own. Toss in the Jared Allen deal, which, even with the Adam Jones and Jason Taylor deals and the looming possibility of a Brett Favre trade, looks to be the most impactful long-term deal of the 2008 offseason, and it's hard not to say that the Vikings made the most noise, by far, in the offseason.

Now the question remains, will all that activity lead to success on the field? The Vikings have been far from quiet in free agency over the last several years, with Antoine Winfield, Fred Smoot, Darren Sharper, and Steve Hutchinson all moving north in recent years in big-time free-agent deals. Despite the loose purse strings, the team hasn't fared better than 9-7 under its last two head coaches and has only one playoff berth this decade. Many fans -- myself among them -- seem to think that this offseason spending spree will lead to bigger things for the team in the upcoming season, but until that success comes, there will always be the niggling shadow of doubt in the minds of Vikings' fans, harking back to the team's many missed opportunities over the team's first 47 seasons.

Welcome to Minnesota, Tyrell Johnson

As I write this, the fourth round of the draft is wrapping up, and the Vikings have had just one pick so far: Arkansas State safety Tyrell Johnson. I'm not entirely enamored with the pick, for reasons I'll get into below, but I'll reserve final judgment until I see the rest of the Vikings' picks, which won't happen for another 15 picks, the 150th in the draft.

As for Johnson, he appears to be a solid player. When he was picked Mel Kiper, Jr. said he thought he might be the best safety available in the draft, better even than Miami's Kenny Phillips, who went 12 picks earlier to the Giants. (Here's list of safety draft prospects.) ESPN calls Johnson "a strong, well built safety with excellent straight-line speed and an explosive lower-body," but "somewhat stiff in his hips, which limits him in certain coverage situations." He had 55 tackles and 6 interceptions (returning one for a touchdown) in 2007 on a defense that gave up 27.6 points per game against so-so competition, so it's likely that he was the best player on a mediocre defense.

(FLASH -- As I finished the last paragraph, the Vikings traded up to draft USC quarterback John David Booty with the 137th pick. Verrrrrrrrry interesting!)

When the Vikings traded up, skipping over three teams (Chicago, Detroit, and Cincinnati) to move up and take Johnson (and giving up a fourth-round pick in the process), I was excited to think they might draft Brian Brohm, who was a favorite choice of mine, though I'll admit that mid-first-round was probably too high for me to try and get him). When the Vikings passed on Brohm for a player I'd never heard of, I was disappointed, especially when Brohm went a few picks later to the Packers (who, at the time, seemed far less concerned about Aaron Rodgers' fragile psyche than the Vikings did about Tarvaris Jackson's). The Booty pick has assuaged some of those doubts, though I still have to wonder about the need to trade up, though perhaps the Vikings sensed that the Bengals would look for safety help after losing Madieu Williams to Minnesota.

Finally, we come to the question comes of need. You want your first two picks, at least, to be able to fill in immediately or within a year or two. Williams is entrenched at the one safety position, but Darren Sharper will turn 33 this December and is entering the final year of his four-year, $20 million contract he signed before the 2005 season. So, in a sense, this is the perfect situation for Johnson. He plays sparingly as a rookie, learns what he can from Sharper and Williams, and, in theory, steps into the safety position full-time in 2009. At the very least, he looks like a solid run-stopper who might need to grow into a coverage role.

With the Jared Allen deal wiping out most of the Vikings' high draft picks, the success or failure of Tyrell Johnson (and, now, John David Booty) will largely determine the success or failure of the entire 2008 draft for the Vikings. Johnson is well positioned to succeed and perhaps even star in a couple years, adding to what already looks to be a loaded defense.

Tyrell Johnson video highlights:

Clip #1
Clip #2

Vikings have a new safety, look for help elsewhere

When the Vikings traded Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders before the 2005 draft, they acquired linebacker Napoleon Harris and the Raiders' first-round draft pick, number seven overall. Harris did nothing of consequence with the team and that #7 pick was used to draft Troy Williamson, who wowed scouts at the combine with a 4.32-second 40-yard dash but was otherwise virtually unknown. (When it became obvious that the Vikings would take a wide receiver with their pick, I favored USC wide receiver Mike Williams as a safer pick but, as bad as Williamson has been, Williams has been worse, notching just 44 catches in three seasons.)

Now, all the Vikings have to show for dealing Moss is a rumored sixth-round draft pick from the Jacksonville Jaguars, which would figure to be around the 200th pick in next month's draft. Last year's sixth-round picks -- all of them -- had 22 receptions in 2007 and that includes a guy who's listed as a linebacker. Not exactly fair compensation, but we're past the point of wondering whether Randy Moss or Mike Tice should have been shipped out after the 2004 season, when Moss said that he "wasn't sure" Tice was the head coach for him. Hint: It probably wasn't Moss.

But the free-agency period has begun, and there's a lot of talk of who the Vikings might get to fill the void at wide receiver and other positions, some of which might come true very soon.

I don't give the rumormongering from Yahoo much thought most of the time, but saying that Zygi Wilf has flown to California to court Bernard Berrian does seem like a bit more than your run-of-the-mill "Team A is interested in Player B" garbage they spew out regularly. The last paragraph, in particular, throws a ton of names out there, from Sage Rosenfels to Thomas Tapeh to Justin Smith, but it's the Berrian deal that seems most likely to develop into something more, and as soon as tonight, if true. SI.com confirms the Vikings apparent interest in Berrian and their desire to sign him quickly.

The stated terms of the deal worry me, though. $6-8 million per season for a wide receiver who hasn't even generated a 1,000-yard campaign yet? Granted, catching balls from Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton will depress anyone's numbers, but is Tarvaris Jackson that much better?

* According to the SI story, Smith and Madieu Williams could also be wearing purple very soon, filling voids at defensive end and safety, respectively. The Vikings have $35 million of cap room, the fifth-highest total in the league, so they can afford to overspend a bit and still have plenty left for signing draft picks and second-tier free agents.

(And...just as I write this, the story comes up on ESPN.com about Williams signing a six-year, $33 million contract with the Vikings, making him one of the highest-paid safeties in the league.)

* Even if all these deals get made, that will still leave a semi-gaping hole at one position for the team: quarterback. The team cut Kelly Holcomb earlier this week, and Derek Anderson, the closest there was to a top free-agent QB, has already re-signed with the Browns, leaving the Vikings to pick from a lackluster group of free agents that includes Trent Green, Quinn Gray, Cleo Lemon, and Byron Leftwich, or to work a trade for Rosenfels or J.P. Losman if they want to find a complement to or replacement for T-Jack. And, unlike last year, I won't be stumping for the team to pick up David Carr, who was recently released by the Panthers.

* Another interesting free agent is defensive end Jevon Kearse, recently released by the Eagles. Though he struggled with injuries in his Philadelphia career, and only managed 3.5 sacks in 14 games in 2007, he might be an interesting third-down option if he's willing to sign a low-cost, incentive-laden contract. Even with last year's disappointing season, Kearse averaged about half a sack per game in his Philadelphia career and if the 31-year-old is only counted on for 20-25 snaps a game, it might be that he could still be effective.

If you want to keep track of all the free-agent activity, I suggest either SportingNews.com's free-agent tracker or the one located on ESPN.com. It should be an interesting weekend!