NFL Rumors: Minnesota Vikings may sign Jairus Byrd
By Josh Hill
One thing that the Minnesota Vikings need is help in their secondary, and it will be up to the new regime to fix the holes that helped cause the last regime to lose their jobs. Safety isn’t as pressing a need for the Vikings as cornerback is, but that doesn’t mean safety will be ignored.
Jairus Byrd is perhaps the best safety available in free agency, and the Vikings may look his way given the cap space they have to play with. But according to ESPN.com blogger Ben Goessling, just because the Vikings have cap space, doesn’t mean they’ll unload on a major player just because.
"They’d have the money, and defensive coordinator George Edwards coached Byrd in Buffalo, but Byrd could be looking for something in the neighborhood of $9 million a season, and the Vikings already have three safeties under contract (Harrison Smith, Jamarca Sanford and Andrew Sendejo) who saw significant playing time for them last season. As tempting as a Byrd-Smith safety tandem might be, the Vikings would probably be better served spending their money elsewhere."
The Vikings will pride themselves on defense now that Mike Zimmer is in town, but that may come through homegrown talent. Zimmer and the Bengals didn’t make too many splashy defensive signings over the years and that won’t change in Minnesota.