The Minnesota Vikings cleaned house on ‘Black Monday’, a day in which coaches and front office executives are unceremoniously shown the door.
The Vikings failed to reach their ultimate goal, and these are the consequences. Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman were fired as a result of the Vikings missing the playoffs.
The Vikings undoubtedly had the talent to be a playoff team. Spielman provided them with that talent, minus a few key components and depth pieces. Zimmer, however, failed to coach them up. Regardless, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf doesn’t have time to play with.
So with Spielman and Zimmer out in Minnesota, what could come next for the Vikings? A culture change is at play, and the Vikings are expected to part ways with some familiar faces as a result.
3 Vikings players who are next out the door: Everson Griffen
Griffen was a staple on the Vikings defensive front-seven for years until he parted ways for the Dallas Cowboys. Yet, in just one year in Dallas, he failed to prove himself independent from Minnesota.
So, the 34-year-old took his talents back to where it all began. He’s a stalwart in the locker room and around the team facility, but Griffen has no place in the Vikings’ future.
Griffen finished the season with five sacks, production that ought to be fairly easily replaceable in the long run, either via free agency or the draft. Selecting a younger defensive end in the first few rounds with potential has more value than keeping Griffen around, who at this point is more name recognition than an actual impact performer.
3 Vikings players who are next out the door: Patrick Peterson
The Vikings should clean house, and that starts with veteran leadership.
Minnesota failed to make a playoff run with this core in place. Even though he was only there for a limited time, Patrick Peterson falls under that umbrella. Peterson still has plenty of value as a veteran leader in the secondary for any team willing to pay him, but he’s on the wrong side of 30. If the Vikings are going to embrace their rebuild, they ought to let Peterson walk to a contender while saving money at the same time.
In his place, the Vikings could either draft a corner or sign a cheaper, younger version of Peterson in free agency. Minnesota has money to play with this offseason. Releasing Peterson isn’t a painful move, as he struggled to stay healthy at times this season and the Vikings’ secondary is already depleted.
A makeover is the move, rather than patching together a few pieces from this year’s team.
3 Vikings players who are next out the door: Kirk Cousins
Cousins’ future should be directly tied to Spielman’s, as the Vikings general manager is the one who made the final call on giving an average quarterback a fully-guaranteed contract.
The Vikings haven’t seen much sustained success under Cousins, and instead of fully committing to the man beyond this season, he’s been mentioned in trade rumors. Odds are, with a new regime in town, those rumors will continue to swirl.
This isn’t to say Cousins is a bad quarterback — he’s just not worth the top-5 money the Vikings paid him at the time. For these reasons, he is eternally overrated until his contract matches his production. The man has Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson at his disposal, yet routinely makes the same mistakes as Baker Mayfield.
Someone make it make sense.
The Vikings could add a ton of draft picks by dealing Cousins to the right team willing to overpay for him. Quarterback remains the most important position in the NFL by a mile, and trading Cousins as such will only speed up the Vikings rebuild.