What should the vikings do this offseason

Zimmer made it a mission to improve his defense this offseason following a rough showing. One of the big overhauls came in the secondary, as it's possible that only Harrison Smith and Cameron Dantzler will return as starters. Peterson was not his usual dominant self in Arizona's man-heavy defense in , but he had a lot on his shoulders. His coverage snaps were third most among corners. A bounce-back is very possible in a Zimmer scheme that has leaned more on zone in recent seasons.

Peterson has been around for 10 seasons, but he's only entering his age campaign. Alexander is back with the team after a successful season in Cincinnati and will handle slot duties.

The team also added Xavier Woods as Anthony Harris' replacement at safety. This is a good group with the potential to be very good. Clay's full list of his top 25 offseason moves can be found here. Harrison Smith wasn't a new addition to the Vikings in Aside from that, they brought in a backup quarterback, Shaun Hill. There is no larger plan here when it comes to the veteran backup—they simply needed to bring in someone to competently back up the starting quarterback.

The Vikings signed a potential starter at safety in Taylor Mays, though, that result would be a major disappointment. For all of his extraordinary athleticism, Mays is a poor safety and has been for years. Fans got to see Taylor Mays struggle with for a spot on Cincinnati's roster in on Hard Knocks , which followed a season where he was demoted from the starting job after one week and benched for year-old Chris Crocker—whom the Vikings cut last year. Mays has never had a starting job for a full season.

As a second-round pick, he was installed as the starter in Week 4 of his rookie year and then benched for Reggie Nelson. In , not only did Mays lose the starting job after Week 1, he saw starting snaps two other times that year and was subsequently moved back to the bench shortly afterward. He did not start in or ; instead, fifth-round pick George Iloka took those snaps. The signing here is likely for special teams value instead of as a real starting option, and should provide depth to a thin safety corps.

He can also provide snaps at linebacker in nickel situations, something he's done in Cincinnati before. The addition of both of these players as well as having Dom DeCicco on the roster a college safety converted to linebacker may mean this could be a new position the Vikings want to install in certain packages.

Terence Newman is the most recent signing. Familiar with head coach Mike Zimmer, the soon-to-beyear-old cornerback is not likely to start, if only because his season was good but not particularly better than Josh Robinson's. Aside from developmentally stunting a young player by playing stopgap who is at best marginally better than the player he replaces, Newman could play the role Crocker played for the Vikings last year, which was to help install the scheme.

Cut despite being the starting safety all of camp and in the preseason, Crocker was much more of a mentor than impact starter, and that seemed to be his intended role all along. Besides, he doesn't have physical advantages over Captain Munnerlyn or Robinson, as he is the same height. Schematic knowledge is one advantage, and so are experience and instincts, but those may not be enough to overcome the speed, upside and developmental value of playing the younger players.

Beyond that, they signed another depth and special teams signing in Casey Matthews, a linebacker who never impressed for the Eagles , but he is at least good at the ancillary duties of a bench player, like performing on the coverage and field-goal units. The current long snapper, Loeffler, is coming off of a terrible year and didn't have a stellar either. If McDermott wins the job, we could see a commensurate improvement in Jeff Locke's punting, a big problem with the Vikings' ability to win the field position game.

The Vikings also saw fit to sign development quarterback Mike Kafka, an athletic player with prototypical size and an intriguing arm. If the Vikings do not manage to draft a developmental quarterback late in the draft, Kafka may end up with the third roster spot. Rayford has the kind of build that Mike Zimmer looks for in a defensive end. The final addition to mention was the first to happen, a waiver wire pickup for tight end Brandon Bostick, formerly of the Packers.

Though famous for his boneheaded play on an onside kick in the NFC Championship Game, Bostick brings with him some marginal backup experience as a versatile tight end for the Packers. Smith will be a popular pick as a breakout candidate for a second straight year, while Conklin looks more than ready to be a strong TE2.

And at running back, I'd like to see Alexander Mattison get a slightly larger share of the touches. The colossal workload Cook handled this year isn't sustainable, and Mattison has shown that he can make things happen when given opportunities.

You have to be able to run the ball. You have to be able to throw the ball. You have to be able to be very versatile. You have to be able to spread the ball around. Rick Spielman and the Vikings have allocated premium draft capital towards improving their offensive line in each of the past three years, spending a second-round pick on Brian O'Neill in , a first-rounder on Garrett Bradbury in , and a second-rounder on Ezra Cleveland this past year.

Along with that trio, they have a highly-paid veteran left tackle in Riley Reiff who put together one of the strongest seasons of his career in The Vikings were 26th in PFF's offensive line rankings for the season, primarily because they graded as the 28th-best pass blocking team in the league. Reiff was solid in that area and O'Neill was fine, even though he regressed slightly from But as PFF points out, the interior of the line was an unmitigated disaster.

None of their three starters on the interior cracked the top 32 at their respective position. As it turns out, drafting highly mobile linemen to fit a zone-blocking run scheme means sacrificing a lot in pass protection. It's too early to be worried about Cleveland given that he was a rookie playing out of position, but it's absolutely time to start being concerned that Bradbury will never be able to adequately anchor against powerful defensive tackles.

That's a major problem for a first-round center, even if he's excellent in the ground game. This offseason, the Vikings need to make a decision at left tackle. I might lean towards doing the latter, since the rookie appears to be best-suited at tackle in the long-term and they might as well start developing him there now. But that would then mean finding two new guards: one to take Cleveland's spot and one to replace Dakota Dozier, who was arguably the worst offensive lineman in the NFL who played a full season in The Vikings being content to start Dozier all year is one of the more indefensible things I've seen a professional sports team do recently, but that's a discussion for another day.

With the right moves in the draft and free agency, this could be an above-average offensive line next season. But then again, Vikings fans have been saying that same thing for years. As we move to the defensive side of the ball, let's start with a simple one: the Vikings need to get their key players back to full health.

I do think if you said, 'OK, well, Kendricks, Barr, Hunter and Pierce are coming back,' I think that's going to improve us automatically.

While Zimmer repeatedly mentioning injuries over the past few weeks may come across as an excuse, it's also a legitimately valid one. With that said, it was refreshing to hear him admit that he "probably miscalculated some things going into the season when we lost all the guys that we lost the year before.

Getting those players back will help, and ideally the Vikings can continue to rebuild their defensive depth as well. A potential holdout or trade demand from Hunter looms large over this offseason, but does he really have the leverage to execute that after major neck surgery? For now, all we have is a positive yet non-specific update.

I know he thinks he's going to be able to come back and be better than he was before. Getting Pierce into the fold will also be huge. Last season was Zimmer's first without Linval Joseph, and losing his replacement nose tackle to an opt-out was a big blow. Pierce reportedly picked up CrossFit during the season and weighs around pounds, according to Darren Wolfson. That's important considering he's had issues with his weight reaching nearly pounds in the past.

The Vikings have several holes to fill on their roster, and this happens to be a difficult offseason for those purposes. In order to add, they first have to subtract. What that means is that some tough decisions lie ahead. That's true with Reiff and Rudolph on offense, but the more difficult decisions probably lie on defense, specifically when it comes to the future of the Anthonys, Barr and Harris.

Losing Barr in Week 2 to a season-ending pectoral injury was a tough break for Zimmer and the Vikings. But halfway through the season, Eric Wilson was producing big plays at such a high rate that Barr was suddenly starting to seem expendable in Through eight weeks, Wilson had three interceptions, 2.

The Wilson vs. Barr debate, which I wrote about at length at the time , is about weighing the splash plays of the younger, cheaper Wilson against Barr's all-around ability, particularly against the run.

That's not ideal for a player who has been fairly inconsistent since an elite season in But given the way the season played out, I'd expect the Vikings to lean towards restructuring Barr's contract over paying Wilson in free agency doing both should be off the table. The Vikings are scheduled to visit the 49ers on Sunday, Nov. Warner was a player we ranked at No. He's becoming more of a household name now, however, as some of the 49ers defensive talent has left while Warner just continues to get better.

Even after two impressive seasons, Warner managed to put up career numbers in with combined tackles, two interceptions, seven quarterback hits and a sack. He warranted an AV of 19, which was far better than any other inside linebacker, and earned his first Pro Bowl nod as well as an All-Pro selection.

Presented by. The Vikings have certainly been busy this offseason. Offseason summed up in three words or fewer. Biggest question still to be answered.