One Young, One Old?

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@supafreak84 said:
I don't think we can afford to lose our entire starting nickel package in one offseason. I think the smart thing to do is re-sign Alexander who will come the cheapest and is a solid slot corner. Lock that position up. You have to sink or swim with Hughes next season on the outside and hope he continues to progress a year after the knee injury and I think he will. Rhodes is done here, so that leaves one position to battle over between Hill and likely a draft pick. 

100% agree that they likely won't let the entire nickel package walk. But I do think Hughes/Mac are interchangeable to some degree. If Mac walks you can slide Hughes inside and resign Waynes. Trae hasn't lived up to his top 15 pick status but has developed into a pretty good CB. Long-term I think Hughes projects better in the slot since he's so sticky in coverage. He is completely serviceable on the outside but I think you're looking at a situation where a guy could become a pro bowl CB inside vs. an average to above average guy on the outside. 

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The Vikings CB situation is a mess and after spending three high picks on CBs in a short period of time, I really don't want to spend another high pick on a corner, when we have so many glaring needs on the roster. Unfortunately, Rhodes has declined faster than anticipated & Hughes has been a disappointment (in part due to an ACL tear), but given the choice I'd keep Alexander and Waynes over Rhodes and Hughes, but we'll likely be stuck with the wrong two CBs. I'd really like to see them address CB through FA and if we must draft a corner, then wait until at least the 3rd round. It frustrates me that Zimmer has a reputation for being a CB guru, but seems to only be able to function with 1st round talent. I get that the past picks that they spent are a sunk cost, I'm just not excited about spending another high pick on a corner especially if we continue to ignore needs like DT and LT.

Edit: Hill & Boyd are somewhat exceptions to the rule, Hill is too erratic off the field to trust as a fixture of the D and Boyd is still developing.

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To those that don't think it is wise to spend 10+ mil on your starting safeties...

The Vikings run a 4-3 defense and paid two of their starting LBs a boatload of money last off-season... which I argued was not a good allocation of our cap space.

This time, I actually think we should pay Harris.  He's a playmaker back there and yes, he benefits from playing next to Harrison Smith.  However, he is really good in coverage and frees up Smith to roam the field and play up at the LOS.

After seeing us use Barr the same way we always have, it wasn't a good move to hand him that big ass contract.  If we hadn't, we wouldn't even be talking about letting Harris walk IMO.

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@Wetlander said:
To those that don't think it is wise to spend 10+ mil on your starting safeties...

The Vikings run a 4-3 defense and paid two of their starting LBs a boatload of money last off-season... which I argued was not a good allocation of our cap space.

This time, I actually think we should pay Harris.  He's a playmaker back there and yes, he benefits from playing next to Harrison Smith.  However, he is really good in coverage and frees up Smith to roam the field and play up at the LOS.

After seeing us use Barr the same way we always have, it wasn't a good move to hand him that big ass contract.  If we hadn't, we wouldn't even be talking about letting Harris walk IMO.

This is a really good point, Wet. I’d disagree on letting Barr walk but it definitely isn’t how you draw up using your resources which is almost a mirror image of the safety situation.

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wonder what the chances are that Rhoades does some soul searching and figures out how to extend his career. Id hate to restructure him and lock ourselves into him for say 2-3 more years only to find out this year a trend not an anomaly.