Welcome back Riley Reiff!

Time to turn the young dogs loose and see what they got.  Opinions around here are the same...he's not worth 11 million.  Spend the money elsewhere...

Sounds like a deal is getting ironed out with Reiff. He stays.

Adam Thielen spoke on Riley Reiff's influence today. Looks like Reiff is sticking around, per report. "When he first came here, he kind of changed the culture of that offensive line room, and it kind of just trickled down from there. ... I love him as a teammate and as a man."

— Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) September 1, 2020

Restructure so the Vikes can trade him before the deadline? I'm good with that :) 

I'm in agreement that Reiff is not worth $11M, and probably not even $8M. I would like to see what O'Neill can do at LT and Udoh at RT, but.....let's remember that Spielman is about 1-for-40 in identifying successful offensive linemen. That might sound harsh but my judgment is that an OL has to have more than 1 good year, and so far that is only Brian O'Neill - not Elflein, or Kalil, or Fusco, or any of the duds who didn't have any good seasons (which appears likely to include Samia as well). So I am hopeful but not confident.

Just saw on NFLN "finalizing restructured contract".  What they're saying is that yesterday Reiff was telling teammates goodbye, then his agent got on the phone calling teams and found out nobody else wanted to pay him $11mil either.  So Reiff swallowed his ego (and a TBD chunk of his paycheck) and stayed. 

Think on it... if not for COVID trashing everyone's likely 2020 revenue and 2021 salary cap, Reiff probably finds a taker and is gone. So COVID lost us Pierce but let us keep Reiff.  Hmmm... think I'd rather have Pierce.  On second thought, screw you COVID, again :p

The sneaky great thing about keeping Reiff is that it keeps Brian O'Neill at right tackle.

Not only would a switch 12 days before the start of the season hurt his development & play, but it'd also allow him to demand left tackle money when he's up for an extension next year.

— Nick Olson (@NickOlsonNFL) September 1, 2020

We're a better team with him, so why am I not excited about keeping him? I think I'm ready to start the future.

What we've learned from this is that the Vikings are not at all afraid to put O'Neill on the left and this is likely going to happen next season. OR....do the Vikings put O'Neill there now, with Hill and Udoh competing on the right, and a lower-paid Reiff at left guard? 

@"PurpleCrush" said: https://twitter.com/NickOlsonNFL/status/1300864461008523264

I don't buy this. Why wouldn't O'Neill ask for LT money anyway? He's a superb athlete for the position, he played LT in college, has great pass blocking grades - another team would sign him in free agency as their projected LT without hesitation. He won't sign if the Vikings lowball him. Besides, won't they be plugging him in at LT next fall anyway, or is Reiff here long-term? So we will offer him an extension suitable for a RT just as we ask him to move to LT? Nonsense.

Or look at it this way: our 31-year-old below-average declining OT is modestly happy to stay, but it might make our 24-year-old potential star OT unhappy.

@"MaroonBells" said: We're a better team with him, so why am I not excited about keeping him? I think I'm ready to start the future.

What we've learned from this is that the Vikings are not at all afraid to put O'Neill on the left and this is likely going to happen next season. OR....do the Vikings put O'Neill there now, with Hill and Udoh competing on the right, and a lower-paid Reiff at left guard? 

This.

Feels like I'm the only one happy about this, which is actually funny because sometimes I feel like the only realist (some might say pessimist) on this board at times.
But I'm glad he's back!
The team offered him a deal that the team thought was fair, and he took it. Seems like a win-win to me. The downside of O'Neill not moving to LT is real I guess, but who's to say how he would have fared there anyways. Nothing is certain. At least with Reiff he's a known commodity and will hopefully be playing to show some other team he needs a nice new deal next year.

All it does is delay the upgrade that this oline needs.  Reiff is not the answer, never was.   Wish they'd go young, take their lumps and build for the future.

Not especially thrilled by the news that Reiff is remaining in purple. Anybody have the new numbers yet? Hope they got a real cap break.

I am in the camp that says it's time to move on, this OL has sucked for way to long. Time to let the youngsters show their stuff.

Yeah, and if Reiff was telling teammates goodbye yesterday but just changed his mind because his agent told him no one was interested in his salary, that's not exactly commitment. I know, it is no different than how team management is treating him, but let's not act like he will be some dedicated team leader.

Reiff is a good football player and great teammate. He’s the best we have since the Trent Williams deal fell through. Reminds me of teen or twenties dating. Dudes are always eyeing the hot one whi may be bad instead of the very good one you already have. 

EDIT STICKY YOU EFFER! 

Reiffs pay cut: down to $6 mio. (up to 8 depending on his playing time) from nearly $11 mio.

That's a pretty hefty cut, almost in half. But at least he's got a chance to get some of it back.

Details of the paycut that kept #Vikings LT Riley Reiff in Minnesota: He agreed to take his salary from $11M to $6M, source said. A $5M paycut. Reiff can earn back $2M of that with playtime incentives.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 3, 2020

@"GermanVike" said: Reiffs pay cut: down to $6 mio. (up to 8 depending on his playing time) from nearly $11 mio.

That's a pretty hefty cut, almost in half. But at least he's got a chance to get some of it back.

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1301501357929701378?s=20

He was smart to take it. Too many veterans get all offended and refuse to acknowledge their age and declining performance no longer matches their salary. So they get released, uproot their families and go try to get up to speed on a new team with a totally different blocking scheme.  I'm fairly certain that Reiff got more out of this deal than he would've on the open market.