A few weeks from now, Trey Smith will walk out on his lawn. The neighbor kid will have mowed it. His coffee will be hot, and the sun will be shining. He will about to become a free agent, and the amount of money he will earn would have even the most pessimistic of people grinning from ear to ear.
But this quiet utopian morning is about to get loud. A giant purple van is speeding down the street, knocking over trash cans and mailboxes on the way to the Smith residence. A large man named Sven from St. Cloud jumps out of the driver’s seat, and two other unnamed people approach Smith and toss him in the back.
After a few hours, Smith finds himself in the basement of TCO Performance Center, handcuffed to a locker. After being forced to watch game tape of Dru Samia and Dakota Dozier try to play guard, he screams in horror as he finds a skeleton from Spencer Gifts dressed in a Bernard Berrian jersey.
“OKAY!! OKAY!!! I’LL SIGN!!!” Smith screams.
That’s what many fans want the Minnesota Vikings to do in free agency. After years of watching countless guys try to play guard, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah must choose between spending a large chunk of his $58 million in cap space on a player who fills a void that has persisted for this franchise or spread out the money to fix several holes on the roster.
To observers, the answer is obvious. To Adofo-Mensah, it’s quite complicated.
Can he play guard? started at the beginning of the Brad Childress era. A man with the charisma reserved for your local city council meeting, Childress wasn’t the most entertaining coach in the world. Still, he knew that the offensive line was crucial to NFL success.
Childress had his eye on the free-agent market and immediately identified Steve Hutchinson. A stalwart with the Seattle Seahawks, there was no way Mike Holmgren would let him leave town. That is until Minnesota’s front office got creative.
People expected Seattle to franchise-tag Hutchinson, but Holmgren decided to use the transition tag, which allowed other teams to negotiate with Hutchinson. The All-Pro guard was upset that the Seahawks didn’t use the franchise tag on him and started to work out a free-agent deal with the Vikings – even though Seattle likely would match.
That’s when Rob Brzezinski went to work. The Simone Biles of cap gymnastics offered Hutchinson a seven-year, $49 million contract with a “poison pill” clause. The entire deal will become guaranteed if any offensive lineman made more than Hutchinson in any season. Since the Seahawks signed Walter Jones to a seven-year, $50 million extension the previous offseason, the clause virtually guaranteed Hutchinson would head to Minnesota.
Things got weird after that. The Seahawks put a poison pill in Nate Burleson’s contract, and the NFL restricted the use of such clauses in 2011. Still, it didn’t stop the Vikings from getting what they wanted.
Hutchinson was a menace for the Vikings, giving them the sandpaper they needed in the trenches. He would be part of the team that went to the NFC Championship game in 2009 and played six seasons in Minnesota before finishing his career with the Tennessee Titans in 2012. The NFL inducted him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
The memories of Hutchinson blowing up large men in the trenches has a special place in the hearts of Vikings fans. And after watching Ed Ingram and Blake Brandel flounder last season, many believe it would be worth every penny to bring Smith to Minnesota (sans poison pills and kidnapping, of course).
However, before the Vikings pull up to Smith’s house with a giant truck full of cash, they might want to consider what else they could do with the money.
The Vikings were in a similar situation with Danielle Hunter a year ago. Hunter was the best pass rusher on Minnesota’s roster, but his $24.5 million price tag was too rich to keep him around.
Hunter got what he wanted in a two-year deal with the Houston Texans, and the Vikings decided to spread the wealth. Partially aided by the decision to move on from Kirk Cousins, Minnesota signed Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel, and Blake Cashman in free agency and still had enough to sign Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones the following day.
All five players played a crucial role in Minnesota’s 14-3 season. They set the tone for a team that doubled its expected win total of 6.5. While it may be tempting to go all-in and sign Smith, filling some of the Vikings’ other needs may be more practical.
For example, if Smith wants a crazy amount of money, it could eliminate the idea of keeping Darnold around for a second season. If the price gets obscene, the Vikings may be unable to sign a cornerback or interior defensive lineman who could have the same impact.
If Smith were the only solid option on the market, overpaying would make sense. However, there are 11 guards listed in PFF’s top 100 players list, with seven listed in the top 50.
It’s all about what Adofo-Mensah perceives as the best value. Is it worth paying Smith over $20 million per season? Or is it better to sign James Daniels and Mekhi Becton for $14.5 million and still have money to use on some of the other flaws?
It won’t be as celebrated as getting the biggest guard on the market. But it should be enough to prevent the Vikings from reaching desperate measures to find out who can play guard.