After a rough outing for the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive line on Sunday, a reasonable question that’s been floated around is whether the Vikings could make a trade to bolster the struggling tackle position. The possibility of a deal is hindered by the Vikings’ lack of cap space. General Manager Rick Spielman said before the bye week that they had to tinker with the cap to even fit free agent Jake Long’s contract.
But Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll mentioned something about Minnesota and a lineman to the Seattle media.
Interestingly, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll referred to Minnesota “making a big move” for an offensive lineman during his press conference.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) October 26, 2016
Whether he was referring to Jake Long or somebody else is hard to say, though Long would hardly qualify as a “big move.”
Ian Rapaport says that a deal would be “news to the Vikings.”
That would be news to the #Vikings https://t.co/oIHGUdT4ND
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 26, 2016
Who might the Vikings be interested in?
Well, the name that has constantly come up is Cleveland Browns’ tackle Joe Thomas. The salary cap analysis website Over the Cap wrote about the Vikings’ possibilities for acquiring Thomas, saying:
“The Vikings would be the one team from that list that is in desperate need for a tackle, but they already gave up their 1st round pick in the 2017 draft for Sam Bradford and I can’t imagine them dumping their 2nd round pick for a 30 year old left tackle. I’d almost think it makes more sense for them to take a flier on a veteran like Ryan Clady or Michael Oher for a lower draft pick and cost and hoping those players can turn their season around. Minnesota would need to create cap space for pretty much any trade but for players of that level it would be far easier than for Staley or Thomas.”
According to Over the Cap, Thomas’ cost would be around $4.8 million on the cap, meaning the Vikings would have to deal players instead of just draft picks.
Pro Football Focus ranks current Vikings starting tackle TJ Clemmings 75th out of 75 qualifying tackles.
Check out this conversation with Arif Hasan on the struggles of the Vikings’ pass protection.
The post Did Pete Carroll spill the beans on a Vikings trade? appeared first on 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
Source:: 1500 ESPN Sportswire
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