NFL offseason wish list: Minnesota Vikings

Welcome to our fantasy football wish lists where we’re going through each NFL team and listing three things we’d love to see them do this offseason for fantasy reasons (but also real football reasons).

2018 was a fall from grace for the Vikings who would have been hoping to push on from making the 2017 NFC title game, and especially after winning the Kirk Cousins stakes to compliment their top tier defense. However Cousins spent his first season running for his life as the Vikings’ offensive line had more holes than a Superhero movie plot. Needless to say, I believe the main focus in Minnesota this offseason should be to fix the offensive line and give Cousins a chance to justify his $84m contract.

Sign Matt Paradis and protect Kirk Cousins

Paradis would be an instant upgrade for the Vikings line as he was ranked as the #2 center in 2019 by Pro Football Focus. Pat Elflein who held the position in 2018 by comparison came in at #38 and was part of an interior line that was like a saloon door to opposing defenses. Bringing in Mitch Morse from the Chiefs is another option but either way, the Vikings need to start rebuilding from the inside out.

Sign Rodger Saffold

You can see a theme here. Saffold was the #9 rated guard per PFF last season and was part of a Rams outfit that nearly won the whole thing. His experience would be vital for the Vikings’ line and would sure up one of the guard positions that allowed an incredible 77 pressures in 2018. Releasing former free agent pickup Mike Remmers would go some way to creating the cap space to make this move possible.

Wrap Dalvin Cook in cotton wool (but just for the offseason)

Now onto the fantasy wish list. Cook returned from the ACL injury he suffered four games into his rookie season and played in 11 games in 2018. It took a while to get up to speed but he was able to get back to some of his rookie form and over the last 6 weeks of the season, averaged 18 ppr points per game, as well as racking up 47 missed tackles in his appearances. Heading into 2019, I’m high on Cook realising his early potential and to enable that I want to see the Vikings keep his offseason workload light and have him 100% ready to light up next season. Think Adrian Peterson in his prime and keeping him out of pre-season action as a start and let him fly when the lights come back on in September.