The Minnesota Vikings were expected to make offensive adjustments this offseason, but no one expected it come in the form of a wide receiver. The team has been toying with the idea of what to do with the future of Adrian Peterson, but have yet to come to a conclusion on the running back. In the mean time, they made a trade for a wide receiver which could force other adjustments in free agency.
According to ESPN, the Vikings have filed to trade a fifth-round draft pick this year to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for Mike Wallace and a 2015 seventh-round draft pick. This move was made just before the Dolphins were going to have to pay Wallace a $3 million roster bonus. Miami had been toying with a potential trade or release of the wide receiver since the offseason as his salary-cap hit was not wanted after the contract to Ndamukong Suh. In the end the Vikings made a deal.
Head coach Mike Zimmer made it clear the Vikings were all-in on Teddy Bridgewater and intended to give his speed and athleticism to work with at the wide receiver spot. The team got a breakout star with Charles Johnson last year which made up for the downfalls of Cordarrelle Patterson. He will pair next to veteran Greg Jennings next season.
We want to have a lot of speed offensively, and we feel like that will help a lot," coach Mike Zimmer said, via ESPN. "With Charles Johnson, it opens up more things for runners, it opens up more things for tight ends. And with Teddy, you know, he plays so damn accurate, it opens things up."
Wallace comes at a price to Minnesota. The wide receiver inked a $60 million contract in 2013. That pairs with the deal to Jennings who is an $11 million cap hit in 2015 while the contract for Peterson still looms. Does the addition of Wallace mean someone has to leave? The Vikings have yet to get enough out of Patterson to guarantee that he can remain on the team without more help. That means Jennings could easily stay put.
The Wallace trade could mean Adrian Peterson has no intentions of returning and the Vikings are prepared to deal him. The running back and the franchise have met several times since he was reinstated back into the NFL, but the Pioneer Press reports that Peterson is still unhappy with the Vikings and would like a trade to the Arizona Cardinals as a deal to the Dallas Cowboys looks unlikely.
The Wallace trade could simply mean the Vikings wanted one more weapon for Bridgewater to work with. With Peterson at running back and Johnson, Patterson, Jennings and Wallace taking over the wide receiver spots, the Minnesota offense would be strong in 2015.
