Reaction: Pierce opts out, Cook shows up
Linval Joseph's replacement won't be a Viking until 2021
Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
Two big pieces of news came down in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday. The first: The Minnesota Vikings’ biggest offseason signing — figuratively and literally — will not be in their lineup in 2020. Nose tackle Michael Pierce has opted out of this season, telling the Pioneer Press that concerns over asthma are behind the decision. The former Baltimore Raven signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the Vikings in March.
The second: ESPN’s Courtney Cronin reports that Dalvin Cook reported to camp for his COVID test on Tuesday.
Let’s have a look at what it all means…
What happens with Pierce’s contract?
Pierce’s contract will toll, which means that his deal will simply begin in 2021. The Vikings can spend the cap space created by his absence.
UPDATE on Pierce’s cap hit for this year:
What happens with Cook’s contract?
Cook didn’t have much choice about showing up to camp. If he skipped out he would have lost an accrued season and become an RFA after this year. Now that he’s with the team, the two sides can continue to work toward a new contract.
In previous years similar deals have been signed in late July without any holdout issues. However, if the negotiations do not get on track as we get closer to real practices, that’s where things will get very interesting. The reason a player holds out is because they don’t want to take the risk of practicing or playing and suffering an injury without any protection from their deal (and to put pressure on the team, of course).
Will Cook step on the practice field in 2-3 weeks if he doesn’t have an extension? We will have to wait and see.
Who will replace Pierce?
The answer could be on the free agent market. Snacks Harrison had a down year with the Detroit Lions in 2019 but he is the free agent on the market with the most similar resume and skillset to Pierce as a massive run-stuffing nose tackle. There are numerous other proven defensive tackles on the market like Marcell Dareus, Brandon Mebane, Timmy Jernigan and Clinton McDonald who could be an option as well.
In house the Vikings have a severe lack of experienced nose tackles on the roster. They could either turn the job over to veteran Shamar Stephen, who filled in during Linval Joseph’s absence in 2016 or Jaleel Johnson, who was Joseph’s replacement last year.
Mike Zimmer could also roll with Week 17 nose tackle Armon Watts, who dominated the Bears’ starting offensive linemen during that game and gave the team reason to believe he would be a big part of 2020 already. That would keep Stephen at the three-technique position along with several others expected to battle for rotational spots, including Hercules Mata’afa, Jalyn Holmes and rookie James Lynch.
Opening cap space with Pierce’s opt out gives the Vikings the option of adding at another position like offensive line or cornerback if they want. It could also make room for Cook’s extension to spread out some of the cap hit onto 2020.
What’s the most likely scenario with both situations?
The Vikings’ defensive requires good play from the nose tackle so it would make sense for them to add at least one veteran . At very least they would want someone who who can rotate into that position or be an in-case-of-emergency type player.
It still doesn’t appear likely that Griffen is coming back. However, the door is now wide(r) open so that outcome shouldn’t be counted out.
Zimmer might have a little less pressure with his new contract extension but you can bet he’s still looking at this season as a chance to win the NFC North. Losing Pierce only gives him more incentive to push for the front office to work things out with Cook so they can move forward without contract-related distractions. Best bet is that the Vikings and Cook work out a deal soon somewhere in between Derrick Henry’s $12.5 million and Christian McCaffrey’s $16 million.
What other opt outs around the league (so far) will impact the Vikings?
The biggest one by far is Chicago nose tackle Eddie Goldman. He’s been an absolute nightmare for them over the past few seasons. Goldman graded a 90.9 in Week 4 last year versus the Vikings, the highest grade of his season. Garrett Bradbury is breathing a little easier today.
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Fortunately, as you've listed, lots of bodies available , some of them pretty good. Plus, Kick the Can down the road on delvin's contract and sign Logan Ryan to solidify the cornerback group and sign any one of the listed bodies for the D line
I admit I haven't been especially impressed with Jaleel Johnson, but it seemed our interior DL did well against a strong Cowboys running team last year, and I think Johnson was replacing Joseph in most of that game.