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Your newest Minnesota Viking: Jared Allen
By Viking Visionary | April 23, 2008
The Vikings have finally gotten their guy after spending all sorts of time and resources to pry Jared Allen away from the Kansas City Chiefs. He didn’t come cheap, but it’s not everyday that a team lets their best player go just as he is entering the prime of his career, especially not when that player happens to dominate at one of the most important positions in football. Don’t let the price tag fool you – the Vikings just took advantage of a team that was in between a rock and a hard place.
Jared Allen told the Chiefs he would not sign a long term contract with them, essentially forcing their hand to get what they could for him now. That turned out to be our first round draft pick, two third rounders, and swapping spots five picks apart in the sixth round. According to the draft chart, all of those picks combined total 1357 points, about the equivalent of the ninth overall pick. No team in their right mind would trade away last year’s sack leader, only 26 years old, for the ninth pick in the first round. Why? Because he is as close to a sure thing as there is, and you never really know how draft picks will pan out. Just look at the Vikings two picks in the first round of 2005, WR Troy Williamson and DE Erasmus James. To put it mildly, neither has come close to living up to their first round status. But the Chiefs had to take whatever they could get, and the Vikings stepped up to the plate.
Jared Allen fills an enormous need for the Vikings defense, a position that is the corner stone of the Tampa 2 defense and probably the 2ndmost important position on the whole team: a pass rushing defensive end. It is actually a testament to how good the rest of the defense is that they were able to do as well as they did without any consistent pressure on the opposing quarterback. With Allen on board, the sky is the limit for the Vikings’ D, and we should reasonably expect them to dominate games and finish in the top 5 for overall defense. The defensive line will be downright scary with Allen lining up next to Pat and Kevin Williams, with probably Ray Edwards on the other side. The other team’s pocket won’t collapse, it will implode! And that is precisely why owner Zygi Wilf dug deep into his pocket and made Allen the highest paid defensive player in football. He will earn $73.26 million over six years, $31 million guaranteed. That may be a lot, but we will get to watch him terrorize opposing QBs for years to come.
I imagine there will be a good deal of demand for the new Jared Allen Minnesota Vikings jersey, especially if he keeps his number, 69. *Edit* He did! Imagine that. Here is a link to buy the coolest Vikings jersey ever!
How good is Allen? Would you like to get a taste of what we have to look forward too? Let VikeVision enlighten you…
Outlook for the 2008 Minnesota Vikings: NFC North Champs, playoffs, and who knows from there?!
Topics: Beyond the NFC North, Coaching Staff and Ownership, Free Agent Focus, NFL Draft, Purple Predictions, Vikings |