Zulgad’s four-and-out: An early look at some of the Vikings’ potential free agent targets

From @jzulgad: Free agency might be six weeks away, but it’s never too early to start having conversations about who the Vikings should sign

The NFL season has yet to come to a conclusion, but that hasn’t stopped football’s version of the Hot Stove from heating up with speculation about what teams might do and where free agents could be headed.

The process doesn’t officially start until March 15, so much of the talk is focused on Senior Bowl practices and the prospects for the April 27-29 draft in Kansas City. Free agency scuttlebutt will take off later this month when the NFL Combine is held in Indianapolis.

That’s where team executives and agents have been known to have conversations involving players who are still under contract. Some call that tampering, but we here at Vikings Wire refer to it as good old-fashioned fun.

We also figure why wait until the combine to begin speculating on whom the Vikings might target. The Vikings are expected to part ways with a few veterans to open cap space, so who might replace them?

Pro Football Focus and ESPN (subscription) both published their lists of the top 50 free agents. Some of these players could have the franchise tag put on them or return to their current team, but many will sign elsewhere.

Here’s a look at whom the Vikings could target, focusing on the positions at which they could use help.