Tag: Dan Bailey

Grading the Vikings’ major offseason decisions so far

Here are some of the major moves the Minnesota Vikings made in the 2021 NFL offseason — from Kyle Rudolph to Riley Reiff.

With the way the salary cap is set for 2021, the Vikings are left with some tough financial decisions this offseason.

The team has made some of those choices already. Minnesota has cut key veterans in an attempt to save money on the 2021 salary cap and gear up for the next NFL season. So Vikings Wire has composed a list of some of the major decisions the team has made, followed by a letter grade for each.

The Vikings have released CB Tae Hayes and CB Cordrea Tankersley, among other moves, but those decisions will not be graded.

Here is an analysis of the team’s biggest moves:

Vikings restructure with punter Britton Colquitt

The Minnesota Vikings have restructured with punter Britton Colquitt, another cost-saving measure for the 2021 NFL salary cap.

The Vikings went with continuity on special teams this past season. Kicker Dan Bailey, long snapper Austin Cutting and punter/holder Britton Colquitt all stayed with the team.

Cutting was waived during the season. The team released Bailey this week. Colquitt, the last player of the three still on the roster, appears to be coming back, at least.

Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said on KFAN that the team restructured with Colquitt (H/T Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune). The move marks yet another cap-saving measure for the team this offseason.

Colquitt will be playing for the veteran minimum of $1.075 million, saving Minnesota almost $1.3 million in cap space for 2021, per Goessling. With that decision, the Vikings will have around $10 million in 2021 cap space. They’ve come a long way from when this season’s base cap was first announced. 

Besides Bailey, the Vikings have released key contributors like TE Kyle Rudolph and LT Riley Reiff after the season was over. Now, Minnesota is the only team in the NFC North that has positive cap space, according to Over The Cap.

A look at Riley Reiff’s career earnings

The Vikings released the nine-year pro on Wednesday.

The Vikings released left tackle Riley Reiff on Wednesday in a move to help them get under the cap heading into the 2021 season.

Reiff, 32, is still capable of starting somewhere else, but the Vikings weren’t in a place to pay $11.75 million for his services next season.

During his nine-year career, the 2012 first-round pick has made $60.1 million per Spotrac. A huge chunk ($44 million) of that has come from the Vikings.

The Vikings have already released kicker Dan Bailey in a move to save cap space (and probably improve the position).

Minnesota has also decided, as expected, to not put the franchise tag on safety Anthony Harris. It seems unlikely Harris ends up back with the Vikings.

Dan Bailey’s agent on Vikings: ‘No bad blood from either side’

Minnesota released kicker Dan Bailey on Tuesday, right before he was supposed to have $1.8 million guaranteed for the 2021 season.

The woes for the Vikings at the kicker position continue.

Minnesota released kicker Dan Bailey on Tuesday, right before he was supposed to have $1.8 million guaranteed for the 2021 season.

After the release, Bailey’s again had this to say via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press:

Bailey will likely get an opportunity somewhere to at least compete for a job. After hitting 93.8% of his field goals in 2019, Bailey struggled mightily in 2020, hitting just 68.2% of his field goals and 88.2% of his extra points.

Bailey made $4.25 million last season with the Vikings and has made $21.6 million in his career via Spotrac.

Vikings release kicker Dan Bailey

For the Minnesota Vikings, the Dan Bailey era is officially over. The kicker was released by the Vikings on Tuesday.

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Throughout the history of their franchise, the Vikings have fallen victim to timely missed kicks.

There was Gary Anderson in 1998. There was Blair Walsh in the 2015 season. In 2020, it was Dan Bailey’s turn. Bailey missed three field goals and an extra point in a game against the Buccaneers, one that had plenty of playoff implications for both teams.

It seemed possible that Minnesota would release Bailey this offseason after he made just 68.2% of his field goals this past season. On Tuesday, the Vikings made it official, cutting Bailey and saving about $1.7 million on the 2021 salary cap before the official free agency window.

It should be pointed out that Bailey is one of the more accurate kickers in NFL history. He had inconsistent seasons in 2018 and 2020, but in 2019 he made over 93% of his field goals in the regular season.

Vikings fans might remember his porous games against the Buccaneers and Jaguars this past season, but they should also remember when he went 3-3 from 50-plus yards just a season ago. Similar to Anderson, Bailey’s body of work throughout his whole NFL career was impressive. He shouldn’t be defined by his bad stretch in 2020.

Four Vikings who could be cap casualties before free agency

Here are four Minnesota Vikings players who could be cut in an attempt to get under the 2021 salary cap.

The free agency window officially opens up on March 17. As of now, the Vikings aren’t in a great place to make any more moves.

Minnesota has agreed to terms with DE Stephen Weatherly already. However, the team appears to be over the salary cap floor. If the $180 million floor ends up being the salary cap, Minnesota will have to make some tough decisions to free up space.

Here are some of the decisions the team could make before it signs more players. Now, I don’t agree with all of these, but they are all possibilities at the moment. Here is the full list:

Five key decisions the Vikings are facing this offseason

The Minnesota Vikings have some important decisions to make this offseason.

Last season, the Vikings opted to retool much of their roster. Some of that was on account of little cap space, but the team also let go of players it probably could have re-signed.

Minnesota’s new-look roster did not bring it success in the short term. The Vikings finished 7-9, missing out on the playoffs.

For the team, the 2021 offseason is gearing up to be interesting. The Vikings face familiar decisions: Should the team let go of older veterans to bring in newer talent? Or should they retain big-time contributors?

Here are five of the more pressing decisions Minnesota will have to make before the 2021 season begins:

What the Vikings should do about K Dan Bailey

What should the Minnesota Vikings do about kicker Dan Bailey? It might be time for a change.

The Vikings are treading familiar waters this offseason.

Minnesota has offensive line issues. The team might want to add a cornerback. And Kirk Cousins has come under fire from fans, though much of the criticism is unfair.

Here’s another not-so-new story: Minnesota has a kicking problem. Dan Bailey is coming off a season where he made 68.2% of his field goals and 86.% of his extra points. Both of those marks are career lows.

I’ve seen some suggest that the Vikings should stick with Bailey, because a historically accurate kicker like him is bound to get back on track. I’m not so sure of that.

His recent body of work actually suggests a decline. In 2017 and 2018, Bailey made just 75% of his field goals.

But in 2019, the Vikings stuck with him and were rewarded for it. He made 93.1% of his field goals. That led to the team re-signing him last offseason. Then, he struggled in 2020. An NFL season can be a small sample size, but Bailey has been inconsistent three of the last four seasons.

Final stock up, stock down report of the Vikings’ 2020 NFL season

It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later. Here is the final stock up, stock down report for the Minnesota Vikings in the 2020 season.

In terms of playoff implications, the Vikings did not have anything to play for on Sunday against the Lions.

But the team still played a good game and pulled off the victory, moving to 7-9. Minnesota ended the year on a high note and now it’s time to assess what happened in the game.

The Vikings won 37-35. The offense put up points and the defense gave up big plays, so it wasn’t a huge departure from what happened most of the year.

Plenty of Vikings players stepped up. See whose stock went up and whose stock went down for the final time this 2020 NFL season.

Expect Dan Bailey to be the Vikings’ kicker on Sunday

All signs are pointing to Minnesota K Dan Bailey being the Vikings’ kicker on Sunday against the Detroit Lions in Week 17.

On Saturday, the Vikings announced some additions to the active roster and kicker Taylor Bertolet was not on the list.

The only other kicker Minnesota has besides Bertolet on the active roster or practice squad is Dan Bailey at the moment.

That means Minnesota will likely stick with Bailey at kicker. Bailey was listed as questionable on the Vikings’ injury report this week. However, he did tell reporters that he should be able to go this game.

“I had a good workload [Friday], and I felt good doing that,” Bailey said, per Mark Craig of the Star Tribune. “The best I can do is put all that stuff behind me.”

So all signs point to Bailey being the Vikings’ kicker in the season finale. Bailey has struggled with misses this year, especially against the Buccaneers, but maybe he can finish strong.