Hot Talk Vikings: Free Agency Splash

Well the Vikings had a very busy weekend in free agency trying to sore up a couple of areas of need. I think they were quite successful in doing this. First, the signing of Thomas Tapeh, Tapeh brings us a solid young replacement for the old vet Tony Richardson. I think Tapeh brings youth, as well as a good receiving threat out of the back field in the WCO. He is also intriguing because he is a local product whom the fans are very familiar with from his days with the Minnesota Gophers. Tapeh is a fullback who helped pave the way for Westbrook and I believe he will be very effective in paving the way for Peteson as well.

The second signing, Madieu Williams. This was a glaring need since we didn't resign Tank William or Mike Doss and we released the troubled Dwight Smith. Williams is a solid hybrid safety who covers receivers very well and is also solid against the run. Williams used to be a teammate of Henderson's at Maryland and played for Leslie Frazier at Cincinnati as well so he should fit right in. He is also a piller in the community as he is very active for the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati and as soon as he signed he visited the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis a much different perosn than the recently departed Dwight Smith.

Finally the top signing of the weekend Bernard Berrian. This is a "double whammy". Not only did they finally get a top notch receiving deep threat the took their divisional rivals top receiving threat away from them. I think Berrian will be a great addition to an offense who is in dire need of an accomplished receiver. Some say we overpaid for him, well I disagree. I think that he hasn't reached his full potential yet. He will also help open up things in the running game as well. If teams continue to run 8 and 9 players in the box they will get burned deep by Berrian.

Hopefully we are not done yet as it sounds as if we are going to sign Maurice Hicks at running back to replace Mewelde Moore and to shore up our return game as well. I am also hoping we can trade for a solid backup such as Sage Rosenfels or JP Losman. We need to get better in this area in case of poor play or injury to TJack. Since we lost out on Justin Smith (which I think is a good thing) I am hoping we get a shot at Antwan Odom who has gradually improved by getting 8 sacks last year. He would replace Udeze very well with his 6'5" 275 lb. frame. Skol Vikings.

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