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Do you have a comment or question? Send it to the vikings.com Mailbag! Every Monday during the offseason we’ll post several comments and/or questions as part of the vikings.com Monday Morning Mailbag feature. Although we can’t post every comment or question, we will reply to every question submitted.

To submit a comment or question to the mailbag, send an email to Mike Wobschall at wobschallm@vikings.nfl.net. Remember to include your name and town on the email.

The one good thing about going 3-13 is that we get the opportunity to add an immediate impact player through the draft, or we can trade down to add more depth. Either one would be great for the Vikings, as I feel we are not that far from being a playoff contender. However, there are many big-name free agents this year. Now that Rick Spielman is the GM, what do you feel will be his way? The Vikings rarely make a huge free agent acquisition or trade, except for Jared Allen, but there is depth in free agent wide receivers and cornerbacks this year. Can Vikings fans expect to land DeSean Jackson, Vincent Jackson, Dwayne Bowe, Brent Grimes, Cortland Finnegan, etc.? Or will the team look to add quality depth through the draft and not pay the high prices for the guys mentioned above? I don’t want get my hopes up.
-- Carlos C.
Fullerton, CA

The ideal free agent to sign is one who is coming off a rookie contract and is poised to turn potential into production. A great example of that type of free agent signing under Spielman is TE Visanthe Shiancoe. With that being said, it can also benefit the team to spend big money on a free agent who has already arrived, and Carlos mentioned a handful of those types of players in his question. While I think Spielman and the Vikings personnel staff will maintain their strategy of finding young up-and-comers in the free agent market, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see a blue-chip free agent signed by the Vikings this offseason, and if that type of free agent is signed I think it will indeed be a CB or WR. Of the players Carlos mentioned, my top two choices would be Grimes and V. Jackson. But my favorite potential unrestricted free agent is Washington S LaRon Landry.

Hey Mike,
If the Colts take Andrew Luck and the Rams end up taking Matt Kalil, who would we draft?
-- John
vikings.com Blog commenter

If that scenario unfolds, the Vikings will be in position to either add an immediate impact player or trade back a few spots and still grab a player they can use right away. At this juncture in the pre-draft process, my sense is that WR Justin Blackmon, QB Robert Griffin III and CBs Morris Claiborne and Dre Kirkpatrick would be the top prospects in the scenario John laid out. So the Vikings choice would be to select one of those players, or trade back with another team – Cleveland at #4, Washington at #6 and Miami at #9 – and then still be in position to grab one of the above-mentioned players or even OTs Jonathan Martin out of Stanford and Riley Reiff out of Iowa, both of whom are expected to be selected in the early half of the 1st round.

I tend to lean toward trading back one spot with Cleveland – if they’d be willing to part with their second 1st-round pick (Atlanta’s selection from last year’s Julio Jones trade) – and then taking the highest-rated player on the board among CBs and OTs.

Do you think the Vikings might consider signing Braylon Edwards to an incentive-laden contract and have him rehab for six months with Eric Sugarman and Adrian Peterson? He seems like a quality guy and was a No. 3 draft pick originally…seems like available talent where the Vikings need help.
-- Bill P.
CA

I don’t disagree that the Vikings would benefit from trying to upgrade the WR position, but I’m just as certain that Braylon Edwards is not the way the Vikings would prefer to accomplish that task. Edwards, while certainly a capable player at his position, does not fit the mold of the ideal free agent signing, which we discussed in a previous question, and I think there are also questions about his health that would move him far down the list of free agents to pursue.

There are potential free agent WRs that we didn’t mention above that might offer the Vikings a better alternative to Edwards, such as Marques Colston, Pierre Garcon, Mario Manningham and Robert Meachem.

With all the talk of possibly trading down a spot or two, my question is what are the possibilities they try to draft Trent Richardson? We all love Adrian Peterson; I personally cried when I saw the hit he took. But with both our running backs coming off ligament tears, and Adrian’s being pretty threatening, doesn't it make sense to draft an elite back as an insurance policy? I pray every night Adrian returns to form, but we'd be quite foolish to think there's any possibility of that happening this season, if at all. And regardless of how healthy Toby Gerhart is, his best day is a walk through for Richardson. I just think with a young quarterback and a weak receiving core, the running game is going to ultimately decide how good the Vikings are next year. Plus, the new rookie salary cap makes it quite feasible money-wise. Sorry, I just don't think Morris Claiborne is going be enough to help this team take a significant step forward, as good as he is.
-- Randy S.

I think Randy is selling short Peterson’s ability and determination to come back from injury and Gerhart’s effectiveness as an NFL RB. With that said, I agree with Randy that it would be wise for the Vikings to ensure they have an insurance policy at RB behind both Gerhart and Peterson should one or both of them be unable to contribute in the early stages of the 2012 season. But I don’t believe that insurance policy should be acquired with a 1st-round pick. The Vikings have enough invested into the RB position already with Peterson and Gerhart, which means the organization will be better-served to use high-round draft choices on other positions.

I don’t have a reason to doubt that Richardson will be a great pro somewhere in the NFL, but I also have no reason to believe he’ll be a great pro for the Vikings when we already have the NFL’s best RB (Peterson) and one of the NFL’s best #3 RBs (Gerhart).

Is there any way possible that the Vikings could make a play or offer for Peyton Manning should he be released by the Colts? Could the Vikings ever come up with a suitable trade offer? Do they have anything in the cupboard to offer? I was listening today to Detroit sports radio, and they (Lions fans) are very fearful of the thought of Manning in a Viking uniform.
-- Steven
Windsor, Ontario
Canada

It’s a possibility, but it’s extremely unlikely because the team has invested in a better long-term option with Christian Ponder. There’s no question that Manning has had a Hall-of Fame career, but that doesn’t mean that every team should be interested in adding him to their roster if the Colts are looking to trade or release him. Manning will be 36 years old when the 2012 season begins and he’s due $28 million in March, plus he’ll be attempting to come back from multiple surgeries on his neck; his latest surgery cost him the entire 2011 season. It all adds up to a bad option for the Vikings, especially with Ponder already in the fold. The Vikings should do everything in their power to continue the development of Ponder, and the performance this weekend from Eli Manning supports that idea.