Vikings impending free agent LB Anthony Barr said at the Pro Bowl that while he would like to be back in Minnesota next year, he’s open to seeing what other options are out there for him.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Barr said, via ESPN.com. “It’s been a whole year, two years really, coming, so — my contract was up last year, had the option, and this year now it’s really up so the possibilities I feel like are endless and I could be anywhere. I want to be back, like I’ve said throughout the last year, but like I’ve been saying also I know my worth and I know what I’ve got to do I’ve got to do it for me.”
As of now, it doesn’t appear as though Barr has put much thought into how things will play out over the next few months.
“I’m not sure there really is a plan,” Barr said. “I think it kind of dictates itself. I’ve done what I’ve done and what’s going to happen is kind of out of my control. Obviously I’ll have a choice, hopefully, as to where I want to go but I can’t control much more than what I’m doing now.”
Barr, 26, was taken with the No. 9 overall pick by the Vikings back in 2014. He played out the final year of his four-year $12,743,500 rookie contract and made a base salary of $2,157,750 for the 2017 season.
The Vikings elected to pick up his Barr’s fifth-year option, which paid him around $12.306 million for the 2018 season.
In 2018, Barr appeared in 13 games for the Vikings and recorded 55 tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble and two pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 26 linebacker out of 93 qualifying players.
We have him featured in our Top 50 – 2019 NFL Free Agents list.
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It would be great to see how Anthony Barr’s skillset fits into the GMEN 3-4 scheme. An OLB rotation of Barr, Carter, Martin and Barwin. Barr is athletic enough to make the transition and young enough only 26.
Barr will most likely end up playing for the Chiefs next year. The Chiefs and new DC Spagnuolo will be running the 4-3 scheme and Barr has been in that scheme in Minny. If the Chiefs could resign Dee Ford to come off the edges with Justin Houston, while adding Barr into the LB mix with Reggie Ragland. The Chiefs would be pretty damn good on the defensive side if that scenario would happen.
Another destination for Barr could be the Jets. A trio of Barr, Williamson and Lee would really jumpstart new DC Gregg Williams’ defensive plans for 2019. And the Jets have a boat load of cash ($100m if not more) to burn in 2019, plus the 3rd pick in the draft in 2019 as well.