ESPN’s Louis Riddick (Insider required) labels Vikings DE Jared Allen as the most overrated player in this year’s free agent class.
Riddick cites Allen’s “diminishing get-off quickness, an inability to win on the edge against quality competition without benefiting from the QB holding the ball too long, marginal stamina as an every-down end and an average point-of-attack run defender that does not play with a consistent level of competitiveness“ as the main reasons why he would approach a him with “extreme caution.”
Allen, 32 in April, has been an extremely productive player during his time in Minnesota, and although his 2013 season wasn’t as good as years past, he still manged to record 11.5 sacks, 52 tackles and two forced fumbles.
But as Riddick mentions, contracts are about future production and not as much about what you’ve been able to do in the past. This will likely factor into the type of offers Allen will find on the market.
One speculative option that has been circulating around is the Buccaneers who have an obvious need at defensive end and recently hired Allen’s former head coach and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier a few weeks ago.
We have Allen currently listed as the No. 38 player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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Yes, he can be minimized at times, he has a tendency to get off to slow starts, but he is excellent versus the run. Sometimes his sacks come in bunches and he uses his arms and his length to rack up sacks rather than laying his body into the QB. That’s exactly why I believe that Everson Griffen could really bring some attitude to this defense. If not, the Vikings could hit FA where they could attempt to land some elite talent starting with Greg Hardy, Michael Bennett, or Michael Johnson. Johnson has a history with coach Zimmer and has the length resembling Allen.
Great comment right here. Glad you mentioned the connection between Michael Johnson and Mike Zimmer. It really seems like Zimmer builds strong relationships with his players, so I don’t think you can rule out some of his guys possibly ending up in MIN.
Zimmer already brought in Kheeston Randall from the Bengals practice squad. I’d like to see both Griffen and Johnson on the roster should we stay in the 4-3. A couple more elite FA’s and Zimmer will be off to a great start. Also, they should be well under the salary cap, approximately $24 million and with Spielman’s job on the line, I look for the Vikes to be aggressive come March 11.