Sheldon Richardson ended his free agency this past week by signing a one-year deal with the Vikings worth $3.6MM with a max value of $4.35MM via incentives.
Apparently, he could’ve gotten a little more than that. The defensive tackle turned down more money from the Browns, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com writes. We had previously heard that Cleveland made an offer, but it wasn’t known what the financials were like.
Kay Cabot writes that Richardson’s decision was “more about principle” after the Browns elected to release him back in April to save around $12MM in cap space. She also says that Cleveland may have been able to get him back had they gone a bit higher than they did, but that they “set their price and stuck to it.”
Richardson signed a three-year, $37MM pact with the Browns in 2019, and made it 2/3 of the way through it. He spent 2018 with the Vikings, so it’s not like he chose a totally foreign environment over returning to the Browns. The 13th overall pick of the 2013 draft turned 30 in November.
Lol, it’s not even like the Vikings are contenders this year.
Ummmm….. yes they are?
What were the numbers after taxes?
I thought “Why the hell would you take less money to live in friggin’ Minnesota?” Then I saw that Cleveland was the other option.
Ha ha….sometimes reality is hilarious.
Lame. Yes, when all else fails, fall back to the old CLE bashing for a laugh. Try and be original for a change or is that too difficult?
No, he’s not very smart. Too much of a leap for him. But his trailer park is really nice, I’m sure.
Improvements in the secondary, injury recovery up front, above average receiving Corp, above average qb. only weak spot is special teams and off season isn’t over yet. I wouldn’t rule them out.
You are forgetting to factor in an important intangible.
“WINNER” !!
I’m a Vikings fan who also has a lot of love for the Browns and I have to say he must have loved his time in Minnesota because while I think the Vikes will be a contender they’re not anywhere near where the Browns are at.
On paper the Viks should win the North. Altho I say that every year.
Same, I’m not getting my hopes up until Rodgers announces he’s the permanent host of Jeopardy.
Then be prepared to wait quite a long time.
No, no, no, “despicable” is 100% correct. The Vikings are not contenders, they don’t have a qb that can pass for at least 30 touchdowns, they don’t have a decent rb, they have no wr’s to speak of. Better yet they normally have 25th or so ranked defense and they have no cap money to get any help. They will probably be in the bottom 5 teams. I mean just look at Green Bay, a MVP qb returning with a great coach and gm in place along with great clutch weapons all over the field. The Vikings will be lucky to win 12 games this year. Skol!
Um, I’m not a Viking fan, but do you just not pay any attention to the NFL at all? Cousins has been in Minnesota for three seasons. In that time, he’s thrown 30 or more touchdowns twice. That’s two thirds of the time. The one time he didn’t, he threw 26. Not that it matters, but they have a good QB. Or at least a satisfactory one.
As far as wideouts go, they have Adam Theilen, a Pro Bowler, and Justin Jefferson, a second team All-Pro rookie record holder for the league. Cousins threw him the ball, as far as our records can determine.
As far as signing defensive help goes, Minnesota has signed Patrick Peterson and Mackensie Alexander. This article is quite literally about them signing Sheldon Richardson. He plays defense.
Dalvin Cook, a Pro Bowler, is their current starting running back.
Any team winning twelve games will, by mathematical certainty, not be a bottom five team in the league by win total. It’s just not mathematically possible. It’s also just not possible for a team to even have a winning record and be a bottom five team.
You called Gutekunst a great GM though, so I guess I shouldn’t bother pointing this out to you.
You don’t read sarcasm well.
He definitely was blind to it. He was arguing against the other guy talking about all the Vikings do have.
Yeah I thought he was serious when I read the bottom 25 defense thing. I’ll take my lumps here. Apologies to CK7.
So what does this decision by Sheldon Richardson who has had the opportunity to experience Playing in both the Minnesota Viking and the Cleveland Brown organizations tell us about how he felt with regard to comparing:
Team Ownership
Head Coaches
Defensive Coordinators
Defensive Line Coaches
Quarterbacks
Appeal of the Communities
Livability of the Communities
His fit into team schemes
Team Chemistry
Teammates
Vision for success
His feelings were hurt because he didn’t get his 12m.
Some players perform better when they have a chip on their shoulder. We will find out if that is the case with Richardson in week 4 when the Browns travel to Minnesota.
I’m still trying to figure out what kind of voodoo, wizardry and sorcery Spielman is using for cap control. I just looked on Spotrac, and as of today the Vikings have the 4th MOST cap space for this season. Yes, they still have (3) 3rd Rd picks to sign, but that should equate to about $2.75 million on the year. That would still leave the Vikings with a hair more than $24 million in cap space!
During the past 2 seasons half of the players on the Vikings roster have been asked to restructure their deals or take a salary cut. Diggs was traded and some other veterans allowed to go elsewhere as FAs. Trying to spend their way to success didn’t have the desired results so now they’ll try a different approach.