|
ST. LOUIS -- The five-year, $25 million contract extension the Minnesota Vikings gave Brandon Fusco on Saturday came three years after they finished a seven-year contract extension with Adrian Peterson, which also came on the day before the season in 2011. Since then, the Vikings' spending pattern has been consistent: They prized continuity on the offensive line and would devote the necessary resources to ensure they would have it. In December 2011, the Vikings gave center John Sullivan a five-year deal, also worth $25 million. They used the fourth pick in the draft on left tackle Matt Kalil the following spring and made right tackle Phil Loadholt one of the highest-paid players at his position in March 2013. Even guard Charlie Johnson, the oldest and possibly least-entrenched member of the group, got a new two-year deal from the Vikings after the start of free agency this March, ensuring that the five-man group that has collectively played 163 of a possible 165 games over the last two seasons would remain intact for a third season. Fusco's deal includes just $6 million guaranteed, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter, but his deal will add to the bill for a team that was already spending more on its offensive line than all but 10 teams in the league, according to ESPN Stats and Information. If Kalil plays well enough to earn a long-term extension or the fifth-year option on his rookie deal in 2016, the total figures to rise even more. But with as much money as the Vikings still are spending on Peterson -- and with as much of their future as they will likely entrust to Teddy Bridgewater -- a reliable, cohesive line is an asset the team has deemed worth paying to retain. The Fusco deal -- while still modest in comparison to the salaries for the league's highest-paid guards -- rewards a former sixth-round pick from tiny Slippery Rock University who has made himself into one of the game's best interior linemen, a road-grader for Peterson who isn't afraid to play with some edginess. It means the Vikings have effectively locked up all of their major in-house priorities before free agency next spring, and it keeps together a line the Vikings have been building since they took Sullivan and Loadholt in the 2008 and 2009 drafts. There will be some questions for the group to answer, particularly in pass protection after the Vikings allowed 44 sacks last season. Offensive coordinator Norv Turner's scheme is predicated on keeping the quarterback upright long enough to push the ball downfield, and while the perception that his quarterbacks are regularly throwing off seven-step drops is overcooked -- Turner will call for plenty of play-action and quick-developing passes -- his offenses have typically centered around pocket passers who haven't been sacked very much. But Turner made it clear early in training camp how much he valued the Vikings' offensive line continuity, and it seemed likely the Vikings would make sure they took care of Fusco before he hit free agency next March. The deal was consistent with an approach that's worked well enough for the team not to think of doing anything else.
|
