The Minnesota Vikings have agreed to terms with former Vikings (and Carolina Panthers) offensive tackle Mike Remmers, per Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network. This comes a day after the Panthers themselves signed Matt Kalil from the Vikings, effectively making it a swap of offensive tackles.
One key difference: Matt Kalil’s deal is reportedly a five-year, $55.4 million deal—an average annual value of $11.1 million. Mike Remmers’ reported deal is for $30 million over five years, or $6 million per year. Guaranteed money will need to be sorted out, but given that Kalil’s deal has $25 million guaranteed, the Vikings are likely to come out ahead.
Remmers comes in with a better pedigree than the prior options at offensive tackle; Pro Football Focus ranked Remmers as the 51st-best tackle in the NFL, with a 66.1 grade. T.J. Clemmings ranked 76th, with a 28.3 grade.
Also, it just so happens that Remmers outgraded Kalil in each of the last three years.
Remmers also did relatively well with another ratings group, Bleacher Report; out of 78 eligible tackles in their NFL 1000 he ranked 40th—23rd among the 40 left tackles.
Despite Remmers playing on the left side last year and newly-signed Riley Reiff playing on the right, there’s a good chance that they play on opposite sides for the Vikings, where Reiff—who has graded better on the left—replaces Kalil, while Remmers plays his more natural position on the right to replace Clemmings and Andre Smith.
This doesn’t preclude the Vikings from drafting an offensive tackle in April, but it does relieve pressure to force a pick in the second round on a tackle if the value isn’t there—a decent likelihood given how weak the class is supposed to be.
The Vikings will still need strategies to address right guard, tight end, punter and linebacker.
