Should the Vikings go for Julius Peppers?

If Julius Peppers, the star defensive end from Carolina, becomes available, should the Vikings do everything in their power to land him? The answer is without a doubt yes. It's glaringly obvious that the Vikings are in dire need of a versatile guy on the line. Last season, not one person on defense had more than 5 sacks. If contract talks continue to stall with Carolina and Peppers, there is no reason the Vikings shouldn't use all of their resources to get him.

Of course there is no guarantee that Peppers will become available; right now it's just speculation. But after seeing the contract that Indianapolis gave to defensive end Dwight Freeney (7 years $72 million), it is going to at least $20 million in guaranteed money to wrap up Peppers. Carolina has three options when it comes to Peppers: They could sign him and hope that his 2007 season (where he had just 3 sacks) was just an anomaly. They could let him play out the final year of his contract to determine if he is worth close to $30 million in guaranteed money. Or they could trade him, much to the dismay of Carolina fans everywhere.

Peppers is definitely a guy that could help the Vikings tremendously. The Vikings had three guys last year with 5 sacks, the most by any one player. Peppers, with the exception of last year, has averaged 10.7 sacks a year for his first 5 seasons in the league. Kenechi Udeze, arguably the Vikings best defensive end last season, is out indefinitely with Leukemia (I wish you the best Kenechi). That leaves the Vikings with a big hole at a position where nothing was certain anyway. There are many very good DE's in the draft this year, and there is no doubt that with the 17th overall pick the Vikings could haul a guy that could turn out to be a stud, but if you have the resources and the chance to land a proven star at the position, why wouldn't you? With the Vikings still over $18 million under the cap this season, they have the money to make it happen. As a big Vikings fan myself, I can only say that I hope the Panthers decide to trade him or let him walk, because I know what a help he could be to the Vikings.