The Vikings seem to have found their replacement for Nick Easton. On Wednesday, the team agreed to sign offensive lineman Josh Kline, according to a source who spoke with ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin (on Twitter). It’ll be a three-year, $15.75MM deal when all is said and done. 
[RELATED: Vikings Re-Sign Dan Bailey]
Kline signed a four-year, $26MM deal ($12MM guaranteed) with the Titans last offseason, but the team moved on from him after he rejected a pay cut earlier this month. The lineman started all 16 games in 2018, although the advanced metrics imply that he took a step back from his previous seasons. After rating as a fringe top-20 guard in 2017, Pro Football Focus graded Kline 50th among 77 eligible guards in 2018.
The Vikings need some reinforcement on the offensive line, which is exactly what Kline can provide. At the moment, it appears that he’ll be in line to serve as the team’s starting right guard.
Interestingly, his new deal gives him a comparable average annual value to his previous deal, so he probably made the right call by rejecting the Titans’ push for a pay cut.
They should have resigned Easton. Probably an overpay but they need a guard
Easton has missed 20 straight games. It was time to move on. Hopefully Kline is stable and they add more linemen in the draft.
All of Easton’s medical reports were optimistic and he turned out to be a very good scheme fit for us in 2017, but there was no way the Vikings could match the Saints’ offer, or, frankly, even come close.
Now they just need to draft the starting LG with the first round pick
Where is the cap room coming from Mr, Brzezinski?
Either pay cut or release for Rudolph or trade Waynes.
I’ve read the signing bonus was pretty large, so the cap hit would stay minimal.
They should extend Rudolph, Waynes and Harris, with signing bonus dollars replacing salary. My guess is that they could get $8 million or so of cap relief this year if they did so.
I don’t know about extending Rudolph. He isn’t a game changer anymore, if he really ever was. I do think Waynes and Harris could get extended though. But the problem there is the Vikings might be low balling them for future cap reasons.
He’s got 24 TD’s over the last four years, third in the league behind Kelce (27) and Gronk (25). Is he a game changer? No. But he has been a very productive starter, a borderline Top 10 guy, which is also how he is paid. I see no reason why he can’t be one of those tight ends who is productive well into his 30’s, and he’s only 29 now and hasn’t missed a game in five season. One caveat: He may not be a scheme fit for Gary Kubiak’s offensive system, which will probably be the bones of what the team implements this year.