Possible replacements if Nicks leaves?
 

After following the Vikes closely for a long time, and being a huge fan of Hutchinson from his Seahawks days - I'd still have to say no to signing Hutch.

And a definite NO to Herrera.

Both have injury concerns, Hutch has already lost a step and Herrera never even had that step.

So they're the equivalent of the Kreutz siging last year?

I guess, the only difference is that Hutch was a true star and one of the best if not the best player in his position in his prime.

The Vikes already had major needs on their O-line, so they wouldn't be cutting these guys if they weren't "damaged goods" already.

Although, the Vikes did release McKinney last off-season and he went on to have a good season with the Ravens, but I think this is different.


I'd only consider Hutch out of the two, but he might end up retiring in the middle of the season like Kreutz did - he actually might retire without signing with another team.

They would only be needed for a year or two until their replacement is ready or drafted.

I'd go with a younger guy straight out of the gate, because the odds are that Hutch wouldn't stay healthy for the entire season. It's a combination of his style of play, how that was worn on his body through the years, and him now being long in the tooth.

Herrera is garbage and I would sign him no matter what.

I'd rather see the Saints go after somebody like Evan Mathis from the Eagles or Ben Grubbs from the Ravens or even Jake Scott from the Titans.

They're going to move Tennant to guard.

That's one possibility, but hardly the most likely scenario.

They find one in the draft.

Draft if we have one. May have to see who else is out there not sure a draftee could step right in unless we get real lucky

I wouldn't say that. With our cap situation and contracts for Colston and Brees still to come...not to mention trying to upgrade the defense, I'd say Tennant is the most likely to get the job. He'll at least be the front runner going into the pre-season.

Yeah, but I don't know if they'd rather put Tennant on center and DLP on LG, because those would be their respective natural positions - DLP played exclusively G last pre-season if my memory serves me right.

Why not? He's not Nicks, but he's been arguably our best backup for two seasons.

See my answer above.

But they could also try to move Strief to LG and start Brown at RT, but he wouldn't probably last longer than the first couple of weeks.

Won't be as hard to replace as everyone seems to believe.

I find Marcus McNeil to be interesting. He's been banged up and has underwhelmed at tackle the past few seasons. If we could get him cheap on a incentive laden deal, I think he would return to form moving inside to guard.

I'd be all for it, but I doubt we can afford it.

Love Hutchinson; Hutchinson, not Walther Jones, and not Shaun Alexander were the biggest reason why Seattle had so much success a few years ago...

And a big reason why Adrian Peterson blew up the way he did...

But does he still have gas in the tank?

Free agent OG Carl Nicks reiterated in an interview with WWL in New Orleans that he wants to be the NFL's highest paid guard.

"I plan to be the highest paid guard in the NFL," he said. "You can take that whatever kinda way but that’s my goal. So more than Logan Mankins got I guess." Mankins received a six-year, $51 million contract with $30 million guaranteed last August. "I don’t wanna sound cocky or anything but I busted my butt for four years, I made a couple Pro Bowls," Nicks added. "For my first three years I was the lowest paid guard of all the starting guard in the NFL."

Source: Sports Radio Interviews

Can't argue with anything Nicks is saying. I hate to see him go, but I just don't see any way we can afford to bring him back.

You don't replace Nicks......you just put somebody else in his position.

I just heard that Vilma tweeted something about nicks staying in Nola. NOT CONFIRMED, but it's more positive than any nicks info recently....