With former Seahawks defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson signed, sealed and champing to change into purple, Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman finally exhaled and turned his attention from the frenzied first wave of free agency to next month's NFL draft.
"The three biggest boxes we wanted to get checked were the offensive coordinator, quarterback and an under tackle," Spielman said Friday afternoon. "We were able to accomplish those three."
A day after quarterback Kirk Cousins signed a record three-year, fully guaranteed $84 million deal, Spielman landed the 27-year-old Richardson with a one-year deal that will pay him $8 million and a chance to make $3 million more in incentives.
Meanwhile, the team also reduced running back Latavius Murray's $5.15 million cap number, released veteran receiver Jarius Wright for a $2.64 million cap boost (while carrying $2.1 million in dead money) and closed the book on 33-year-old defensive tackle Tom Johnson, who started 15 games for the No. 1-ranked defense a year ago.
And with that, Spielman headed home for his first good night's sleep since free agency began on Monday.
The plan, he said, was to wake up Saturday morning and spend the weekend huddled up with coach Mike Zimmer watching film of the defensive backs in this year's draft.
Zimmer actually was in his office watching film of the rookie class of three-technique tackles when he was first introduced to Richardson during his visit.
"Sheldon has been — and even was this past season — one of the most disruptive defensive linemen in the NFL in terms of getting the quarterback off the spot," Zimmer said. "He didn't have a lot of sacks last year [one], but sacks are not our No. 1 goal. It's about disrupting the quarterback."