Vikes, Kennedy Meet Today

By Viking Update Staff

Date: 4/6/2001

The Vikings don't have a lot of cap space available, but the team is willing to give Cortez Kennedy a deal that will be heavy in incentives and low in base pay for a shot at a Super Bowl ring with a team closer than John Randle's new digs.

Cortez Kennedy dominated the AFC much in the same way John Randle dominated the NFC for a decade. The difference between them? Randle signed an insane $25 million deal with Seattle, while Kennedy is coming in hoping for a fraction of that from the Vikings.

Kennedy arrives this morning in Minneapolis in hopes of hooking on with the Vikings. He has already visited New Orleans and St. Louis without being offered a deal, and from what VU is being told, the Vikings are going to make a quick pitch to him.

Kennedy will be in town this weekend to meet players and coaches and will work out Monday, but, from what sources close to the situation are telling VU, the Vikings are going to offer Kennedy a deal that will promise a starting job and performance incentives with a near-minimum base salary of $500,000. If Kennedy is willing to accept that offer, the Vikings will try to get a deal done quickly. If not, he will likely leave Minnesota for the last time Monday.

Dennis Green is holding some trump cards with two NFC title games in the last three years, even though both were losses. Being able to show veteran players that the Vikings have been as close to getting a Super Bowl ring as any of 25 teams in the league the last three years should be enough to get some players who crave a ring a shot at getting that from the Vikings. In the recent past, Dallas, San Francisco and Green Bay all got players to sign on the cheap with the promise and hope of a Super Bowl appearance. The Vikings will hope to use this advantage to their own ends in the coming months and it could pay dividends down the line.

FRIDAY NOTES * VU has been told by league sources that the 2001 NFL schedule, which was supposed to be announced officially Tuesday, won't be released until next week -- most likely next Thursday. * Todd Steussie offically signed his contract with Carolina and, from what VU is being told, it could easily be voided after three years. The base salaries on the deal escalate heavily after this year. His 2001 base salary is a mere $500,000, climbing to $1.9 million in 2002, $3.4 million in 2003, $4.15 million in 2004, $4.9 million in 2005 and $5.4 million in 2006. From what VU has been told, the Vikings made a very similar offer, but Steussie was hellbent on leaving after his public run-in with Randy Moss. * New Viking TE Byron Chamberlain had his driving under a suspended license court case postponed until April 23. * The Ravens backup linebacker Cornell Brown is looking for a starting job and VU has learned one of the teams expressing an interest is Minnesota. Six teams have been identified as interested in Brown, a source with the Ravens has told VU that one of the teams promising him a starting shot (presumably at Dwayne Rudd's vaca

-- Mark (Karch 222@aol.com), April 06, 2001