nfl insider ben goessling
Twice in Mike Zimmer's seven offseasons as head coach, the Vikings have opened free agency with substantive investments that indicate how vital a run-stopping nose tackle is to their plans.
They made Linval Joseph the first free agent of the Zimmer era on March 12, 2014, giving the former Giants nose tackle a five-year, $31.25 million contract that would eventually be supplanted by a five-year, $62.5 million deal in 2017.
Those two deals put Joseph in the middle of the Vikings defense for 93 of a possible 101 regular-season and playoff games from 2014-19.