‘Happy football new year’: Vikings begin building roster in free agency

NINA MOINI: Rudy Gobert is back on the court. The 7 foot 1 tall Timberwolves player and four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year has been out for the last 10 games because of a back injury. But last night in Minneapolis, he helped his team beat the San Antonio Spurs 141 to 124.

It was their fifth win in a row. Joining me now to talk about what's next for the Wolves, plus the latest with other Minnesota teams, are sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Thanks again for being here, guys.

ERIC NELSON: Happy Monday, Nina.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: [? Thanks for having us, Nina. ?]

NINA MOINI: 7 foot 1, wow. Wally, what does last night's game tell you about how the Wolves are doing at this stage?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I mean, the fact that they've won five in a row obviously gives you the inclination to think that maybe they're on the right track at the exact right time of the year.

NINA MOINI: Nice.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Now, we've seen this before with the Timberwolves this season where they're streaky. They'll win 3 or 4 in a row and then lose 2 or 3 in a row. See if they can maintain this because right now they find themselves just percentage points out of the sixth place position in the NBA's Western conference. And you want to be in the top six to avoid a play in type of situation.

And so that's where they're at right now, literally percentage points behind Golden State. As you mentioned, they won their fifth straight last night, 141-- which is a lot of points-- to 124. They're now 37 wins, 29 losses, 16 games to go. So we're getting down to the nitty gritty here.

Oh, by the way, Rudy in his return, 16 points, 8 rebounds last night. He had missed the previous 10 games. Anthony Edwards led the wolves with 25. Naz Reid had 20. And here's a stat that I like.

Julius Randle had 14 points, but he had 10 assists last night. That's a big deal because they need him to become more of a distributor to find the open man. Those 10 assists are a big deal. So next up for the Wolves, they will be at Denver on Wednesday night. Then they come home for a long home stand beginning on Friday against Orlando.

NINA MOINI: So they're on the right track right now. The Vikings, their kind of next team is beginning to take shape. So they had Aaron Jones. They resigned running back Aaron Jones for another two years. They still have money to spend on some other salaries.

So they're kind of signing free agents this week. Can you explain how all of this works as they're trying to beef up their roster, Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, and happy NFL new year, Nina. Get out the champagne and the confetti.

NINA MOINI: Any reason to celebrate.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, well, the NFL is so big it has its own new year. They operate on their own calendar. And the official New Year's Day for the NFL is Wednesday at 3:00 PM central. That's when the free agent signings become official.

However, there's a lot of teams getting a jump on what we call free agency frenzy. And they've already signed players, and that includes Minnesota. You talked about Aaron Jones, the running back. He's getting a two year, $20 million deal that includes 13 million guaranteed.

Jones last season ran for a career high 138 yards. He had 1,546 total yards, and he scored seven touchdowns. So he's clearly a big piece of the Minnesota offense. Now, as for Sam Darnold, there is a blizzard of rumors swirling around him and his future.

Darnold is looking to make a splash in the free agent pool because Minnesota did not put the franchise tag on him last week. So there are multiple reports saying Darnold is close to signing with Seattle, which makes sense, because the Seahawks just dealt Geno Smith, their quarterback the past few seasons, to Las Vegas. He's reunited with his old coach, Pete Carroll.

Pittsburgh reportedly is kicking the tires on Darnold. I think, though, Nina the key here is wherever Darnold goes, he's going to cash in. He's expected to get a multi-year deal that could pay him as much as $40 million per season. And I would expect the Purple-- Minnesota-- to bring in another quarterback like they did with Darnold a year ago.

Maybe they keep Daniel Jones. Obviously, JJ McCarthy is the future, but he's still unproven.

NINA MOINI: You think they just couldn't afford Darnold.

ERIC NELSON: Exactly. I mean, they don't want to pay him Kirk Cousins money. They want to redistribute the wealth because when you when you give it all to one guy, it's tough to build your team with the offensive line, the defensive line, the secondary, et cetera.

NINA MOINI: Got it. So Wally, I understand it was a rough week for Gopher men's and women's basketball. What's next for them heading into the NCAA tournament?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, the Gopher women's basketball team is on the bubble as to whether they will get any kind of a postseason bid. The men, however, they have a chance, but that chance is kind of minuscule. They'll need to make a run in the Big Ten tournament, which begins on Wednesday.

And they did make the Big Ten tournament. So let's celebrate that part. They made-- they were one of the 15 teams that made the Big Ten tournament. The bottom three teams don't make it.

So they're seeded 13th, the men are. They will play against Northwestern on Wednesday afternoon. And if they manage to beat Northwestern, a team that they lost to at Williams Arena during the regular season, next up for them will be their neighbors to the east, the Wisconsin Badgers, who they have now lost to nine straight times.

NINA MOINI: Wow.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Ben Johnson's squad has-- with him as head coach, they have not beaten the Wisconsin Badgers. And of course, Wisconsin, they're full of Minnesota kids. So they do a great job, the Badgers do, of coming into Minnesota recruiting kids from Minnesota, and then bringing them back over here and beating our brains out.

NINA MOINI: That's a decent strategy.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, well, it's worked for Wisconsin. But Wisconsin is one of the top teams in the conference, and they are ranked nationally as well. So Gophers are going to have their hands full. First, they have to beat Northwestern-- one step at a time.

They're right now one game below 500. They are 15 wins and 16 losses on the year, the Gopher men's basketball team is. So not ideal, but at least they're in the Big Ten tournament. We'll see if they can make some kind of a postseason run.

NINA MOINI: Lots of hockey news to talk about, too. Let's start with the Wild. So they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That was last night at home. So we had talked last week about how it would be hard for them sort of not to make the playoffs because they had a stronger start to the season. Is that still looking like the picture, Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, Nina, I mean, the wild are in good shape as far as getting into the postseason. But I don't know what they feed that team when they come back to Saint Paul. They may want to mix it up because home cooking is not tasting very good for the Minnesota Wild.

NINA MOINI: Uncrustables.

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. They lose yesterday at the X, 3 to 1 to Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby, who is a future hall of fame player, scored two goals for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury was in goal for Minnesota, and he probably played his very last game against Pittsburgh, his old club. He once starred for the penguins, was part of three Stanley Cup title teams.

But this situation where Minnesota's not very good at home, I think they've got to fix it. Now, the Wild have lost 5 of 7. They're just 14, 14 and 1 at the Xcel Energy center. And that Penguins game is the first of seven straight home games in Saint Paul for the Wild. Normally, that would be cause for celebration, but this team is average at home.

They can change that narrative on Tuesday. This is a key game. Colorado skates into Saint Paul. The Avalanche are two points in front of Minnesota in the Central. So this game has kind of repercussions for playoff positioning.

Minnesota would like to, obviously, knock off Colorado and tie the Avalanche. And that's a very good hockey team, so it's not going to be easy.

NINA MOINI: Wally, we probably only have time left for this. So the boys state hockey tournament is a wrap. But it was some big wins for the Red River Valley. Moorhead, and East Grand Forks took home the championship in their divisions. Can you tell me a little bit more about what stood out to you at the tournament?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: The fact that Moorhead won, by the way, in front of over 20,000 people Saturday night. I did the-- I broadcast the game. That's the class AA championship. And mind you, they had been to the championship.

This was their ninth trip to the championship game and had never won it before. So pretty frustrating. Kind of got the monkey off their backs by finally winning it, and it wasn't easy. They led 5 to 1, and they let it slip away until the very end.

They ended up hanging on 7 to 6, beating Stillwater. But to me that was the big thing was them-- and then for the Green Wave of East Grand Forks, they were barely a 500 team coming into this. So they-- I think they came in at 14 wins and 13 losses. Yet they go on to beat the second seeded and defending champion Saint Cloud Cathedral 2 to 1 in overtime to win their title in Class A.

So it really was a great weekend. Attendance records set once again for the state hockey tournament. It really is a unique event, probably the top event as far as high school sports in Minnesota, and it ranks nationally. And people look at this state hockey tournament as one of the best tournaments in all of America.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely, and congrats to Moorhead. Thank you both so much for your time. Really appreciate you.

- Nina, have a great day.

NINA MOINI: You, too. Those are our sports contributors. Wally Langfellow is founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine, co-host of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. And Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and Minnesota Vikings NFL reporter for CBS's Eye on Football and Sirius XM.

I'm Nina Moini. I hope your week is off to a great start. Join us back here tomorrow at noon for Minnesota Now.

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