With the 2023 season in the books, Inside the Vikings will be taking a look at all 22 of Minnesota's pending unrestricted free agents over the next couple weeks. We'll examine their past and speculate about their future, particularly the likelihood that they could be re-signed by the Vikings this offseason. We'll start from the least important (Hakeem Adeniji) and work our way up to the big fish (Kirk Cousins).
Vikings UFA profile: Austin Schlottmann
- Age: 28
- 2023 stats: 3 starts, 62.6 PFF grade
- 2023 contract AAV: $1.13 million
Signed to one-year deals in each of the last two offseasons, Austin Schlottmann is a backup center who has been called upon for seven total starts since joining the Vikings in 2022. He filled in for an injured Garrett Bradbury in December '22, before suffering an injury of his own just a few snaps into a Week 17 loss in Green Bay. Schlottmann then re-signed with the Vikings, stepped in again for an injured Bradbury early in the season opener, and started the next three games in his absence.
He was far better this season than he had been the year before, earning a strong 72.3 pass blocking grade while cutting his total pressures allowed in half on nearly an identical snap count. Schlottmann also has some valuable versatility, having played both guard positions during his time with the Broncos. He seems like the kind of player the Vikings may once again look to bring back on a cheap one-year deal for depth reasons.
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