Free agency. . .or, at least, the “legal tampering” period associated with it. . .gets underway one week from today, and the Minnesota Vikings are reportedly zeroing in on one specific player at a position of need.

With the Kansas City Chiefs placing the franchise tag on Trey Smith, who many expected to be the Vikings’ top target at that spot, the team has apparently shifted their attention of Will Fries of the Indianapolis Colts, according to Alec Lewis of The Athletic.

Headlining the list is Indianapolis Colts guard Will Fries. He fits the Vikings’ preferred free-agent benchmarks in that he’s young, versatile and productive. How his right tibia fracture affects his market remains to be seen, but the Vikings will likely be bidding against multiple teams, including the NFC North-rival Chicago Bears.

Securing Fries would go a long way toward fortifying an interior group head coach Kevin O’Connell has not been shy about wanting to upgrade. The Vikings interior has struggled mightily against stunts and other movement since O’Connell arrived in 2022. Moving defenders on run plays in the red zone has been another consistent issue. Position a player like Fries alongside left tackle Christian Darrisaw or right tackle Brian O’Neill, and the Vikings would be giving themselves a better chance.

Fries played his college ball at Penn State and was drafted by the Colts in the seventh round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s appeared in 37 games in his career with 27 starts, and started the first five games of this past season with the Colts before fracturing his right tibia and missing the remainder of the season. He started nine of the 16 games he played in 2022 and all 17 games in 2023.

The Vikings’ need at guard is a pretty glaring one, and hopefully, they’ll be able to secure a player of Fries’ caliber to help shore that up with the cap space they have going into free agency. It’s just a shame that they can’t pair him up with Joe Berger as a guard tandem.