Future Vikings Salary Cap May Require The Precision of a Surgeon’s Scalpel
In many ways, the Vikings 2023 salary cap will be a lot easier to manage if things go very poorly in 2022.
Indeed, if the Vikings fall flat, we can expect some major changes. Veterans like Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, Dalvin Cook, and Patrick Peterson (who will be a FA) could all end up elsewhere. Kirk Cousins, meanwhile, may be asked to accept a trade, giving Minnesota some coveted financial wiggle room. Very few would argue with this approach if the worst case transpires in 2022.
What will lead to a far more complicated salary cap situation is if the Vikings do reasonably well. Heck, Minnesota may not even have to be dominant. Could a 10-7 record and a single playoff win be enough to convince this group to run it back again? Likely. The ownership doesn’t seem particularly interested in rebuilding. In fact, the Wilfs made their desire for immediate contention clear as they began the head coaching search several months ago.
The issue is that the Vikings don’t have a ton of room in 2023. Over the Cap puts them at a hair over $2 million in cap space for next season. By the time next season arrives, the number will obviously change. Regardless, the broader point will remain true: the Vikings have a lot of talent locked up for 2023. A lot of this talent is older and quite expensive. Retaining them after a third-straight losing season wouldn’t make a ton of sense. Trying to maintain success, on the other hand, will lead to most of the big name players sticking around town.
How will the Vikings find enough cap room to not just maintain their team but also improve it heading into 2023? Simple cuts often lead to some heavy dead cap hits. Moving on from Cook leads to nearly $8 million in room while leaving behind more than $6.2 million; Thielen can free up roughly $6.4 million while leaving behind $13.55 million in dead money. Unfortunately, cutting Kendricks might make the most sense: he’d leave behind a mere $1.93 million while opening $9.5 million.
The point, folks, is that success will require Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to be precise in his financial dealings in 2023. Failure would free him of such a burden. The team could embrace a tanking season, making mountains of dead money easier to accept. Continuing to build on success is where Adofo-Mensah will need to be more precise.
Clearly, the desirable outcome is for Minnesota having so much success that blowing the team up is ridiculous. Starting over is no one’s idea of a good time, even if it is necessary. Replicating brilliance is a much more exciting option. The goal, then, is for the Vikings to find themselves in this challenging salary cap situation, one that flows from having so much success in 2022.
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