10 Vikings Salary Cap Details as Free Agency Lurks Into View
K. Joudry
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Since taking over as the general manager, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has had to navigate a reasonably challenging cap situation. The team has plenty of well-compensated veterans, so money isn’t abundant. One has to assume he has lost sleep some nights as he deciphers the best way forward.
Similarly, Minnesota’s fans are not immune to the cap concerns. On the contrary, many are fascinated (and worried) about where things stand financially. Given that free agency’s initial stage will kick off in a week, I’ve decided to send along 10 Vikings salary cap details to help demystify things.
Before getting to the facts, please understand an important truth: these facts are going to change a lot in the coming days. The cuts have already begun with the Eric Kendricks news. That’s why Over the Cap and Spotrac are invaluable resources. So, proceed into this piece knowing that many of the numbers below will inevitably change in the not-too-distant future.
10 Vikings Salary Cap Details
1) As of the morning of Monday, March 6th, the Minnesota Vikings are more than $15 million in the red, per Over the Cap. The Eric Kendricks cut freed up $9.5 million.
2) Kirk Cousins has the 6th-larget cap hit in the NFL, per Spotrac. The rumblings are that a simple 1-year extension isn’t in the works. Instead, it’ll either be #8 playing on the final year of his deal or signing an extension that goes across several years. For whatever it’s worth, I’ve been predicting a 2-year extension since the season ended.
3) At present, the Vikings have nearly $100 million in cap space in 2024. The number swells to more than $200 if we take a look at 2025. In all likelihood, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is going to be leaning on these years to alleviate the current crunch.
4) If Adam Thielen gets cut, his $13.55 million dead cap hit would still be the 6th-largest single hit on the team’s budget.
5) The team’s current dead money total is above $5.7 million. However, the upcoming cuts are going to cause this number to grow (likely by a substantial amount). Obviously, seeing so much of the budget do essentially nothing in 2023 is discouraging, but understand that every team in the NFL deals with dead money. Hopefully, more years with Adofo-Mensah at the helm can lead to more modest dead cap totals.
6) The Vikings could clear more than $100 million in cap space if they wanted to do so. Some of the uncontroversial decisions would be to restructure Brian O’Neill (potentially freeing more than $10 million) while extending T.J. Hockenson (potentially freeing more than $6.5 million).
7) The single move that could create the most cap space? It’s easily a Cousins extension. Adding on years (emphasis on multiple) would give the GM the capacity to free up more than $23 million in space.
8) The Vikings and Justin Jefferson will likely agree to an extension during the offseason. Given that the team already has two years of control baked into his current contract, we’re unlikely to see news of an extension in the coming weeks. More likely, perhaps, is the summer. My expectation is that Adofo-Mensah will prioritize signing free agents and then preparing for the draft. Once done, he’ll circle back to his WR1 and undisputed best player, who he has been keeping abreast of the team’s direction. A deal with $80 million in guarantees won’t be surprising.
9) The single cut that could create the most cap space would involve letting Za’Darius Smith go. Moving on from the former Packer would free up more than $12 million in room. The downside, of course, is that there would then be a major need at edge rusher.
10) An overlooked strategy for freeing up more cap space is through void years. Tacking on the fake years to a deal allows the GM to spread out the signing bonus, thus carving out more room in the short-term. Adofo-Mensah has already shown a willingness to use the tactic, but it’s best to use caution since future budgets get impacted. The current Dalvin Tomlinson conundrum is the result of void years.
Free agency’s tampering period begins on Monday, March 13. On Wednesday, March 15, teams and free agents can officially put things in ink.
Editor’s Note: Information from Spotrac and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
