The Byron Murphy Contract Sets Up Beautifully for a Long-Term Partnership
The Byron Murphy contract was one of the main decisions from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s second offseason as the Vikings GM.
After the conclusion of Minnesota’s season – a whimper of a finish that featured a shellacking from a Daniel Jones offense – the Vikings saw a full handful of corners go elsewhere. All five of Patrick Peterson, Cameron Dantzler, Duke Shelley, Chandon Sullivan, and Kris Boyd are on new teams. In their stead is Murphy alongside veteran FAs like John Reid and Joejuan Williams.
Otherwise, the team is leaning on young fellas to carry the torch.
Murphy’s importance in 2023 is indisputable. The rare corner who blends significant experience with significant youth, the 25-year-old Murphy may end up being the queen on the Flores chess board, moving in every direction as the DC seeks to impede the other team’s attack up the board.
In an ideal world, Murphy’s play rises to such a level that it demands a future deal. He’s still so young that he could conceivably be in town for 5+ seasons of high-level football, something that’s not always a guarantee when it comes to free-agent signings.
Right now, Murphy’s cap hit is structured in such a way as to make him affordable in the immediate while giving the team some flexibility in the future. Take a look at the 3-year cap breakdown:
- 2023: $2.815M Cap Hit
- 2024: $10.25M Cap Hit
- 2025: $4.2M Cap Hit
The first thing that jumps out is that the hit in ’23 is super low. Getting a CB1 on a deal for less than a $3 million cap charge is a win. However, doing that kind of business comes at a cost. Next year, the cap charge is more than 3 times the amount, ballooning to a still-reasonable but much-larger total.
And, of course, we think of the dead money hit that’s scheduled for 2025. There are void years from 2025-27, tacked on in order to spread out the hit from the signing bonus.
Presumably, the GM has the flexibility to take some of Murphy’s 2024 compensation and turn it into a signing bonus, thus softening the cap charge next year if that’s desirable. The end result would be growing that ugly dead money hit in 2025.
And then the possibility of an extension lingers on the deal. Simply tacking on another season would be easy enough if that’s what both sides decided on. Fast forward a couple years from today and Murphy is only 27. He’ll still have a few years before the dreaded 30s arrive, so he could very possibly be playing at a high level for a while longer.
The cherry on top is the team’s cap space. When Murhpy will become a free agent – 2025 – the Vikings will have a pile of gold that would make Smaug blush. Currently, the team has roughly $165 million in cap space (a projection). An awful lot is going to change between now and then, but the core idea likely remains: the team is heading toward a period when cap space is more abundant.
Murphy will need to earn his spot in Minnesota. Beyond 2023, very little is assured. The various details surrounding his employment, though, do point toward a scenario where he could be in town for a long time.
In 9 games last season, Byron Murphy had 36 tackles and 4 PDs.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
