For the Vikings’ Finances, Something’s Gotta Give
K. Joudry
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At present, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is working with a paltry amount of cap room.
Over the Cap puts them at a very modest $1,190,835 whereas Spotrac gives a slightly more hopeful $1,851,199 cap room assessment. Regardless of which site you prefer, the picture is clear: the Vikings don’t have a pile of unused cap space.
Clearly, the Vikings’ finances need a bit of work before the team can sign their draft class, let alone formalize agreements with remaining free agents.
Getting the Vikings’ Finances in Shipshape
Adofo-Mensah has already done plenty to give his team financial maneuverability during the offseason. Void years have been a common feature of the deals he has negotiated, allowing the young executive to borrow from future budgets to make the present one easier to navigate.
As the forementioned cap projections suggest, though, the Vikings aren’t completely out of the woods. On the contrary, something has to happen for Minnesota to be able to function.
Going into the draft, there was a fairly widespread belief we’d see at least one of (if not both) Dalvin Cook or Za’Darius Smith traded. Doing so would have given the team the cap space it covets. The recent reports indicate that both can still be had for the right amount of draft capital (even if there is a path toward reconciliation with Smith).
If either trade domino falls, the Vikings’ finances get a lot easier.
Otherwise, the team could look toward a cut, restructure, and/or extension. The final pair of options are the likeliest. At this stage in the offseason, cutting a notable player would be very odd.
Perhaps the main restructure candidate is Brian O’Neill whereas the main extension candidate is T.J. Hockenson. The star right tackle was upbeat in his recent press conference, displaying an even-keeled approach to his recovery from last season’s Achilles injury. He’s currently set to come with a robust $19,659,699 cap charge. A restructure has the potential to trim off more than $10 million of that total in 2023.
Meanwhile, the talented TE has the team’s 7th-largest cap charge (behind those mentioned in this piece – O’Neill, Cook, and Smith – alongside a trio of others). The team is going to make it a priority to keep him in a town for a few reasons.
First, it cost hefty draft capital to bring him to town, so failing to keep him long-term would be a major failure for the team’s leadership. Second, he’s a young TE who has developed good chemistry with Kirk Cousins and who takes pressure off Justin Jefferson. Third, an extension can put an additional $6,599,200 into the 2023 budget.
By opting for offense in the opening round, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell further reaffirmed that Minnesota’s pursuit of excellence in 2023 will largely hinge on the offense’s capacity to ascend from “Very Good” to “Elite.” Both O’Neill and Hockenson are well-paid veterans who are still young enough to be top players for years to come. When partnered with their larger cap hits, the RT and TE are obvious starting points for helping the Vikings’ finances get into better shape.
The team’s leadership is more patient than the team’s fans. Left up to the fans, the team would have already been stockpiling cap space. Adofo-Mensah prefers to take things a bit slower, pursuing a step-by-step approach that involves opening cap space as needed.
If the pattern holds, we’ll see the young GM pull off a cap-clearing move just before getting the rookie deals signed.
