3 Players Who May Be Entering their Final Season as Minnesota Vikings
Kirk Cousins often said that the NFL actually stands for “Not for Long.” Some Minnesota Vikings players have defied that expression.
Nevertheless, the brutal truth is that even the most loyal, talented athletes grow older and need to move on. Some retire, yes, and others get a chance elsewhere. The Vikings will be no different and 2024 looks like it could be the final season for at least a few notable Vikings players.
The Minnesota Vikings
3 Players Potentially Entering their Final Season
Player #1 — C.J. Ham, Fullback
The versatile thumper has always defied the odds, going from undrafted free agent to team captain.
Ham first got into the league back in 2016. In the NFL, that’s an eternity ago. He is leaned on in Minnesota to be a stud on special teams, to offer some extra pass blocking when needed, to handle the occasional goal-line carry, and to be a respected leader.
The issue is that his $3,416,668 in 2025 is fairly large given that his role on offense isn’t. Cutting the veteran would mean saving $2,650,000. Any chance the cruel nature of the NFL catches up with Ham in the ’25 offseason?
C.J. Ham is a sturdy 5’11” and 250 pounds. Last year’s 7 receptions went for 25 yards and single carry went for 7 yards. He didn’t score any touchdowns. He did, however, up his playing time on offense to 216 plays while still playing 244 snaps for Matt Daniels’ special teams.
Ham has been to a pair of Pro Bowls.
He just turned 31 in July.
Player #2 — Harrison Smith, Safety
The ageless one will have his number retired someday. If he wants to keep playing, the Vikings will likely be happy to put together a short-term deal to keep him around.
As of right now, though, his contract is scheduled to end. It remains to be seen if he’ll have the desire to keep playing.
The No. 29 pick from the 2012 NFL Draft will go down as one of the greatest draft picks in Minnesota Vikings history since he’s one of the greatest players in Minnesota Vikings history. Just last season, Smith had 93 tackles, 3 sacks, 3 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles, and 2 tackles for loss. A step back from 2017 but still rock solid.
At his best, Smith was a first-team All Pro in 2017. He even finished at 4th in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Toss on a second-team All Pro nod and then six trips to the Pro Bowl.
The Hitman will turn 36 in February. Seeing him retire will be a sad day for the Vikings organization.
Player #3 — Garrett Bradbury, Center
Will Michael Jurgens ever develop into a starting center? If so, could he do so by his sophomore season? Or, perhaps, would a journeyman like Dan Feeney be good enough to get the job done?
Though there’s been improvement, Garrett Bradbury has still been a bit of a disappointment. Drafting the athletic, intelligent center at No. 18 in the 2019 NFL Draft led to very high hopes. Pundits prophesied about Minnesota landing Jason Kelce 2.0, but Bradbury is far from that level of play. Instead, he has either been average or below average.
In fact, many considered him a bust until Kevin O’Connell and Chris Kuper took over.
Hurting his case to stick around is that he hasn’t played a full season in three years. He has played in 13 games, 12 games, and 14 games in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Putting together a full 17 in 2024 would go a long way in helping him to stick around for a bit longer.
Oh, and consider the pass protection stats since O’Connell took over as head coach:
| Year | Sacks | Hits | Pressures | Penalties |
| 2022 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 4 |
| 2023 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 5 |
The 2025 season will be the final one on the extension that he agreed to a couple of offseasons ago. The cap charge is sitting at $6,064,000, which is a pretty reasonable amount if he ends up being a durable, above-average player. Minnesota, though, could move on and save $3,622,000.
Bradbury just turned 29 in June.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference, PFF, and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.
