Why the Vikings Signings May Become a Slow Trickle After Last Week’s Waterfall
K. Joudry
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For a long time, we’ve been discussing the arrival of a flurry of Vikings signings. Is the emphasis going to shift toward extensions, restructures, and trades? No doubt, draft preparation is going to pick up momentum.
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah tends to keep his cards close to his chest, taking the offseason a step at a time. He layers in his cap-saving maneuvers while attacking his acquisition plan, as we saw in his decisions to cut Alexander Mattison and then Dean Lowry before restructuring Harrison Smith. And while the departure of a ton of talent alongside the deals for many strong players combined to make the news robust, the Vikings are moving themselves into a quieter period (at least when it comes to signing external talent).
The Vikings Signings are Going to Slow Down as the Focus Shifts
Earlier in the day, Adofo-Mensah conducted an interview with KFAN’s Paul Allen.
Allen does a nice job of tossing a pile of questions in the GM’s direction. One of the ideas that comes up is Adofo-Mensah’s expectations surrounding compensatory selections. Per Minnesota’s top executive, the Vikings are expecting at least a 3rd to arrive due to losing Kirk Cousins and Danielle Hunter. And, to be sure, there’s the potential for bringing in a pair of 3rd-Round selections, but that remains to be seen.
“There’s a calculation,” Adofo-Mensah notes in a discussion about incoming compensatory selections, “so it could be two 3rds, but I’d be surprised if it wasn’t at least one 3rd.”
To be sure, the prophecies about Minnesota recouping added draft picks as a result of the 2024 free agency period have been arriving for a little while. Over the Cap‘s Nick Korte has offered an analysis of the situation. The massive deal that Cousins received in Atlanta means that a 3rd is almost certainly coming back.
ESPN’s Jordan Reid assessed the situation before the K.J. Osborn news emerged. Take a look at the assessment from the draft expert: “Love the move from Kwesi. The #Vikings are clearly loading up for a trade up for a QB. They’re also a Dalton Risner or KJ Osborn signing away from acquiring two extra third round comp picks in 2025 (Cousins/Hunter). Giving up next years second rounder was an easy decision.”
A surefire way of nullifying the incoming compensatory selections is to spend major money bringing in a new free agent(s). The GM, though, is now on record saying that he’s anticipating at least an extra 3rd (and maybe more).
The end result, then, is a pretty clear picture for how things are likely to proceed. Minnesota is digesting a monstrous amount of dead money in 2024 to protect the team’s 2025 budget. Meanwhile, they’ve been intentionally navigating their additions and subtractions with an eye toward getting more draft picks in 2025.
Doing so, as Reid suggests, will allow them to feel a bit more bold when it comes to making an offer to climb up the board in the 2024 NFL Draft.
In the coming days and weeks, look for the Vikings to solidify depth by bringing in cheaper veterans. Doing so will increase the in-house competition while giving Minnesota’s management an increased ability to not feel boxed into drafting certain positions.
That draft will take place from April 25th to 27th.
Afterwards, the Vikings will be able to sign some of the remaining free agents without getting their compensatory picks nullified. Per information contained on Over the Cap, free agents signed from Monday, April 29th onward avoid the downside of losing the added comp picks. So, if there’s another relatively large FA addition, it may arrive in late April or later in the summer.
In the meantime, the Vikings could very reasonably shift their focus over to completing extensions and restructuring contracts. Oh, and there could even be another trade or two.
Stay tuned, folks. A lot still needs to be decided in Minnesota, so the news is still going to be plentiful.
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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 and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.