Vikings Rumors: A Crosby Crisis, Salary Cap Hitting a Major Snag, & Squashed Flores Theories
Since we’re officially into the portion of the year when Vikings rumors are arriving fast and furious, we’ll be highlighting some of the purple rumblings.
The “Vikings Rumor Wrangle” is a series that keeps readers informed on what’s being whispered about in Vikings Land. In this iteration, we discuss the simmering Maxx Crosby crisis in Las Vegas, the salary cap potentially hitting a major snag, and the Brian Flores theories being kaput.
Vikings Rumors: 01.17.2024
Rumor #1 — The Maxx Crosby Crisis Should Be on Minnesota’s Radar
Yes, without question.
The 26-year-old pass rusher is coming off a season when he snagged a second-team All Pro award. He boasted 90 tackles, 14.5 sacks, 31 QB hits, 23 TFLs (tying Danielle Hunter), and 2 forced fumbles. The wild thing is that he has publicly articulated his desire for Las Vegas to retain Antonio Pierce as the head coach.
“We went 5-4, but but we were in every single game. Just to break that up and start from square one again,” Crosby explains, “that’s something that I’m not interested in.” Crosby then says that the locker room shares his opinion while indicating that he’s willing to “be the bad guy” to advocate for Pierce’s return.
In fact, the rumor — one that Pro Football Talk relays from NFL Media — is that the star defender is considering a trade (or, at least, requesting one) if the Raiders decide on someone other than Mr. Pierce.
Assume, for the sake of argument, that the Crosby crisis reaches a climactic moment. The star defender wants out since LV hasn’t brought Antonio Pierce back. In that scenario, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah should be the first one to give the Raiders a call. Crosby is precisely the kind of player Minnesota desperately needs. He’s 26, plays a premium position, would fill a huge roster need, and has a cap charge that’s more than worth it.
Right now, Crosby is scheduled to move into a season where he’ll demand a bit below $24.5 million in cap space. In a trade, a pile of that money (the signing bonus) is going to stay behind and then Kwesi could get creative with shrinking the projected $19,382,000 cap charge down for 2024.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah isn’t quite at two full years on the job, but he has already pulled off three trades with the Raiders. Many Minnesotans would be thrilled to see Maxx Crosby bring things up to four swaps between Kwesi and the Raiders.
Rumor #2 — The Purple Budget Could Be Facing a Serious Hurdle
Adofo-Mensah will need to be shrewd.
If there isn’t a new deal for Kirk Cousins and/or Danielle Hunter, the Vikings will be forced to digest some major dead money. Dalvin Cook is already leaving behind more than $3.1 million and Marcus Davenport looks certain to have his $6.8 million take a bite out of the budget. What would happen with Cousins and Hunter?
Take a look:
| Player | Dead Money |
| Cook, Dalvin | $3,101,273 |
| Cousins, Kirk | $28,500,000 |
| Hunter, Danielle | $14,906,667 |
| Davenport, Marcus | $6,800,000 |
| Total: $53,307,940 |
Making matters even worse, in a sense, is that these four players are by no means the only ones who can leave dead money behind.
Harrison Phillips is a great player, but will the Vikings think he’s worth his cap hit that’s nearing $9 million? A simple cut would free up $6.5 million while leaving behind $2,333,334. Cutting Harrison Smith would mean a dead money charge of $7,831,766. Moving on from Dean Lowry would mean accepting $2,400,000 in dead money.
Minnesota is going to do their utmost to avoid too much financial peril since they’ll actively be trying to extend Cousins and Hunter. Simply agreeing to new deals with those two will alleviate a lot of the dead money burden, but the current amount — a touch over $3.5 million, per OTC — is going to swell by quite a bit if/when the team makes decisions on a variety of players.
Rumor #3 — Brian Flores Isn’t Going Anywhere
Truth be told, Brian Flores deserves to become a head coach again. He did a marvellous job as the Vikings’ DC, helping the NFL’s 30th-ranked defense per points allowed hop up to 13th. Yes, the performance at the end of the season was very bad, but the overall work was rock solid.
Per Kevin O’Connell, though, Flores isn’t going anywhere.
O’Connell dropped this rumor-undercutting bombshell: “And ultimately, I think the most exciting thing is where Flo is going to take that defense from here. And as we can improve our depth and continue to add pieces to that side of the football, I have so much confidence in what he’s going to be able to do.”
The head coach’s words are future-oriented in their outlook. O’Connell’s focus is on where things are going with Flores and what will be accomplished moving forward. Doesn’t sound like a coordinator who is on the cusp of leaving, does it?
Even more encouraging is that the coach is talking about giving his chef better ingredients.
Instead of needing to plan for life without Flores, O’Connell is prophesying about giving the DC better players to work with. Just imagine what would be possible with a true CB1, a pass rusher at defensive tackle, and/or an edge rusher to complement Danielle Hunter (Crosby!). Instead of needing to drag a group with average talent into the league’s top half, Flores could possibly push his group into elite.
The expected bounce back from O’Connell’s offense may coincide with Minnesota morphing into a top-10 team on defense. Combining those two realities would almost certainly lead to a 2024 season with a considerably better record than in 2023.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
The Vikings Could Be Taking on a Lot of Water Once the Dead Money Gets Added Up
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.