Purple Headlines of the Week: First Vikings Free Agent Re-Signs, New Coaching Additions, a Leap in Salary Cap Space for 2024
NFL free agency is fast-approaching, which will officially jumpstart the offseason into full swing.
As the offseason continues to wind up into a full sprint towards the NFL Draft, here is a look at all of the purple headlines from this past week of Vikings news that you may have missed.
Vikings Re-Sign Theo Jackson
The Minnesota Vikings have officially re-signed their first pending free agent of the 2024 offseason. That player is safety Theo Jackson, who entered the spring as an exclusive rights free agent, meaning the Vikings had first dibs to sign him to a league minimum deal because his contract had expired before three seasons in the NFL.
In total, the safety appeared in 15 games during the 2023 season (missing the final two games because of injury) put together 126 defensive snaps along with 260 snaps with the special teams. He recorded 21 tackles, a QB hit, and a Week 2 interception against the Philadelphia Eagles. His signing ensures that Minnesota can completely run things back at the safety position next season if they choose to do so.
Vikings Hire Two New Coaches
The Minnesota Vikings appear very close to finalizing their coaching staff for the 2024 season after hiring a pair of newcomers this past week. Shaun Sarrett will assist with the coaching duties on the offensive line while Henry Schneider IV will be the assistant to the head coach this upcoming season.
Sarrett has spent the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers in a similar role, helping bring along a top offensive tackle talent in Rashawn Slater. Meanwhile, Schneider has held various roles with the Las Vegas Raiders over the past five seasons, most recently being in the position of manager of coaching operations in both 2022 and 2023.
NFL Salary Cap Takes a Huge Jump
On Friday, the NFL salary cap was officially announced. The cap took an explosive leap of more than $30 million from 2023, rising from $224.6 million in 2023 all the way to $255.4 million. This is the largest salary cap rise since it was implemented back in 1994.
It also means that the Minnesota Vikings have more wiggle room for spending purposes this offseason. For awhile, it seemed like Minnesota would have about $24-25 million in cap space, and now, they are projected to have more than $35.8 million for this offseason. This could help them bring in some extra talent over the spring, but it will also ensure that this upcoming free agency period will be extremely competitive around the league.
In Case You Missed It…
As usual, we have an extra list of reading material for the especially studious Vikings fans. Happy reading!
- Former Vikings Offensive Lineman Let Go by Steelers
- Minnesota Madness Round 2
- A Trio of Buy-Low Players the Vikings Can Sign to Help Their Offense
- The Case to Cut/Keep Harrison Smith
- One Team May Be Off the List of Kirk Cousins Destinations
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.