The Vikings’ Finances After Pulling Off the Latest Trade
Gotta think Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is pleased with how things came together, especially for the Vikings’ finances.
Not only did he snag LT Cam Robinson for a pick swap, Adofo-Mensah also left some room in the budget to do a bit more work. Consider the update from ESPN’s Field Yates: “To facilitate the trade of Cam Robinson to the Vikings, the Jaguars absorbed just over $7M of his remaining base salary, per source. The Vikings will owe Robinson $2M in base salary plus $58,824 for each game he is active for the rest of this season.”
The firm confirmation from Yates builds off of the hint from Spotrac, a salary cap website that foreshadowed the Jags retaining some money: “UPDATE: The #Jaguars have agreed to pay down a portion of Cam Robinson’s remaining $9.6M as part of this trade.”
Janik Eckardt, Managing Editor of PurplePTSD, responded to the revelation about only needing to chew up between $2-$3 million in cap space. In “Recent Vikings Trade Just Got Even Sweeter,” Eckardt offers this assessment: “At the end of the day, the Vikings pay roughly $2.6 million and move back two or three rounds in the 2026 draft for a solid left tackle who could potentially return a compensatory pick when he’s leaving in free agency.” Sounds pretty good, right?
The Vikings’ Finances & The NFL Trade Deadline
Prior to picking up the left tackle, Minnesota was sitting on roughly $9.4 million in cap space.
Do some simple math, then, to figure out where the budget should be (roughly). Let’s say Eckardt’s $2.6 million number is accurate, more or less. Shave off $2.6 million from $9.4 million and be left with $6.8 million in open room. Not a ton but enough.
On Spotrac, there’s a more precise estimate for what Mr. Robinson will cost: $2,588,230. The overall figure over there is more optimistic than what’s on Over the Cap — an NFL specific cap website — by insisting that Minnesota is sitting on a touch beyond $11.5 million in open room.
Assume, for the sake of argument, that the number is closer to the details found on OTC. Currently, that’s a figure that’s closer to $9 million even after tossing Robinson into the mix. Is there still enough to do some more business?
Indeed, there certainly is, especially since the GM still has options available for kicking money into the future if that’s his desire. Cap space sitting at anywhere from $6.5 million to $9 million is enough to add an impact player. After all, Minnesota snagged a starting left tackle while just swapping Day 3 selections. Doing so will still come in under $3 million in cap commitments.
In 2025, Minnesota is sitting on a 1st and a pair of 5ths (there should be some compensatory help before it’s all said and done). The most valuable asset — by a country mile — is that 1st. Any chance it gets used in a swap? If so, the trade will need to look a certain way.
Otherwise, there are the draft picks that exist in 2026 and 2027. Minnesota could even look to move out a player on their roster, as unlikely as that seems right now. The name that’s getting some recent traction is linebacker Brian Asamoah, someone whom PurplePTSD identified a while back.
The NFL trade deadline gets here on Tuesday, November 5th.
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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, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.