The Vikings’ Out of Left Field Move Comes Down to a Single Reality
On Wednesday night, the Vikings’ out of left field move smacked fan and writer alike: Harrison Phillips was being traded out of the Twin Cities.
Tom Pelissero of The NFL Network offered the news: “Trade! The #Vikings are sending veteran NT Harrison Phillips to the #Jets for a 2026 sixth-round draft pick and a swap of picks in 2027, per sources.”
Not too long afterwards, Mr. Pelissero jumped in with more precise details of the swap: “The full trade… #Jets get: Harrison Phillips [and] 2027 7th-round pick. #Vikings get: 2026 6th-round pick [and] 2027 6th-round pick. It’ll be finalized in the next couple days.”
Take a few moments to look at some of the most prominent Vikings writers — Ben Goessling, Kevin Seifert, Alec Lewis, Andrew Krammer, and so on — and there’s a relaying of the news alongside praise for the man Phillips is (which is to say nothing of him being a good football player). Why was he traded?
The Vikings’ Out of Left Field Trade
In the NFL, folks, it’s always about the money. Always.
Minnesota is currently sitting on a pretty beefy amount of cap space. The same can’t be said about what’s coming next year. Indeed, the team was in the worst spot in the NFL in terms of open salary cap space. Put differently, there wasn’t any. Worse than not having any, there was actually a mountain of debt. By moving on from Horrible Harry, the Vikings get a chance to begin figuring out how to navigate that mountain’s steep descent.
Andrew Krammer gets into the motive for the move: “The Vikings are trading a 2024 team captain for two sixth round picks and cap space.” It’s that final pair of words — “cap space” — that really stands out.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic clarified that Minnesota would be retaining some of the cap charge in 2025: “The Vikings will pick up half of Phillips’ $7.4 million 2025 salary, per source.” The official Spotrac social media account — a salary cap website — offered further clarity: “Minnesota retained $3.7M of 2025 salary to facilitate the trade, taking on dead hits of $5.4M in 2025, $1.6M in 2026.” Per Over the Cap, Phillips’ projected cap charges for the Vikings was coming in at $9,676,389 (2025) and then $9,176,389 (2026). So, a double dose of savings.
Of course, there’s the broader roster context that everyone is pointing toward: a very deep defensive tackle position.
Adding Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave during the offseason was bold. Each demanded huge money. Supporting those two are a pile of young fellas who appear to be ready to play meaningful roles. In particular, one thinks of Jalen Redmond since he already showed a pile of promise last season. But then the presence of Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, Levi Drake Rodriguez, and others makes the position very deep. A key reality to note: a major part of the upcoming cap crunch flows from signing Allen and Hargrave (money is always the critical factor, folks).
In the end Harrison Phillips — a team captain who is second to none when it comes to off-field work — got squeezed out.
Harrison Phillips comes in at 6’3″ and 307 pounds. Very rugged, Mr. Phillips is one of the NFL’s preeminent run defenders, routinely clogging running lanes while proving to be very difficult to move off his spot. Last season, the veteran had 56 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 5 QB hits, 4 passes defended, and 1 forced fumble.
He will turn 30 on January 25th. The Jets are getting a great player.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
