Vikings Rumors: More Money to Spend, Compelling Case Against Darnold, and a New Coach to Hire
As we enter the portion of the year when Vikings rumors start heating up, 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 Vikings having more cap space than people realize (in a sense), a compelling argument against bringing Sam Darnold back, and hiring a new coach for Minnesota’s staff.
Vikings Rumors: 02.05.2025
Rumor #1 — The Vikings Have Enough Hidden Money to Make Smaug Jealous
Well, maybe not that much. Smaug does, after all, have quite a pile of gold (that he guards with great vigor). The point remains, however, that GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is sitting in an advantageous position financially.
Going into Year 4 on the job, Adofo-Mensah has left himself with roughly $58 million in cap space for 2025. Look around the NFL and you’ll see that it’s an amount that comes in at 7th overall, an encouraging placement given the success from 2024. The reason for even more encouragement is what’s still out in front of the Vikings financially.
The current estimate has Minnesota at more than $100 million in open cap space in 2026. Of course, that’s a number that’s bound to decrease once March’s business gets taken care of, but that’s precisely the point: the GM has quite a bit of open room, thereby allowing him to park large cap hits in the future.
A common feature of the Kwesi contract is the willingness to sink the initial season down to a very low level for the cap hit before seeing things take a substantial leap in the second and/or third season(s). Void years often get tossed into the mix to further carve out room in the present moment. Look for Adofo-Mensah to be active once free agency gets going on March 10th.
Rumor #2 — The Anti-Sam Darnold Case is Built into Minnesota’s Budget
Sometimes, success throws a wrench into a plan, but the plan is evidently to be done with Sam Darnold before 2026 arrives.
Consider, for instance, some of the cap hits that are upcoming for that season. There’s Justin Jefferson ($39M) Brian O’Neill ($23M+), Christian Darrisaw ($23M+), Jonathan Greenard ($22M+), and T.J. Hockenson (21M+). If J.J. McCarthy — someone scheduled to make a touch under $6 million in 2026 — is the QB1, then those cap charges become a lot easier to digest.
If, however, Darnold is still in town, then there’s going to be some serious cap shuffling taking place to make it all work. Clearly, Adofo-Mensah looked into his crystal ball and saw a 2026 Vikings team with a rookie QB contract helping to balance the books. Clearly, changing course now would involve some painful surgery on his spreadsheet.
Even keeping Sam Darnold for 2025 appears more unlikely when we look at those numbers. After all, unused cap space gets carried over in the NFL, meaning that a cheap QB room in 2025 is advantageous for Minnesota’s 2026 budget when all of those large cap hits are scheduled to arrive.
Rumor #3 — The Vikings are a Contender to Add a Once-Coveted Coach
Indeed.
Finding jobs in the NFL often comes down to who you know. Well, Jerod Mayo knows several important people in Minnesota, including the head coach and defensive coordinator. Adding the former Patriots coach could make a lot of sense if there’s a belief in TCO Performance Center that Mr. Mayo could help to push the Vikings just a bit higher.
O’Connell previously shared this thought on his former teammate: “I think the world of Jerod, always have. Tried to possibly work with him multiple times over my coaching journey just cause of the leader he is.” Not long afterwards, O’Connell then reflected on his rookie season, noting that Mayo was one of the “alphas” who helped to lead.
As a head coach with an ownership group that hasn’t been shy about supporting the team, O’Connell may be in the best position possible to make working alongside Mayo a reality.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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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.