The Vikings Can Replenish the Salary Cap by $14M with a Single Move
As things stand, the Vikings don’t have enough cap space sign the draft class. Per Over the Cap, there’s less than $5 million currently available.
Minnesota’s front office isn’t caught off guard by that reality.
Indeed, there’s a built-in plan to address the shortcoming. Opting to cut Jonathan Allen and Harrison Smith with a post-June 1 designation means waiting until June to get the added cap room. At that time, Minnesota will see an added $12.5 million opened up, more than enough to cover the cost of the draftees. Does an O’Neill deal get done before then, though?
Extending Brian O’Neill to Replenish the Vikings’ Cap
In 2018, Minnesota opted for an athletic right tackle out of Pittsburgh.
At the time, the broad consensus was that Mr. O’Neill would be brought along somewhat slowly. He was chosen at No. 62, a spot in the event that points toward promise alongside a need for refinement. Pretty quickly, however, the Vikings had to abandon the plan, elevating the rookie to a starting position out of necessity. O’Neill made them appear smart for doing so.
What began as solid play as a rookie turned into very strong play by the end of a his rookie deal. A lucrative extension followed.
Former GM Rick Spielman put together a five-year deal worth a total of $92.5 million to keep the towering tackle in the Twin Cities. Some sticker shock was present at the time, but it’s a deal that has aged very well. O’Neill has been more than worth that money.
The Vikings are now shifting the focus toward a different but similar question: is he worth another extension?
Pushing the extension savings to the max could involve putting $14,160,000 back into the present-day budget. That does come at some expense: pushing cap charges into the future. But, to be sure, that’s often a deal that NFL teams are willing to make.
Even better, the Vikings would be keeping their stud right tackle for several more years. He’s someone who hasn’t shown signs of age; rather, he has been playing very well even as that dreaded “3” now sits in front of his age (he’ll turn 31 in September).
At this point, Brian O’Neill is approaching Harrison Smith status: a lifelong Viking who is a legend in the franchise’s history. Opting to keep the good times rolling via extension therefore appears like it’s just a matter of time.
Quite possibly, the Vikings will wait for the full-time GM to solve the Brian O’Neill riddle. Various options, both internal and external, exist for the top job. Maybe the move is to wait, deferring the decision for later in the summer.
Or, perhaps, the decision is so clear that it doesn’t matter who the new top executive is: Mr. O’Neill is a lifer in Minnesota. If that’s the determination, then Rob Brzezinski can construct an extension in May, doing so to secure the rugged right tackle for several more years while liberating enough cap room (and more) to add all of the drafted talent.
O’Neill, 30, comes in at 6’7″ and 310 pounds. He combines with Christian Darrisaw to form one of the NFL’s top tackle tandems.
