The Vikings Salary Cap Detail that Helps Refute the 2023 Rebuild Argument
K. Joudry
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For much of the offseason, analyst and fan alike have debated whether the Minnesota Vikings are rebuilding or merely retooling. The competitive rebuild – Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s term for what’s taking place – has proven to be a stubbornly elusive concept for many people.
Does a Vikings salary cap detail help us? I think so, especially if we shrink things down to what the general manager decided to do during the busiest portion of free agency. The way that he manipulated the money points to more of an emphasis on the competitive portion of the competitive rebuild.
And, quite possibly, the issue is less with understanding the competitive rebuild and more with being persuaded by the competitive rebuild. After all, the stated goal of competing in the immediate while still keeping an eye on the future isn’t altogether complex. Some will disagree with the middle ground, instead preferring an all-out commitment to one end of the spectrum.
Again, though, the salary cap may help us to gain clarity. After all, we’re talking about the NFL. Money always tells the truth in the NFL. Everything else can and will distort the truth, but money is what it’s all about in the preeminent football league. For the Vikings, the money can tell us a lot about what’s being prioritized.
The Vikings Salary Cap Detail
Generally speaking, teams that are looking to fully gear up for contention in the future do so by ensuring the future budget(s) is wide open. Minnesota certainly does have a lot of cap space coming up. Per Over the Cap, Minnesota is staring down more than $53 million in cap space in 2024 and a whopping $165 million in 2025 (much of that flexibility comes from the GM’s willingness to cut and/or trade older players, decisions that do indeed hint at more of a rebuilding effort).
As an added bonus, the Vikings will be able to carry over anything that remains from the 2023 budget into next year. Currently, the team is a bit below $18 million in cap space. So, there’s a good shot that next year’s cap space will get a boost once it’s all said and done.
A major reason why the Vikings have money in the immediate is due to the GM’s willingness to use void years to lessen cap hits in 2023. In fact, Adofo-Mensah commonly relied on the salary cap maneuver to give himself breathing room.
Consider the deals Adofo-Mensah agreed to that rely on void years to push money into the future. The numbers below represent dead money hits and the year they’re scheduled to arrive because of void years being tacked onto deals:
- Kirk Cousins: $16,000,000 in 2024*
- Marcus Davenport: $6,800,000 in 2024
- Byron Murphy: $4,200,000 in 2025
- Dean Lowry: $1,800,000 in 2025
- Garrett Bradbury: $1,628,000 in 2026
- Josh Oliver: $2,848,000 in 2026
Remember: the six deals mentioned above were all agreed to during the most recent free agency period.
To my mind, leaning too much on void years is a misguided approach. The GM certainly seems to disagree. He very commonly went back to void years to help make the finances work in 2023.
Right now, the salary cap is looking healthy. With a bit below $18 million in cap space, the Vikings have the luxury of being able to add talent before the Week 1 game against the Buccaneers. In fact, Minnesota has the capacity to bring in meaningful contributors, players capable of snagging starting spots and putting up robust stats.
The reliance on void years is largely responsible for the short-term flexibility. The trade off is less cap space in future seasons. If the team was truly rebuilding, there would be a major reluctance to deplete future budgets for the sake of cap room in the immediate.
The simple reality is that the Vikings are trying to thread the needle. The playoffs are the goal in 2023. Whether they’ve done enough remains to be seen, but the team is not giving up on the current season even as some emphasis remains on being a very different team from 2024 onward.
* Kirk Cousins was already carrying $12.5 million in dead money into the 2024 budget. Converting $20 million of Cousins’ compensation into a signing bonus pushed an added $16 million in dead money to 2024. In total, Cousins will leave behind a $28.5 million dead money hit unless an extension is reached.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap helped with this piece.
