Laying Out The Basic Facts About The Vikings’ Cap
K. Joudry
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Much has been made of the ways that Rick Spielman decided to spend his purple money. Since becoming GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has come under similar scrutiny, receiving praise and criticism for both the deals he made and didn’t make. At times, it’s helpful to get a bird’s eye view on the finances, stepping back to get a better sense of how Minnesota has chosen to use their cap space.
The fine folks at Spotrac provide a handy tool that allows us to see what a team is spending on certain positions. Below, you’ll find a position-by-position breakdown of the cap total and NFL ranking for each position. How much will the Vikings spend on their QB room? How does that relate to the rest of the NFL? We’ll find out.
All of this refers to the 2022 cap. The drafted rookies aren’t included in the totals, so this will need to adjusted as deals get done.
| Position | Cap Space | NFL Ranking |
| QB | $34.3M | 6th |
| RB + FB | $18.9M | 3rd |
| WR | $21.9M | 15th |
| TE | $4.6M | 29th |
| OL | $28.1M | 24th |
| DL | $35.2M | 16th |
| LB | $26.6M | 14th |
| DB | $21.6M | 31st |
| Specialists | $5.8M | 19th |
Clearly, the Vikings have made it a priority to bring in high-end talent at QB and RB. Whether they’ve been successful is up for debate, but the budget indicates that it’s important to what they want to accomplish.
The 24th and 16th ranking for the OL and DL is both discouraging and encouraging. On the one hand, it points to how they don’t have a ton of top-tier talent in the trenches. On the other hand, it suggests that a lot of players are contributing on their rookie deals and that the veteran deals – like the one Za’Darius Smith signed – represent good value.
One final thought. Minnesota doesn’t have very much cap space devoted to their defensive backs. Drafting Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth Jr., and Akayleb Evans will bump the number higher. Ideally, the Vikings will find themselves in the position where they’ll need to pay some of their young players. If that occurs, it’s because they’ve developed into great players. Needing to pay top-level talent is a good problem to have.
As time progresses, we’ll keep an eye on how Adofo-Mensah decides to allocate his money to get a better sense of how he likes to build his teams.
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