Vikings Salary Cap Gets Mid-Level Assessment from PFF Cap Expert

K. Joudry |

May 17, 2022

Nov 4, 2018; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter (99) celebrates after a sack during the fourth quarter against the Detroit Lions at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The Vikings salary cap is the source of endless intrigue.

Recently, Brad Spielberger of PFF tweeted a chart detailing his thoughts on the most to least healthy NFL caps. Some will be surprised to see that Minnesota finds itself (barely) in the top half of the league. They’re coming in at 16th overall.

First edition of the 2022 Cap Health Rankings, with a handful of updates from prior versions:

1. Now using weighted averages for each category
2. Roster quality matters more pic.twitter.com/wAyqEoJDsw
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@PFF_Brad) May 17, 2022

A lot of Vikings fans likely have a more negative assessment of the salary cap. Retaining Kirk Cousins was not without controversy, and the team surprisingly chose to keep a lot of their veteran talent. Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, C.J. Ham, Garrett Bradbury, Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, and even Harrison Smith were all contenders for trade or to be cut. None of that happened, though. All will be key parts of Minnesota’s successes and failures in 2022.

It’s also not surprising to see the Packers rank so lowly. They’re 30th overall. Paul Bretl from Dairyland Express has pointed out how top-heavy the Packers are, and he recently clarified how much room the Pack will have this season. Moreover, the Saints are in last place, which isn’t surprising given their decision to load up for 2022.

Both the Lions and Bears are in a better spot, and that makes sense since both teams are rebuilding.

The salary cap situation that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah inherited after the Vikings opted to fire Rick Spielman wasn’t an ideal one. Cousins was coming with a $45 million cap charge, necessitating some form of solution from the new GM. There is also plenty of dead money (more than $22M).

We can disagree with some of the decisions Adofo-Mensah decided to make – I certainly have a couple I’m concerned about – but it’s encouraging to see Minnesota in a reasonably good position financially. Moving forward, the Vikings will have a fair bit of financial flexibility, so this is a situation to monitor.

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