Minnesota Vikings Free Agency Update, Potential Depth Chart

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Mar 20, 2014

The Minnesota Vikings have stopped becoming somewhat active in free agency, like most teams, and have signed most of who they were going to sign. After losing Henry Melton to the Dallas Cowboys, the Vikings chose to sign former New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Tom Johnson, which makes it extremely unlikely that they re-sign Kevin Williams.

I’ve tracked the Vikings’ moves below. Any signings that occurred after January 1st 2014 is a “new addition,” which is why there are some names there that you may not recognize from the free agency period. Signings added to the team or practice squad in 2013 were not categorized as “new additions.”

New Additions

  • Linval Joseph, defensive tackle. Five years, $31,500,000. $12,500,000 guaranteed ($3,000,000 signing bonus), average salary $6,300,000. Cap hit in 2014: $6,600,000.
  • Captain Munnerlyn, cornerback. Three years, $11,250,000. $4,450,000 guaranteed ($1,000,000 signing bonus), average salary $3,750,000. Cap hit in 2014: $3,333,333.
  • Corey Wootton defensive end. One year, $1,500,000. $? guaranteed ($? signing bonus), average salary $1,5000,000. Cap hit in 2014: $1,500,000.
  • Tom Johnson, defensive tackle. One year, $845,000. $50,000 guaranteed ($50,000 signing bonus), average salary $845,000. Cap hit in 2014: $845,000.
  • Jasper Brinkley, linebacker. One year, $830,000. $25,000 guaranteed ($25,000 signing bonus), average salary $830,000. Cap hit in 2014: $830,000.
  • Derek Cox, cornerback. One year, $730,000. $0 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $730,000. Cap hit in 2014: $780,000.
  • Kheeston Randall, defensive tackle. Two years, $1,080,000. $0 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $540,000. Cap hit in 2014: $495,000.
  • Josh Samuda, center. One year, $495,000. $0 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $495,000. Cap hit in 2014: $495,000.
  • Simoni Lawrence, linebacker. Three years, $1,540,000. $10,000 guaranteed ($10,000 signing bonus), average salary $513,333. Cap hit in 2014: $423,333.
  • Kamar Jorden, wide receiver. Two years, $930,000. $0 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $465,000. Cap hit in 2014: $420,000.

Re-Signings

  • Everson Griffen, defensive end. Five years, $42,500,000. $19,800,000 guaranteed ($6,000,000 signing bonus), average salary $8,500,000. Cap hit in 2014: $8,200,000.
  • Matt Cassel, quarterback. Two years, $10,500,000. $5,650,000 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $5,250,000. Cap hit in 2014: $5,750,000.
  • Charlie Johnson, guard. Two years, $5,000,000. $1,500,000 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $2,500,000. Cap hit in 2014 $2,500,000.
  • Jerome Simpson, receiver. One year, $1,000,000. $0 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $1,000,000. Cap hit in 2014: $1,000,000.
  • Fred Evans, defensive tackle. One year, $1,000,000. $0 guaranteed ($0 signing bonus), average salary $1,000,000. Cap hit in 2014: $1,000,000.
  • Joe Berger, guard. One year, $920,000. $65,000 guaranteed ($65,000 signing bonus), average salary $920,000. Cap hit in 2014: $920,000.
  • Larry Dean, linebacker. Two years, $2,000,000. $400,000 guaranteed ($200,000 signing bonus), average salary $1,000,000. Cap hit in 2014: $900,000.

Cuts

  • John Carlson, tight end. Previous 2014 cap hit: $5,000,000. Current dead money: $3,000,000. Total cap savings: $2,000,000.
  • Letroy Guion, defensive tackle. Previous 2014 cap hit: $4,300,000. Current dead money: $300,000. Total cap savings: $4,000,000.
  • Erin Henderson, linebacker. Previous 2014 cap hit: $2,250,000. Current dead money: $250,000. Total cap savings: $2,000,000.
  • Greg Childs, receiver. Previous 2014 cap hit: $645,146. Current dead money: $150,292. Total cap savings:  $494,854.

Restructures

  • Chad Greenway, linebacker. Reduced base salary from $6,400,000 to $5,500,000 and eliminated $100,000 workout bonus in exchange for fully guaranteeing his 2014 salary. Cap hit: $7,200,000 (old hit: $8,200,000).
  • Jerome Felton, fullback. Reduced base salary from $2,000,000 to $1,450,000 in exchange for guaranteeing a portion of his 2014 salary. Cap hit: $1,813, 726 (old hit: $2,313,726).
  • Jamarca Sanford, safety. Reduced base salary from $2,500,000 to $1,700,000 to be made back in incentives in exchange for guaranteeing a portion of his 2014 salary. Cap hit: $2,500,00 (old hit: $3,000,000).

After pricing in rookies and other dead space, the available cap money the Vikings have is around $13,500,000—depending on Charlie Johnson’s contract and whether or not the Vikings trade around in the draft. This is $1,000,000 more than I predicted a few days ago, because Jerome Simpson’s contract is half of what I thought it would be.

**UPDATE: I keep receiving conflicting information regarding the Charlie Johnson contract. Over-the-cap and Spotrac have different numbers. For now the numbers have been updated to include the pricier version of his contract, which was my initial understanding of it. The new cap space is therefore closer to $12,000,000 after accounting for rookie signings.

Prospective depth chart below. I’ve italicized all the new signings and underlined the re-signings.

Vikings Depth Chart - 3-20-14

I’m currently in the air, so I can’t update the depth chart, but Wootton slots in behind Griffen or Robison.

I’m not extremely confident that this is how the Vikings perceive it or how it will shake out, but that’s what I have. Players like Robert Steeples, Kip Edwards, etc. were not italicized because they were on the Vikings practice squad during the season and didn’t play for another team since being part of the active roster this offseason. Kamar Jorden played for the Arena league, so I included him as a new signing.

Naturally, the depth charts will change as camp battles progress and new draftees enter the team. There are some key differences in this chart over the previous chart, mostly at linebacker. Hodges and Dean were listed as Sam linebackers last year and I included them this year as Will linebackers, mostly because the Vikings, between 2011-2013 had some different responsibilities for the Sam linebacker that may have made Hodges and Dean better Sam fits. There is a chance that the new scheme may prefer those two at Will (though I haven’t broken it down yet).

There are your current 2014 Vikings! What do you think?