2015 Minnesota Vikings: Vikings Have $23 Million in Cap Space In New Cap (UPDATE: Change to Number)
According to the daily salary cap report released by the NFLPA, the Minnesota Vikings have used $131,365, 934 of their cap room. That report indicates the Vikings have $5,723,960 in carryover space, which means that their adjusted salary cap is $149,003,960 (given that the salary cap number released today is $143,280,000). The difference is $17.6 million.
That number should be the impact the top 51 salaries have on the cap. Given that guard Charlie Johnson’s release was on the official NFL transaction wire, that should also include relief from cutting Johnson. This should also include all adjustments made after the incentives from last year have been calculated, which include an additional $624,000 in retroactive bonuses doled out to players.
The controversy surrounding Adrian Peterson, including moves towards a trade, as well as potential movement on veterans (for example, potentially restructuring or cutting Chad Greenway, Greg Jennings or Brian Robison) should change that landscape before free agency. The Vikings have a few, though not many, free agents of their own they may want to re-sign, most notable of which are backup defensive tackle Tom Johnson and last year’s starter at middle linebacker Jasper Brinkley.
This nails down a number instead of simply relying on estimates, and the amount seems a bit smaller than expected—third-party estimates had the Vikings with $23 million in space.
I’m not sure where the discrepancy comes from, though I suspect incentives in contract play at least a small role.
UPDATE: According to Andrew Krammer at ESPN1500, the $131,365,934 number comes from counting all contracts, not the top 51, which is the rule for cap compliance in the offseason. Krammer says the top 51 calculation gives the Vikings $23 million or so.
@ArifHasanNFL @CMichaelOH @NFLPA Current contracts are $17M in room, Rule 51 is $23M in room. I split difference.
— Andrew Krammer (@Andrew_Krammer) March 2, 2015
That makes sense, given that the Vikings cap page for OverTheCap.com has total spending match, more or less, the NFLPA amount but a Top 51 number that is $6 million less.