Where the Vikings Money Goes
The Minnesota Vikings possess about $12 million in cap space as of May 6th, most of which will be used to sign the current draft class and haul of undrafted free agents.
If general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah wanted to add any more splashy free agents like Akiem Hicks or JC Tretter, the contracts of Eric Kendricks and Dalvin Cook would likely have to be renegotiated.
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For 2022, Minnesota largely has money tied up in the offense, chiefly Kirk Cousins and playmakers like Dalvin Cook and Adam Thielen. Under Mike Zimmer, the inverse was typically the trend as the Vikings spent more money on defense than offense from 2014 to 2017.
Courtesy of Spotrac, here’s where the Vikings money is allocated by position in 2022:
| 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 |
Two items stand off the page — Minnesota investing the sixth-most dollars for a quarterback who’s generally about the 11th-best in the business and the lack of funds allotted to the secondary.
The sixth-highest-paid versus 11th-best performance is the primary reason you read Kirk Cousins-related debates all offseason. The Vikings spend Top 6 cash on a quarterback who isn’t a Top 6 passer. Plain and simple. The “issue” for fans regarding Cousins is always — and will eternally be — related to money. Cousins has never shown interest in “taking a discount,” and Tom Brady is really the only quarterback on the planet who does that. Still, Vikings fans envision a utopia where Cousins “takes one for the team.” But he will never do that.
Additionally, Minnesota “gets a discount” in the secondary. Kevin O’Connell’s defensive back group is headlined by Harrison Smith, Patrick Peterson, Cameron Dantzler, Lewis Cine, Andrew Booth, and Chandon Sullivan. Aside from Smith, those men are affordable — to the tune of second-cheapest in the NFL.
In a way, that offsets the quarterback and running back bill.
A final point of order: The “WR” section of the table above will swing violently in two years. The Vikings employ Justin Jefferson at a discount, rookie-deal rate, so his performance, by far, outpaces his paycheck. After his rookie contract expires, though, the cap allocation will lean heavy on WR — unless Adofo-Mensah does something outlandish like letting Jefferson walk.
Footnote: monitor the Vikings 2022 offensive line production. The team is investing the ninth-least cap space into a spot on the field where the group usually performs toward the bottom of the league via Pro Football Focus grades. If Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell cannot fix the offensive line — once and for all — on a condensed budget, they’ll have to spend more OL dollars in free agency next March.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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