Salary Cap Expert Lays Out Plan for Vikings to Save Money
Janik Eckardt
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The most important task for the Vikings and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah in the next three weeks is to get under the salary cap. Currently, the Vikings are roughly $24 million over the cap, and they need to be under that limit on March 15, when the new league year kicks off.
To get there, the organization has many different options. Releasing expensive players, extending contracts to lower cap hits, restructuring contracts, and negotiating pay cuts are all options to free up some vital cap money.
Salary Cap Expert Lays Out Plan for Vikings to Save Money
Brad Spielberger from PFF is the site’s specialist regarding the salary cap and contracts. He knows all the tricks teams have up their sleeves to save money. The Vikings have many different scenarios, but he doesn’t like the current situation of the franchise.
When you start to break down what the Vikings need to do this offseason, you realize just how old and bloated this roster currently is, and how much work new defensive coordinator Brian Flores has ahead of him.
Brad Spielberger, PFF
Spielberger would extend Kirk Cousins’ contract. The Vikings initially signed the quarterback to a three-year deal, but two extensions later, he is on pace to be the starting QB in six consecutive seasons. By that move, the Vikings would save $15 million, according to Spielberger, which is the same thing the team did a year ago.
Another option would be to extend Cousins to a long-term deal, which could save even more cap space, but it would make it tougher to move on from the player. He will turn 35 years old and face a severe dropoff in ability at some point, like all players not named Tom Brady, but he played well in 2022. We’ll find out in the next few months if the Vikings plan with Cousins under center for more years or if they look to move on. The indicators will be his contract situation and if the Vikings draft a successor.
The next move would be the contract extension of T.J. Hockenson. Minnesota acquired the tight end via trade at the halfway point of the NFL season, and it turned out to be a brilliant move. While the Vikings now have to pay big bucks for a non-premium position, they have one of the top players at that spot. Spielberger thinks saving $5.25 million is realistic. Hockenson will play under the fifth-year option if a new contract is not signed. Both parties most likely want to get it done.
The restructuring of Brian O’Neill’s contract comes next. It would push some of the cap hit into future years, which is unwise to do with some players but a viable option with players who are part of the long-term plans. O’Neill, one of the premier offensive tackles, is certainly part of the future plan. The move could free up roughly $10 million.
Three more recommended actions are the negotiation of pay cuts with the veterans Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, and Harrison Smith. Of course, players have every right to decline that. All three played only for the purple team in their professional careers, which helps the Vikings in this case. Thielen and Smith have high dead cap hits, but Kendricks could easily be released, saving the team $9.5 million in cap space.
It’s very presumptuous to assume any player will willingly take a pay cut. It’s borderline delusional to assume all three of the above players will agree, but the trio of Thielen, Kendricks and Smith are lifers with the club and perhaps could be persuaded to run it back one more time at a reduced rate.
Brad Spielberger, PFF
Spielberger suggests that each player takes a cut between $4 million and $5 million. A pay cut only makes sense for the players if they wouldn’t get more money on the open market.
It was added that Dalvin Cook could also be a candidate for that, just like the Packers did with Aaron Jones earlier in the offseason.
Running back Dalvin Cook should probably be approached for a pay cut, too, much like Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones, who agreed to reduce his 2023 compensation by $5 million, but there are no assurances he’ll agree.
Brad Spielberger, PFF
Those moves would leave the Vikings with more than $19,740,826 cap space.
Jordan Hicks could also be a cut candidate, as his release would save the team $5 million in cap space.
Spielberger would use some of that money for extensions of the team’s top players:
Coming off a highly productive and healthy 2022 campaign with 76 quarterback pressures and 10.5 sacks, edge defender Danielle Hunter almost certainly will not play in 2023 for $5.5 million in cash after looking for an extension the past few years.
Extensions for Hunter, perhaps edge defender Za’Darius Smith after he proved he can still be a high-level edge rusher on a pseudo-prove-it deal and potentially superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson could all be in play, further eating into the cash budget available to improve this roster elsewhere.
Brad Spielberger, PFF
Contract extensions with the two star pass rushers make sense and keeping Justin Jefferson on the team for a long time should be the top priority for the organization.
Adofo-Mensah has a lot of work to do to save some cap space. Many different things can achieve that, and it will be fascinating to see which players the Vikings want to keep on the team.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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