The Cam Robinson Trade Got a Little Sweeter for the Vikings

Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Cam Robinson (74) walks off the field after being ejected for fighting with Carolina Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown (95), not shown, during the fourth quarter of a regular season NFL football matchup Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jacksonville Jaguars blanked the Carolina Panthers 26-0. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union].

The Minnesota Vikings lost their stalwart left tackle, Christian Darrisaw, to a season-ending knee injury last Thursday.

Darrisaw suffered the injury on Thursday Night Football against the Los Angeles Rams, and as a response, the Minnesota Vikings traded to acquire Cam Robinson from the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this week. Minnesota sent Jacksonville a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick for Robinson and a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick.

It already wasn’t a bad price to pay for a quality starting left tackle, but the trade got even a little sweeter for the Vikings this week.

The Cam Robinson Trade Got a Little Sweeter for the Vikings

Cam Robinson
Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Cam Robinson (74) looks on during the third day of an NFL football training camp practice Friday, July 26, 2024 at EverBank Stadium’s Miller Electric Center in Jacksonville, Fla. © Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK.

This comes in the form of the financial side of the trade. Coming into the 2024 season, Robinson was set to make a base salary of right around $16.25 million. With the season being about half over, the left tackle was still owed somewhere in the $9 million ballpark.

When the Vikings made the trade, though, they had about $9.4 million in cap space, meaning that Robinson’s salary would eat into nearly every ounce of their wiggle room to make moves.

However, it turns out the Vikings will be paying very little of Robinson’s remaining salary. Take a look at what Field Yates of ESPN reported on Wednesday evening:

Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

“To facilitate the trade of Cam Robinson to the Vikings, the Jaguars absorbed just over $7M of his remaining base salary, per source. The Vikings will owe Robinson $2M in base salary plus $58,824 for each game he is active for the rest of this season. Robinson can begin practicing [Thursday].”

With this information, the Vikings still have about $7 million in cap space to work with following this trade, and they feasibly can make another move prior to the trade deadline if they want.

Despite back-t0-back losses, the Vikings are 5-2 and fully in the mix in the NFC to make it as a Wild Card team and remain only one game behind the Detroit Lions for the lead in the NFC North. A victory in Week 18 can erase that deficit as long as they keep pace the rest of the season.

Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images.

The Vikings are set to take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday Night Football in Week 9, presumably with Robinson starting at left tackle against a talented young group of pass rushers.

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:20 PM Central inside U.S. Bank Stadium.


Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Over the Cap.