Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, after a 20-17 win over the Washington Commanders in Week 9 of the 2022 regular season.
Minnesota Vikings fans’ jaws dropped early Tuesday evening when the franchise extended left tackle Christian Darrisaw’s contract by four years and $113 million.
The extension itself was not surprising — but the timing elated onlookers. Darrisaw extension chatter was expected to heat up during the 2025 offseason, not July 2024.
Yet, Minnesota completed the deal early, perhaps wanting to avoid a drawn-out saga, much like Justin Jefferson encountered for 18 months. Jefferson and Darrisaw are in the saddle until 2028 and 2029, respectively.
So, who’s next? The answer is pretty damn straightforward — safety Camryn Bynum.
Bynum, too, has entered the chat, and Minnesota may look to nail down his services for the long haul sometime before the start of the 2024 regular season. The veteran safety has one year left on his rookie contract, and now is the natural time for those discussions to heat up.
The veteran safety blossomed in 2023 with the help of new defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Regarding an extension this summer, KSTP’s Darren Wolfson said on SKOR North in June, “I did talk with Cam Bynum about a potential contract extension … my sense is there is mutual interest on getting an extension done whether it’s right before training camp / late July… or before the opener before the New York Giants.”
As a rookie three years ago, Bynum prospered in relief of Harrison Smith for a handful of games, so much so that his forecast as a sophomore in 2022 soared, at least per offseason estimation. Thereafter, Minnesota fired Mike Zimmer, hired Kevin O’Connell as a replacement, and O’Connell added Ed Donatell as his defensive bossman in 2022.
The Donatell experiment didn’t work, lasting just one season before Brian Flores took over in 2023. In 2022, Bynum’s second campaign, he floundered in Donatell’s defense, like several defenders that season. Bynum was even a whispered roster-cut candidate last summer, though the theory never took hold as widespread consensus.
Bynum later arrived to the 2023 season and balled out — banking a 73.2 Pro Football Focus grade and commanding some Pro Bowl attention. He didn’t get the approval from voters, but his performance nibbled at the honor.
NFL contracts habitually climb with the rise of TV money, a must-know factoid about contract negotiations. Bynum’s deal will likely fetch three years and $30 million or something in the vicinity. That would rank him around 10th highest-paid or so in the league, a just deal for his services. A smaller deal, around $24 million for three years, could also materialize. The other end of the spectrum could be $12 million annually if talks bleed into 2025.
Overall, because the Vikings’ 2022 draft class is so murky, Bynum is the number-one-with-a-bullet next man up for an extension. Free agents in 2025, like Harrison Phillips and Byron Murphy, will also draw attention, but those could be matters for March 2025.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.