5 Vikings Players Who Could Be Cut This Offseason
NFL free agency begins in 35 days, and the 2025 NFL Draft is 80 days away.
5 Vikings Players Who Could Be Cut This Offseason
The Minnesota Vikings suddenly have their hands full this offseason, hoping to improve or maintain a lofty standard of living after finishing the 2024 campaign with a 14-3 record.
As always, a handful of men will depart the club as salary cap casualties. Listed alphabetically, these are the possibilities.
1. Brian Asamoah (LB)
Dead Cap if Cut: $292 thousand
Cap Savings if Cut pre-6/1: $1.45 million
Cap Savings if Cut post-6/1: $1.45 million
Asamoah has not flourished in Minnesota, playing just 33 defensive snaps in 2024, his third season as a pro. The Vikings always use players like Kamu Grugier-Hill, Troy Dye, or Anthony Barr instead of Asamoah when injuries arise, so it’s clear that he isn’t a hot defensive commodity.
Still, Asamoah does play a boatload of special teams snaps, so if he isn’t waived this offseason, special teams expertise will save him.
No matter what, 2025 is Asamoah’s last scheduled season in purple.
2. Garrett Bradbury (C)
Dead Cap if Cut: $2.4 million
Cap Savings if Cut pre-6/1: $3.6 million
Cap Savings if Cut post-6/1: $5.2 million
Bradbury is a pretty decent center, a man specializing in run-blocking instead of pass protection. Well, the Vikings are a pass-first organization, so Bradbury’s skill set is a bit upside down.
Minnesota’s interior offensive line got exposed in the postseason, so parting ways with Bradbury this offseason feels like a natural divorce if the purple team is serious about iOL change.
3. Blake Brandel (LG)
Dead Cap if Cut: $1.333 million
Cap Savings if Cut pre-6/1: $2.5 million
Cap Savings if Cut post-6/1: $3.3 million
Perhaps the least likely cut on the list, Brandel must be mentioned just in case the Vikings totally overhaul the offensive line’s interior. Head coach Kevin O’Connell specifically called out the iOL after his team’s playoff loss to the Rams.
“There’s no question that we got to be able to find a way to give a quarterback time. Especially with players like Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson, we got to find a way to solidify the interior of the pocket, starting first and foremost,” O’Connell told reporters three weeks ago.
O’Connell added, “There can be a thousand excuses made. But, for me, it’s the foundation of the interior of the pocket that we’re going to have to take a long look at.”
If Minnesota pursued a new everything at guard and center, well, Brandel could be an odd man out.
4. Ty Chandler (RB)
Dead Cap if Cut: $74,000
Cap Savings if Cut pre-6/1: $1.1 million
Cap Savings if Cut post-6/1: $1.1 million
Chandler ended the Vikings’ 2023 season as RB1, got demoted to RB2 when the club signed Aaron Jones last March, and fully slid back to RB3 again this autumn when Minnesota traded for Cam Akers.
He rode quite the rollercoaster in one year.
Adofo-Mensah might totally revamp the RB room this offseason, which could leave Chandler on the outside looking in.
5. Ed Ingram (OG)
Dead Cap if Cut: $385,000
Cap Savings if Cut pre-6/1: $3.3 million
Cap Savings if Cut post-6/1: $3.3 million
Ingram started for 2.5 seasons at right guard before being benched in favor of Dalton Risner this season.
Minnesota gave him 48 games to develop, but to date, he’s a below-average offensive lineman. If the Vikings drop Ingram, some team would take a flyer on the former 2nd-Round pick.
Overall, with Minnesota vowing to improve the offensive trenches, Ingram feels like a cut candidate.
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.
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