The Vikings’ Dead Money Starts to Pile Up
During the 2024 season, the Vikings’ dead money was a ghastly sight, largely due to the whopping cap charges hanging around for Kirk Cousins, Danielle Hunter, and others.
GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah nevertheless found a way of massaging the money, structuring deals in a manner to allow for a very competitive season (before a painful playoff loss). The 2025 cap situation is looking a decent bit better, in no small part due to having a lesser portion of the pie taken out by dead money.
The Vikings’ Dead Money Grows
Currently, Minnesota has a hair below $31.5 million in open cap space.
Now, there’s a vital caveat: that open room is going to get bounced back and forth faster than a ping pong ball. Adofo-Mensah’s Monday and Tuesday are going to be tremendously busy. Most notably, there’s the descent down to 53 men. And then there’s the need to build up a 16-man practice squad. Oh, and the offseason’s top-51 cutoff is soon to disappear, meaning that $31.5M number is already a bit deceptive.
Keep in mind, as well, that the NFL is participating in the same process. There’s going to be close to 1,200 football players cut around the league, meaning Minnesota’s front office is going to have its eyes peeled for potential additions.
Furthermore, let’s not forget the possibility of swinging another trade (or two). After all, we’re talking about Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. The GM has a habit: he isn’t afraid of pulling off a trade.
Obviously, signings require cap space. Trades require an asset — a draft pick(s) — and/or a player going to the other team. Moreover, there needs to be enough cap space. To that end, consider the simple reality that the Vikings are currently working on digesting close to $21 million in dead money. Shipping out Harrison Phillips did open cap space, but there was $3,626,389 left over as dead money.
In the NFL, dead money lives up to its name. The numbers have calcified, stubbornly sticking to a budget and becoming immovable within a specific year. The Vikings’ dead money can only be cancelled in a single way: live through the year where that money exists and then move on.
Indeed, that’s the painful reality: the close to $21 million in immobilized money cannot be manipulated. Often, a football team can create open cap space through a cut, extension, restructure, trade, etc. The same avenues do not exist for this particular facet of the budget. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah must simply see it drift away once the new league year begins in 2026.
By no means is Minnesota going to be backed into a corner, unable to add talent if there ends up being a desire to do so. There nevertheless needs to be an awareness of where the Vikings’ dead money stands and where it could go.
Assume, for instance, that do-it-all offensive lineman Blake Brandel gets shipped out (likely for late-round draft capital, possibly a pick swap). Doing so would free up $3,250,000 in cap room, a boost that the GM may covet. More negative is that there would be $666,666 taken out of the budget as dead money. Plus, there would be a bit more kicked into the 2026 budget, another factor to consider even as the open room would likely be welcomed by Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his staff.
Moving on from UDFA offensive tackle Logan Brown and punt returner Silas Bolden similarly added onto the dead money since each had guarantees baked into their deals. How many of the other UDFAs follow in Brown’s and Bolden’s financial footsteps?
Adofo-Mensah happens to be quite adept at working through an NFL budget, proving to be excellent when it comes to numbers. The Vikings’ dead money is something he’s been working through since taking on the top job in 2022 and will continue to be a story in the comings days, weeks, and months.
The 2026 budget already shows a touch above $5 million in dead money due to the subtractions of Garrett Bradbury and Harrison Phillips during the current offseason.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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