Vikings GM Gets Another Twist of the Knife on Way Out the Door
If nothing else, Vikings GM former Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is a numbers nerd.
No shortage of attention has been placed on his background as an investor on Wall Street. Prior to getting there, Adofo-Mensah was pursuing an academic path. So, the man has a brain in his head. I, for one, believe that he’ll land on his feet and go on to have a very successful career in the NFL, if that’s his desired route. What’s so cruel — apart from the timing of his firing — is that the league’s financial outlook looks a touch rosier.
Vikings GM Sees Insult Added to Injury
Tom Pelissero of The NFL Network offers the update.
Kick it over to the best league insider in the business: “The NFL informed clubs today it is projecting a 2026 salary cap in the range of $301.2 million to $305.7 million per club, per source. That would represent another significant jump from this year’s $279.2 million cap number, and nearly $100M than the $208.2M cap in 2022.”
The outlook for a little while has been Minnesota being in cap debt for roughly $49 million, per Over the Cap. The update now sees things at roughly $41 million.
Obviously, there’s still more work to be done, but every chunk of money helps.
Working against the Vikings (purely from a financial perspective) is that there’s in-house talent that still needs to be re-added. Most prominently, there’s the reality of DT Jalen Redmond needing a new deal. Minnesota has a pile of leverage since the DT1 isn’t a free agent, but he does need a new deal.
Nevertheless, the budget increase is a nice development. Had the Vikings GM been allowed to remain in his position, Adofo-Mensah would have been pleased.
Around the NFL, there will be teams with way more buying power than the Vikings. After all, the vast majority of the league gets the same increase. Toss on the reality that the overwhelming majority of the league was already in a spiffier spot and it’s not as if Minnesota just found $5-$10 million that other teams didn’t.
In other words, the Vikings’ front office won’t be doing cartwheels. Every NFL team turned over the couch cushions and found some spare change, meaning all of the teams are richer (in a sense).
The good news is simply that the in-house subtractions won’t be quite as painful. The added room creates more wiggle room within a budget that desperately needed it. The task now falls to Rob Brzezinski to machete his way through the dense wilderness of the Vikings’ finances.
Look for the Minnesota Vikings to end up somewhere around $20 million in open room by the time the new league year arrives. Getting to that range will allow for some low-end and medium additions alongside maybe one or two higher-end deals that push cap hits into the future.
In the meantime, look for extensions for players like RT Brian O’Neill, OL Blake Brandel, CB Isaiah Rodgers, and LB Blake Cashman, among others. Cornerstone guys like WR Justin Jefferson and EDGE Jonathan Greenard appear to be strong candidates for restructured deals. Some cuts and/or some trades will take care of the rest of the financial issues.
Former Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was going to lead the effort, but Minnesota has pivoted away from that option just ahead of the NFL offering the nice update about the salary cap for 2026.
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