Money Matters—Vikings Offseason Cap Purge to Begin
Vikings Territory Breakdown
The Vikings Problem: The roster is old and top-heavy and the team needs to trim some fat. The Purple came into the offseason with the second most money over the cap (north of 40 million). And, to paraphrase Dean Wormer from the “Animal House” movie: Old, fat and expensive is no way to go through life in the NFL. So, what is the Purple personnel department to do? Rob Brzezinski is now the acting GM and remains the working cap guy, and he hired Matt Thomas to help out, but the decisions ahead are difficult ones to avoid “getting expelled and flushing seven years (or more) down the drain” (another Animal House reference).
Reports from ESPN surfaced this week that the first two cuts/trades are imminent: defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and running back Aaron Jones. Both are old (33 and 31, respectively and expensive ($21,453,382 and $14,550,000 in cap hits, respectively). That is a start, but there is plenty more to do. While the Vikings are known to be over the cap, potential trade partners, if they exist at all, will be more likely to wait until March 11, when teams have to be under the cap, and see which players are cut and become more affordable.
There could be trades, but more likely cuts and/or renegotiated contracts. Who those candidates for new deals are remains to be seen—but players such as T.J. Hockenson or even Justin Jefferson could be in the personnel office hammering out deals right now. That is all speculation, of course, but that’s what we do on the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast. The fellas, Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com) are here to speculate on it all. Tune in and check it out. Skol!
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