Vikings Territory: Vikings Salary Cap Mailbag: Training Camp Edition

Press release from Vikings Territory:

July 28, 2021

Checking in on the team's salary cap situation prior to training camp

Welcome to the training camp edition of my Vikings salary cap mailbag. If you want to know more about the salary cap or just have a general question, feel free to DM me or submit your question via Twitter to @SeanBormanNFL.

The week began with the Vikings making official the signing of wide receiver Dede Westbrook, who worked out for the team on Saturday. In a corresponding roster move the team waived rookie defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman, who reverted to Minnesota’s NFI list today after clearing waivers.

Somewhere near the veteran minimum was always the likely range. Darren Wolfson of KSTP reported the Westbrook deal is a 1-year deal worth $1,127,500. That should put his cap hit at $987,500 with the veteran minimum salary benefit. In terms of contract figures, it’s basically the same deal as Mackensie Alexander.

The Vikings might be able to afford Houston, but a more economical option would be waiting to determine what they have in their young DE’s. If needed, they could make a move to acquire a vet like Everson Griffen in Week 2 to avoid the vested veteran guarantee. That would ensure the contract is not guaranteed for the season, giving the team more cap flexibility down the stretch.

The salary cap limits the chances of the Vikings trading for someone like Chandler Jones.

Unless a substantial amount of cap space was created using extensions for Harrison Smith and Brian O’Neill, the team would be forced to restructure the contracts of Eric Kendricks or Kirk Cousins in order to be able to afford Jones. Believe it or not, resources are becoming limited in terms of creating cap space.

The way I see it, the Vikings have two options with Kirk Cousins’ contract next year – and they’re pretty simple – either they trade him or extend him. With a fully guaranteed base salary, cutting him makes zero sense because of the massive dead money hit.

What I don’t see happening is Cousins playing out his contract with a $45 million cap hit next year. With all due respect, that’s just way too high for a player of his caliber. His $31M cap hit this season is already the 3rd-highest in the NFL.

That being said, I feel like Patrick Peterson and Xavier Woods could prove to be valuable pieces to the defense. The opportunity is there for them to provide value well above their salaries. The same goes for Dede Westbrook and Mackensie Alexander, who each have cap hits under $1 million.

According to Darren Wolfson of KSTP, the Vikings have had ongoing extension talks with Harrison Smith and Brian O’Neill for a few weeks. I don’t see any other players getting extended at this time.

Adrian Peterson made $94,206,471 in ten seasons with Minnesota. Rounding out the top five are:

Submit your questions in the comments below or to @SeanBormanNFL on Twitter

This press release was produced by Vikings Territory. The views expressed here are the author’s own.