Kwesi Adofu-Mensah is playing chess with the Vikings salary cap

AtoZ Sports

Tyler Forness discusses how Minnesota Vikings GM Kwesi Adofu-Mensah is manipulating the team's salary cap issues.

Transcript

00:00Just three years after Kwesi Dolfamence inherited a mess of the salary cap,

00:04things start to get more murky after the 2025 season.

00:08How can they maneuver it?

00:10Well, it's both simple and complicated, so let's talk about it.

00:16Minnesota Vikings' salary cap health is better than it's ever been,

00:20but things are going to start to look a little interesting moving forward.

00:23Right now, the Minnesota Vikings have just over $18 million in salary cap space,

00:26but there are some things that they need to have money set aside for,

00:30which is why it is currently that high.

00:31They need to have around $45 million to sign the draft class.

00:35They also need to have $45 million for the practice squad

00:37and $45 million for in-season moves.

00:40Guys who could sign from the practice squad, guys who could sign from the street.

00:44Remember Dalton Reisner last year? Those kind of moves.

00:47So what happens moving forward?

00:49What happens with the Minnesota Vikings as they end up growing

00:52and maneuvering throughout the course of the entire season?

00:55Well, they're going to use up that salary cap space,

00:58which means less rollover money for next year.

01:00And this is where things get interesting.

01:02They have $32.42 million over the salary cap

01:08with 29 committed contracts next year.

01:10Now, the committed contracts is going to go up significantly

01:12for whatever UDFAs make the roster along with the draft picks.

01:17So you're probably looking at about six or seven extra contracts.

01:20So you're looking at around 35 players committed to next year.

01:24And that total number is going to go up as well.

01:26It's probably going to be closer to 40 or 45 million.

01:29So what do the Vikings need to do?

01:31Well, this is one of the things that Cueso Fometza has set up

01:35over the course of his tenure.

01:36He wanted flexibility to be able to sign good players to value contracts.

01:42Now, some of them are market value.

01:44Some of them are values for the Vikings.

01:45But because of that, they have decisions to make.

01:50And they have a whopping 11 players that they can end up restructuring

01:56to create salary cap space.

01:58They can create upward of $100 to $150 million of cap space if they wanted to.

02:04The reality is they're going to have to restructure some of these guys.

02:07You got Brian O'Neill, who's on the final year of his deal,

02:09$18.9 million base salary.

02:11You could easily sign him to an extension, cut that down to the vet minimum.

02:14That could create upward of, after signing bonus, like $10 to $12 million.

02:18In cap space, Jonathan Gennard, $18.39 million.

02:22TJ Hawkinson, $15.4 million.

02:24Justin Jefferson, $24.99 million.

02:27So on and so forth.

02:28There is a lot, and I mean a lot, of opportunities for the Minnesota Vikings

02:33to maneuver money.

02:34And if you think about it, it's essentially an interest-free loan

02:37because you have to pay it at some point.

02:40But by pushing it into the future,

02:42what that ends up doing for you is $10 million of salary cap space

02:48against $250 million is a lot more expensive than $10 million

02:52against $300 million in salary cap space.

02:56So the percentages go down as you push the money out.

02:59And that's kind of what the Vikings philosophy is looking to be.

03:02They're trying to maximize the now while not screwing over the future.

03:06I think that they're able to do both of those things.

03:09How will they be able to accomplish it?

03:11But it's just going to be simple restructures and extensions

03:14and getting guys on contracts that they can maneuver with,

03:18which is what they've already done.

03:21It's going to be really interesting to see how they maneuver it,

03:23but it's not a panic mode yet.

03:26Don't worry about the red number.

03:27That does not mean anything right now.

03:29They will find a way.

03:31And they will add a couple pieces next year in free agency.

03:34I'm Tyler Fornes with ADZ Sports.

03:37Skull Vikings.

Category

Transcript

Recommended