Minnesota Vikings Cut Charlie Johnson

With the start of free agency rapidly approaching, the Minnesota Vikings have made their first roster cut of the off-season, as the team has announced that they've cut ties with starting left guard Charlie Johnson.

Johnson game to the Vikings in 2011 after being cut by the Indianapolis Colts. He was originally started to play left guard, but was plugged into the left tackle spot after Bryant McKinnie arrived at Vikings' training camp weighing approximately 800 pounds*. He didn't perform well at left tackle, and the drafting of Matt Kalil pushed him back to left guard in 2012.

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise. Johnson was slated to make $2.5 million, and while he might be a pretty good backup for the Vikings, that's too much money for a backup. I don't know if the team is going to entertain the option of bringing him back as a back-up or not. As Johnson had no guaranteed money left on his contract, the Vikings are now $2.5 million more beneath the salary cap with Johnson's release.

However, it appears that the Minnesota Vikings will definitely have a new left guard in 2015. We don't know at this point if that left guard is going to be veteran Joe Berger, 2014 fifth-round draft choice David Yankey, or someone that the Vikings bring in through free agency or the NFL Draft. It's just one of many situations that we'll need to keep an eye on during the off-season.

(* - Number might be exaggerated, but not by much.)