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The start of the new NFL league year is getting closer, ladies and gentlemen. The official start of the new league year. . .and, with it, the start of free agency. . .is on Tuesday, 10 March, at 3 PM Central time.
Leading up to that, however, we will have what is known as the "legal tampering" period of free agency, which gets underway at 11 AM Central time today, 7 March. This basically gives teams an opportunity to sit down with players and agents to hammer out the framework of a contract, even though said contracts can't actually be finalized until the new league year starts on Tuesday. I mean, we know that teams were doing that sort of thing in the past anyway, but now it's actually above board rather than teams having to do things in the shadows.
As things stand right now, the Minnesota Vikings have a team salary cap of $149,627,960, according to the NFLPA. That includes carryover figures from last season. According to the folks from Over The Cap, the team's "Top 51" salary total is $129,149,436, which is important because only the top 51 salaries on the team count against the salary cap. That leaves the Vikings with. . .pulls up calculator app on computer. . .$20,478,524 of salary cap space at the present time. That number can vary based on your source. For example, over at Spotrac, they have the Vikings' Top 51 spending figure at $124,853,915, which would give the Vikings $24,774,045 of salary cap room. Meanwhile, ESPN shows the Vikings with $24,481,246 of salary cap room. Whatever your source is, it appears that the Vikings are in an okay situation going into free agency.
Now, we're still waiting for news of any potential restructures or releases by the Minnesota Vikings, with players such as Chad Greenway, Greg Jennings, and Brian Robison being affected. That could free up even more salary cap space. . .to say nothing of anything that could potentially happen with Adrian Peterson. The Vikings don't appear to be re-signing any of their "in-house" free agents. . .they haven't made any moves to do so yet. . .so that number doesn't figure to decrease before the start of free agency.
We will do our best to get you the most up-to-date rumors and speculation concerning the Minnesota Vikings and their pursuit of any free agents on this year's market.