Well, I really hate to respond like this to a preseason injury but DEAR LORD 6 POUND BABY JESUS WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAVE TO HAPPEN WHY MUST YOU KEEP TESTING MY FAITH IN SPORTS IS IT BECAUSE I DRANK MILK ON A HOT DAY THAT ONE TIME CAUSE I ALREADY FIGURED OUT THAT WAS A BAD CHOICE OR WAS IT BECAUSE I PUT MY NUTSACK ON MY BROTHER'S DRUMSET CAUSE I GET IT OK YOU CAN STOP NOW
...
Whew. Ok. Here we go then.
Since all hope is lost for this year I figured I'd go ahead and see who will be on the team in the future, you know, when we actually have a chance at going over .500. I took a look at the current Vikings contracts over the next 4 years (only Dirty Harry and Kevin McDermott [lol] are contracted into 2020), their age at the beginning of that season, the average salary cap hit per year and the max salary hit (and year) because 4 columns seemed like enough and 5 would have been waaaaaaay too much work.
Contracted Through 2019:
| Name | Age in 2019 | APY ($) | Max Cap Hit (Year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Rudolph | 29 | 7,131,250 | 7,300,000 (2016/2018) |
| Alex Boone | 32 | 6,700,000 | 6,700,000 (all) |
| Brandon Fusco | 31 | 5,105,000 | 5,800,000 (2018) |
| Andrew Sendejo | 32 | 4,000,000 | 5,500,000 (2019) |
| Jarius Wright | 29 | 3,560,000 | 4,260,000 (2018/2019) |
| Blair Walsh | 29 | 2,862,500 | 3,550,000 (2018/2019) |
| Laquon Treadwell | 24 | 2,483,745 | 3,161,132 (2019) |
| Mackensie Alexander | 25 | 1,079,077 | 1,373,370 (2019) |
| David Morgan | 26 | 618,864 | 753,864 (2019) |
| Jayron Kearse | 25 | 601,056 | 736,056 (2019) |
There are other rookies I could have put in that table but I'm not sure they'll be on the team by then and I'm lazy.
Contracted Through 2018:
| Name | Age in 2018 | APY ($) | Max Cap Hit (Year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everson Griffen | 30 | 8,700,000 | 9,700,000 (2018) |
| Linval Joseph | 29 | 6,683,333 | 6,850,000 (2017/2018) |
| Trae Waynes | 26 | 3,530,000 | 4,118,663 (2018) |
| Eric Kendricks | 26 | 1,406,160 | 1,640,520 (2018) |
| Danielle Hunter | 23 | 792,639 | 892,306 (2018) |
| MyCole Pruitt | 26 | 746,239 | 762,647 (2018) |
| Stefon Diggs | 24 | 671,928 | 761,919 (2018) |
It should be noted that Trae will likely have his 5th year option exercised, so I'm expecting to keep him into 2019 unless.. well let's not go there today.
Again, too lazy to care about the rest of the rookies/young'uns.
Contracted Through 2017:
| Name | Age in 2017 | APY ($) | Max Cap Hit (Year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Peterson | 32 | 15,000,000 | 18,000,000 (2017) |
| Xavier Rhodes | 27 | 5,254,944 | 8,026,000 (2017) |
| Sharrif Floyd | 26 | 4,663,350 | 6,757,000 (2017) |
| Brian Robison | 34 | 5,925,000 | 6,600,000 (2017) |
| Anthony Barr | 23 | 3,765,125 | 4,054,750 (2017) |
| Emmanuel Lamur | 28 | 2,750,000 | 2,750,000 (2016/2017) |
| Tom Johnson | 34 | 2,350,000 | 2,350,000 (2016/2017) |
| Teddy Bridgewater | 24 | 2,023,717 | 2,179,387 (2017) |
| Jerick McKinnon | 25 | 783,750 | 828,750 (2017) |
It seems unlikely that we pay AP $18 million in 2017, and Barr's 5th year option will definitely be exercised, so we'll have him until at least 2018. Again, not even going to go there but yes it seems likely.
Rookies. Lazy.
Players not on contract through 2017 (aka welp we wasted the Viking careers of these players):
Matt Kalil, Captain Munnerlyn, Terrence Newman, Mike Harris, Cordarrelle Patterson, Rhett Ellison, Zach Line, Joe Berger, Matt Asiata, Jeff Locke, Charles Johnson, Adam Thielen.
I think we'll be able to resign Kalil and Harris should there not be another plan moving forward at OL.
If Waynes and Alexander show they're ready to take over this year, losing Captain and Newman won't be so bad (probably shouldn't count on Newman anyway). Although that leaves our CB depth as: Jabari Price, Marcus Sherels and Tre Roberson.
We should definitely be able to resign either Ellison or Line or both, and I'm OK with either scenario. David Morgan could take over for Line if we decide to go away from a traditional FB role, but I think Line has become a good player for the Vikings.
Totally OK losing Asiata and Locke, replacement level players.
Whomever proves they're worth a 1 or 2 year deal out of Patterson/Johnson/Thielen can stay on as backup WRs.
In 2017 the Vikings will have at least $25 million in cap space, and that's before they make any adjustments to AP, Robison, Lamur and Tom Johnson's contracts which take up 29.7M or 20% of the 2017 Salary Cap. It seems very likely that next season we will be able to resign some of the key contributors I listed above.
In 2018 season the most significant UFAs are Rhodes, Floyd and McKinnon (after the 1st round 5th year options). The biggest 2018 season cap hits are Harry (10M), Everson (9.7), Rudolph (7.3), Linval (6.9), Boone (6.7) and Fusco (5.8) with very little dead cap outside of Harry, Waynes and Laquon who account for 16M of the 24.6M in dead cap space. That is awesome. Way to go Spielman/Brzezinski!
The Vikings will be able to keep this core of young, dynamic players together for at least 2 more seasons with Teddy Bridgewater leading the offense.
Doesn't look so bad after all!
