Sharrif Floyd’s Contract Guaranteed For 2017

Lost in the excitement of free agency for the Minnesota Vikings was the team making a decision on a player that might have been in trouble.

As he was part of the roster at the start of the new league year, the fifth-year option for defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd became fully guaranteed, locking in his salary of around $6.75 million for the upcoming season.

Floyd, who the Vikings selected with the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, had a totally lost season in 2016. He played in the season opener against the Tennessee Titans, had his knee scoped after that, and was deactivated for the next twelve games before being placed on injured reserve. Head coach Mike Zimmer was, shall we say, less than impressed with Floyd’s recuperative abilities, and said as much in a couple of press conferences during the season.

There were rumblings that the team might have been willing to part ways with Floyd, as the team could have cut him before the start of the new league year without suffering any sort of a cap hit. However, as he was still on the roster at 3:00 PM Central time on Thursday, his salary for 2017 became fully guaranteed. Hopefully #73 can make an impact in 2017, since he’ll truly be playing for his next contract going forward.

The fifth-year option of just over $8 million dollars became guaranteed for cornerback Xavier Rhodes as well. However, with Rhodes in line for a sizeable extension that the Vikings will likely attempt to get done sooner rather than later, he doesn’t have anything to worry about going forward.