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With the shiny, new contract extension for defensive end Danielle Hunter, the Minnesota Vikings have kept another member of a very talented roster in purple for many years to come. This is a trend that the Vikings have gotten into in recent seasons, and with the list of players that they’re keeping in Minnesota, you’d have to think that this team is going to be very good for many years to come.
Witness this tweet from ESPN NFL analyst Field Yates:
Vikings now under contract through at least 2020: Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, Adam Thielen, Riley Reiff, Pat Elflein, Erik Kendricks, Everton Griffen, Danielle Hunter, Harrison Smith, Xavier Rhodes. Excellent core.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) June 27, 2018
Of those players, here how long they’re under contract for:
- Kirk Cousins - 2020
- Dalvin Cook - 2020
- Adam Thielen - 2020
- Pat Elflein - 2020
- Riley Reiff - 2021
- Harrison Smith - 2021
- Everson Griffen - 2022
- Xavier Rhodes - 2022
- Linval Joseph - 2022
- Eric Kendricks - 2023
- Danielle Hunter - 2023
That’s a lot of talent, and while a lot of those players have contracts that look pretty expensive now, as the salary cap continues to increase, those players will take up a smaller percentage of the cap and allow Rob Brzezinski to continue to work whatever salary cap voodoo he needs to work to keep talent on the team as it develops and to add talent to the team as necessary.
As long as Rick Spielman is the one adding the talent, I don’t think there’s going to be a problem on that front for this team, either.
We know that teams have “windows” for winning championships or being competitive or whatever the case may be. Based on the talent that this team has and how long they’re going to be here for, it certainly doesn’t appear that the “window” for the Vikings is going to close anytime soon. Rather than a window of opportunity, the Vikings might be looking at one of those sliding glass doors instead.