The Wizard of Brzez does it again

Three weeks ago, Dan told us that when it comes to the Minnesota Vikings and their ability to sign players, we definitely needed to pay attention to the man behind the curtain. That man is Rob Brzezinski, the Vikings’ Executive Vice President of Football Operations and overall salary cap GAWD.

Well, on Wednesday, the Wizard of Brzez did it again, as the Vikings managed to bring in safety George Iloka, late of the Cincinnati Bengals. Iloka, who was set to make about $5.3 million with the Bengals this season before his release, took significantly less to sign with Minnesota.

How much less? This much less:

That makes for a total cap hit of $880,000 for his one-season deal, giving Iloka a lower cap figure for this season than players like

• Tom Compton ($900,000)
• Kevin McDermott ($923,438)
• Kendall Wright ($1,000,000)
• Mackensie Alexander ($1,1177,174)
• Marcus Sherels ($1,400,000)

And numerous others. . .you can see the full list of Vikings’ salary cap hits for the upcoming season at Over the Cap. Still, that’s a pretty great deal for a guy that’s been a solid NFL starter for half a decade now.

There are probably destinations that Iloka probably could have gotten more money from and even a longer deal. But, as Adam Schefter says in his tweet, he wanted to play for Mike Zimmer again, and hey. . .can you blame him, seriously?

Oh, and if the Vikings eventually want to work out an extension with linebacker Anthony Barr, they have plenty of space to do that, too.

So, a ridiculously talented Vikings’ defense gets even more talented, and it isn’t going to do any sort of long-term damage to the team’s future.

All hail Rob Brzezinski!