Vikings sign Garrett Bradbury to rookie contract

With the next offseason get-together for the Minnesota Vikings, all but two members of their 12-member draft class had signed their rookie contracts. One of the two that had been unsigned was first-round selection Garrett Bradbury, in large part because the Vikings. . .owners of the least available salary cap space in the league. . .needed to clear room to sign Bradbury to his deal.

Well, with the news that’s just come across social media, it’s time to wait for the other shoe to drop.

The Vikings have announced the signing of Bradbury to his rookie contract. While we don’t have the full financial figures on the deal yet, the big question is “where did the cap space come from?”

The smart money is on the Vikings working out something with tight end Kyle Rudolph, who we speculated about yesterday following remarks made at the Mike Zimmer Golf Classic. Is that “something” a trade? A release? An extension of his current contract? At this point, we don’t know.

If not with Rudolph, there are, potentially, a couple of other sources the Vikings could tap with restructures to open up some room. There are a couple of players the Vikings could look into restructuring if they’re open to it, or they could come to a long-term agreement with someone like Trae Waynes, lowering his cap figure for this year.

We’ll certainly be keeping tabs on what the Vikings have done to make this signing possible.

In the meantime. . .congratulations to Garrett Bradbury on signing his first NFL contract!

UPDATE: Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has the financial particulars of Bradbury’s deal.