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After twenty-four hours of speculation and hand-wringing, it appears that Riley Reiff is going to be the left tackle for the Minnesota Vikings in 2020 after all.
The Vikings and starting LT Riley Reiff are closing in on a restructured contract to stay with the team, per league source.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 1, 2020
Minnesota keeps its stalwart offensive tackle.
Field Yates of ESPN (among others) is reporting that the Vikings and Reif are “closing in” on a restructured deal for the left tackle that will keep him in purple.
Reiff signed a five-year deal back in March of 2017, so he has two years remaining on his current deal. Releasing him would have freed up around $11 million in salary cap space for a team that is looking at a crunch, but it also could have potentially thrown the line into disarray a week and a half before the season opener against Green Bay.
Reiff, apparently, thought that he was done in Minnesota, as he was reportedly telling teammates yesterday that he was expecting the team to release him. If that was the case, something must have significantly changed over the past twenty-four hours or so to reverse course and keep him in Minnesota.
Once we have the terms of the restructure, we will share them with everyone out there. For now, however, it appears that the Vikings will be keeping their starter at left tackle rather than letting him go.