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Happy Tuesday, y’all!
Alright, the Vikings had a little flurry of activity yesterday. Rick Spielman must have scored big on cap space when he shook out the cushions on his couch yesterday, and he came up with enough to sign a few free agents. I loved the Tomlinson signing, I think he’ll be a great addition to the D-line lined up next to Pierce.
Tomlinson’s contract is a bit backloaded, which to my chagrin, appears to be Rick’s modus operandi over the past few years. According to Spotrac, it’s a 2-year deal worth $22 million total and $16 million fully guaranteed. The base salaries sound reasonable,at $1 million this year and $6 million next year, but much of the contract was the $15 million signing bonus, which as you are aware, is fully guaranteed, paid immediately, but will be allocated to the Vikings cap hit at an amount prorated over the 2 seasons of the contract (that’s $7.5 million per year, for those of you who aren’t very good at geology). Also, $4 million of his 2022 salary becomes guaranteed in March of 2022, which would bring the guaranteed amount to $20 million. So, the Vikings could theoretically release him prior to March, but they would still eat $7.5 million in dead money, which a team short on cap space would rather avoid. Also according to Spotrac, the Vikings now have $4.6 million and some change of cap space to utilize, but they’re running out of seat cushions, so they’ll have to make it stretch. Git ‘r done. SKOL!
Around the DN since our last open thread:
GASkol asked “Which free agents do you want?”.
The Vikings heard his question, and answered throughout the day, first by re-signing Rashod Hill, and then signing DT Dalvin Tomlinson, and finally ending the day by signing LB Nick Vigil.
Chris updates us on the state of the franchise with the Vikings Report, Live and Uncensored.
Other Vikings/NFL news:
From NFL.com, here’s a tracker where you can keep up on the latest transactions from around the league.
In other signing news from yesterday, Ryan Fitzpatrick has signed with the team with no name, according to ESPN, and Jamies Winston signed a one-year deal to stay in New Orleans. With the free-agent quarterbacks disappearing, do you think the Bears front office is sweating a bit?
CBS Sports has their list of winners and losers from day one of free agency.
We come to today’s media selection:
This seems appropriate for the kickoff of free agency. Enjoy!
Again, we all know the rules, but in case someone is new:
-No discussion of politics or religion
-No feeding of the trolls
-Take the gender hatred elsewhere, it won’t be tolerated
-Keep the bad language to a minimum (using the spoiler tags, if you must)
-If discussing a newer show or movie, please use spoiler tags
-No pictures that could get someone fired or in serious trouble with their employer
-If you can’t disagree in a civil manner, feel free to go away
-While navigating the open thread, just assume it’s sarcasm.
With that, the beer light is on and the bar is open. Belly up & tie one on, don’t forget to tip the cows and settle in, this part of the season gets long and boring.