Vikings Meeting Today with Za’Darius Smith

The Vikings haven’t been super active so far in free agency, although they’ve picked up some nice pieces in DT Harrison Phillips and LB Jordan Hicks. But Tom Pelissero tweeted today that the Vikings are meeting with former Packers’ OLB Za’Darius Smith.

Smith had agreed to a 4-year, $35 million deal with the Ravens, only to back out of the deal days later- reportedly because he saw the bigger deals that Von Miller and Chandler Jones got.

Spotrac estimates Smith’s market value at $16.7 million/year, considerably more than what the Ravens offered. Given the Vikings salary cap space, signing Smith at that rate would eat up most of their available cap space (estimated around $20 million), barring a significant back-loading of the contract, which would seem likely given the Vikings other needs.

The Packers let Za’Darius Smith go earlier this year to reduce their salary cap, but there were also rumors that the relationship between Smith and the Packers had deteriorated over the past year, which he missed due to a back injury. He had back surgery last September.

The Chiefs and Cowboys are also reportedly making a push to land Smith, so it’s not certain that the Vikings will be able to sign him. The Chiefs are worse off than the Vikings in terms of salary cap space, but the Cowboys are in slightly better shape.

Stay tuned.

Update: