Vikings Get Good News Ahead of Historic Offseason

The Minnesota Vikings‘ new regime has defined much of its tenure as a competitive rebuild while Kirk Cousins was on the cap sheet.

The roster had atrophied over the years as core veterans aged out and poor drafting and a lack of cap space allowed few fortifications to be made through free agency.

Those days are gone. The Vikings ate $28.5 million in dead cap to part ways with Cousins last offseason.

And now, they’re poised to have a historic offseason in the wake of the NFL’s salary cap announcement less than a month before free agency.

The NFL sent a league memo to teams on Wednesday, February 19, announcing the salary cap range for the 2025 season — between $277.5 million to $281.5 million per team.

“The estimated range is more than clubs had been anticipating. In December, teams were budgeting for a salary cap of $265 million to $275 million. Regardless of where it lands, every club will have more than projected,” NFL.com’s Kevin Patra wrote.

The NFL’s salary cap continues to skyrocket at the right time for the Vikings who have cleaned up its cap situation over the years. With Wednesday’s news, Minnesota is projected to have in the ballpark of $65 million in cap space to spend ahead of free agency — the most in franchise history.

Vikings’ Cap Situation Hinges on Sam Darnold Decision

While the salary cap is expected to surpass an increase of $100 million since 2018, Minnesota was rarely a big spender in free agency with Cousins’ contract atop the cap sheet.

The Vikings secured their core of stars by extending Justin Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw last offseason, meaning they’ll have few orders of business other than signing free-agent talent to build the best possible roster for the 2025 season.

Of course, they need to make a final decision on Sam Darnold before they can fully exploit their expected cap space in free agency.

Franchise-tagging Darnold would toll roughly $40 million guaranteed against the 2025 salary cap and sink Minnesota’s chances of rebuilding a roster that has 24 impending free agents. A series of restructures would need to be made in a move that would signal an all-in approach for next season.

A multi-year extension would lighten Darnold’s cap hits and make building a competitive roster more feasible for the Vikings without hemorrhaging the future.

But that would defer what has seemingly been the plan all along — J.J. McCarthy.

J.J. McCarthy is the Best Option for Vikings to Realize Their Potential

McCarthy, on a $5.5 million-a-year deal through the 2027 season, offers the most roster-building potential from the game’s most important and expensive position.

It’s unfair to expect McCarthy to come out and win 14 games like Darnold did last year. But if he can reach a necessary floor to run the Vikings’ offense efficiently, Minnesota’s supporting cast has the potential to be much better than the team Darnold had in 2024.

The Vikings spent just $11.7 million on its entire defensive line last year, ranking in the bottom five in the league. Three of their top four defensive linemen are potential free agents, and there’s room to make major improvements on that front.

They also ranked in the bottom eight in spending at guard — another position of need this offseason.

These areas of the roster need some investment, and with McCarthy there is plenty to go around for several seasons.