Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the Minnesota Vikings’ front office have a lot of work cut out for them next week when the 2025 NFL league year starts and free agency opens. The Minnesota Vikings have the most 2024 snaps from impending free agents and 24 players scheduled to hit free agency next week.
That means there are a plethora of decisions to make, and that seems like a lot of effort. If someone in Minnesota’s front office is reading this, though, don’t sweat it. I’ve come up with a comprehensive plan approach to free agency that is guaranteed* to make the Vikings a playoff team and serious contender in 2025.
*Not actually guaranteed
Establishing parameters
By my count, the Vikings need 16 players, including nine starters, to put a high-quality roster on the field in 2023. I plan to fill all those through free agency, allowing the team to pick players at any position in the draft.
I’m also getting the difficult question of Sam Darnold out of the way by allowing him to walk. The Vikings have signaled their intentions by not tagging Darnold. That also implies Minnesota couldn’t find a trade partner willing to offer more than the Vikings could get as a compensatory pick for a franchise-tagged Darnold. I want to ensure Minnesota can get a comp pick for Darnold. Therefore, one of my goals will be to sign fewer compensatory free agents than I allow to leave the team.
I also plan to ensure the signings I make keep the Vikings under the cap in 2025 and 2026 while leaving a significant amount of cap space in 2025. I want to consider the actual salary cap conditions they will operate under heading into the season, not just the current top-51 players. I won’t bore you with the math on how I calculate that, but if you’re curious, you can read it in last year’s version of this piece.
Let’s dive in. We’ll review a few roster moves to save cap space, then get into re-signings and outside free agents. Cap impacts for 2025 and 2026 will be given for each player. I’m using PFF projections for free-agent contracts where they’re available. Otherwise I will explain my rationale for each deal.
Moving on
I’m only projecting two roster moves to help save cap space. There are certainly more options, but this shows that everything I’m about to do can be done with very little cap manipulation.
Harrison Smith retires, post-June 1
Cap Impact: Saves $1,255,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
When Smith restructured his contract last offseason, it set him up to retire after June 1, 2025, with minimal cap impact for the Vikings. Based on how his deal is currently structured, Minnesota owes him a minimum base salary in 2025, and then his contract voids, leading to a $4.2 million cap hit in 2026. That all stays the same, but the Vikings won’t need to pay him a salary if he retires, so they will save that amount.
Will Smith retire? I don’t have a crystal ball. My instinct is that he will, which means the Vikings will try to bring Cam Bynum back. They’ve already extended their third safety, Theo Jackson (more on his contract later), and I expect Jackson and Josh Metellus to be playing with one of Smith or Bynum next year. Bynum is the most expensive option, so projecting the Vikings keep him instead of Smith leads to a great challenge.
Cut Ed Ingram
Cap Impact: Saves $3,406,000
Ingram is due a solid chunk of change in the final year of his rookie deal due to player performance incentives, which are snap-based. The 2022 draft pick started for two-and-a-half years but was pointedly benched in favor of Dalton Risner last year. If you don’t expect him to start — and few, if any, Vikings fans are in favor of that — he’s not worth the cap hit he would command, so he should be cut.
Starter Re-signings
With those moves out of the way, let’s get into the meat of this plan. We’ll begin with starting-caliber players the Vikings should be looking to bring back, including one they’ve already extended.
Re-sign Theo Jackson for three years, $15.878 million, with $9.57 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: Costs $2,836,667 in 2025, $5,066,667 in 2026
News broke Thursday that Jackson re-signed with the Vikings. While initially reported as a two-year deal, later reporting showed that it was for three years through 2027.
Full details aren’t available yet, but the most likely case is that Jackson and the Vikings agreed to take the tender for restricted free agents, valued at $3.26 million, and add two years, $12.6 million, which was initially reported by Jackson’s agency, to the end of that. It was mentioned that the first two years of the deal were fully guaranteed, so I added the tender value to half of the $12.6 million to get $9.57 million guaranteed, with $6.3 million in unguaranteed salary in 2027. I’m projecting a $5 million signing bonus with a minimum salary in Year 1 and a $3.4 million salary in Year 2 to hit the full guarantees.
Jackson got a ton of training camp buzz last year and is someone the Vikings see as on the rise, similar to how they viewed Metellus when they extended him in 2023. That deal worked out incredibly well for the Vikings, so it makes sense that they’re betting on their evaluation a second time. As I mentioned above, I now consider him to be locked in as a starter at safety in 2025.
Re-sign Byron Murphy for three years, $52 million, with $34.5 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $8,200,000 in 2025, $12,900,000 in 2026
Murphy was a stud for the Vikings in 2023 and 2024. He’s a versatile player who can line up both outside and inside and took well to the constant disguise and movement that the Vikings employ. Because all three of Minnesota’s starters at CB last year are hitting free agency, it feels critical to bring at least one back, and Murphy is the youngest and best option.
As one of the top free agents in the CB class, Murphy is projected to command a significant salary. I paid him all the $34.5 million guaranteed in the first two years of the deal, including a $20 million signing bonus and $7 million** and $7.5 million salaries. That will leave a $17.5 million salary in 2027 that is not guaranteed, and therefore cuttable. To help spread the salary cap costs, I also tacked two void years onto the deal, so Murphy will have a $8 million dead cap hit in 2027.
**Note: Year 1 comp in a number of these deals may look unrealistic. The more likely scenario is that the Vikings use the signing bonuses to replace salary and then give players a minimum base salary. However, doing so for each deal would leave them a lot of cap space in 2025 and put them over in 2026. To avoid this, I increased Year 1 base salaries while decreasing Year 2 salaries. The more realistic case is that the Vikings use simple restructures on players to lower 2026 cap hits, but that’s a bit complicated for the purposes of this piece.
Re-sign Cam Bynum for three years, $42.75 million, with $28.25 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $9,000,000 in 2025, $10,250,000 in 2026
Bynum has progressed from a fourth-round pick into an excellent deep safety, and he deserves to be rewarded. Jackson’s re-signing means there’s one more starting safety spot available, and, as mentioned above, it’s very realistic for the Vikings to bring back Bynum if Smith retires.
For Bynum’s big payday, I’m also projecting the Vikings use void years, spreading a potential $15 million signing bonus over five years. Base salaries of $6 million in 2025 and $7.25 million in 2026 take up the rest of the guarantees, and he would have a non-guaranteed $14.5 million salary in 2027.
Re-sign Aaron Jones for two years, $14 million, with $7 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $600,000 in 2025, $8,800,000 in 2026
There are slim pickings on the free-agent market, and Jones is the best player available, in my estimation. It would be smart for the Vikings to bring him back and then pair him with another low-cost RB or a draft pick. With this contract projection, he gets a $5 million signing bonus and $2 million salary in 2025, all guaranteed, with no guarantees on a $7 million salary in 2026.
By extending Jones this way, the Vikings would break even on his cap hit. As it currently stands, they’re expected to take a $3.2 million dead cap hit for Jones due to the void years on his last deal. If they can extend him before free agency, those void years will push out, and the past signing bonus will only count for $800,000 against the cap this year, functionally freeing up $2.4 million. The $2 million salary and $1 million prorated signing bonus would mean that this projected deal increases Jones’ cap hit for 2025 by just $600,000.
Tender Ryan Wright for one year, $3.26 million, with no guarantees
Cap Impact: $3,263,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
I hope they bring in competition for Wright, who has been mediocre, but he’s been decent enough that it makes sense to force someone else to beat him rather than moving on from him immediately.
Wright is an RFA, which means the Vikings can easily tender him to keep him. I doubt any other team would look to pay him over $3 million for 2025. It is also possible the team will be able to bring back Wright for less than this, but this would be the ceiling on his value. Importantly, the RFA tender is not guaranteed, so the Vikings can cut him without taking any cap hit if they find someone equivalent or better.
Filling out starting roles in free agency
Even with those signings, I still have four positions I’m looking at upgrading with significant investments in free agency. As a note, each of the following deals will include void years to spread a signing bonus out over the length of the contract.
Let’s look at who I was able to get:
Sign Will Fries for four years, $57.25 million, with $30 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $10,000,000 in 2025, $11,000,000 in 2026
Fries is someone the great Alec Lewis tied the Vikings to in his post-combine piece at The Athletic. He fits Minnesota’s free-agent profile well, as he’s young, has a history of quality play, and is coming off of a significant injury that may depress his value some. He also has a great last name (although I believe I pronounce mine differently than he does). Signing Fries would be a clear answer to the question at RG created by cutting Ingram, and he should shore up a position that the Vikings haven’t had quality play at for what feels like a decade.
For his deal, I’m giving a $15 million signing bonus, with $15 million in salary split between 2025 and 2026. If the deal doesn’t work out, this structure will allow the Vikings to save money by cutting him in 2027.
Sign Charvarius Ward for three years, $43.5 million, with $25 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $6,800,000 in 2025, $9,800,000 in 2026
Ward was a shutdown CB in 2023 but struggled in 2024 as he went through significant personal tragedy. The hope in signing him would be that a change of scenery would help him return to his old self. In choosing Ward, I wanted to bring a good player with size to the CB room because Murphy and Mekhi Blackmon are undersized. Ward will be able to make up for that deficit.
My projected deal gives Ward a $14 million signing bonus and leaves him with an $18.5 million salary in 2027, meaning the total number of this deal is inflated with a high salary in Ward’s age-31 season. I wouldn’t like this deal if I were an agent, but this is what the PFF parameters led me.
Sign Ben Bredeson for three years, $25.5 million, with $10 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $3,200,000 in 2025, $8,700,000 in 2026
Signing Bredeson will continue to shore up Minnesota’s offensive line. Bredeson started at LG for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year, a team with a much-improved offensive line that only allowed Baker Mayfield to be pressured on 24.2% of his snaps per PFF, lower than anyone except Tua Tagovailoa and Cooper Rush.
Bredeson will bring good size to the OL and hopefully help protect Garrett Bradbury, who struggles against power. Bringing in Bredeson will allow the Vikings to make Blake Brandel a super backup rather than the mediocre starter he turned out to be last year. Brandel started his career at tackle and will fill in as the team’s answer at swing tackle while being the next man up at the guard positions.
PFF doesn’t have a contract projection for Bredeson, so I used the one they had for Aaron Banks as a guideline. I kept his guarantees low, at $10 million, and paid that all to him in the first year, with a $8.5 million signing bonus and a $1.5 million salary. That means if Bredeson becomes a one-year wonder and flops in 2025, the team can move on from him with minimal pain.
Sign Levi Onwuzurike for two years, $16.5 million, with $10 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $3,600,000 in 2025, $8,100,000 in 2026
At this point, I wanted to make a big splash on the interior defensive line but had to hold back for cap and comp pick reasons. Instead, I settled for Onwuzurike, who played very well as an interior pass rusher last year. He’s missed a ton of time throughout his career due to injury. However, we’ll hope the Vikings can recapture some of the magic they did with Blake Cashman and Jonathan Greenard, who had similar career arcs, last offseason.
In this case, I’m giving Onwuzurike a significantly front-loaded contract, with a $8 million signing bonus and a $2 million salary in 2025. That makes him really cheap in 2026 and would likely set him up for a second extension if he plays well.
important depth to retain and add
With the bigger, multi-year deals out of the way, I wanted to bring depth pieces to fill out the roster. Most of these contracts are slight increases to the deals these players got last year, and none of them include void years, so the cap hits are all contained within the years of each deal.
Re-sign Shaq Griffin for one year, $5 million, with $4.5 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $5,000,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
Griffin was decent in 2024 and remains a good option for the Vikings to bring back, even if they can find two CBs in free agency. I don’t want to leave Blackmon as the third CB without competition, and Griffin would provide it. I feel it’s critical to have good depth at CB, so the guaranteed money on the deal doesn’t bother me.
Sign Olamide Zaccheaus for one year, $3 million, with $1.25 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $3,000,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
In this world, I’m letting Brandon Powell walk and signing Zaccheaus as a slight upgrade at WR and punt returner. Zaccheaus gained over 500 yards for the Washington Commanders on a minimum salary last year and averaged 10.5 yards per punt return. This deal gives him a nice compensation boost while replacing Powell.
Re-sign Nick Mullens for two years, $5 million, with $2.5 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $1,877,500 in 2025, $3,122,500 in 2026
This is a move where you start to feel the impact of wanting to keep a comp pick. Because I need compensatory free agents to leave, I had to let Daniel Jones walk, and it’s hard to sign a backup QB who wouldn’t count against the comp-pick formula. That led me back to Mullens, who at least is a lot of fun every time he gets in the game.
Re-sign Jonathan Bullard for one year, $2.5 million, with $1 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $2,500,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
If you read my article a couple of weeks ago, you knew this was coming because I love what Jonathan Bullard brings to this defense. He’ll offer stalwart run defense on early downs in this plan, saving Onwuzurike’s energy for pass-rush downs.
Re-sign Johnny Mundt for one year, $2.25 million, with $1 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $2,250,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
Find yourself someone who loves you as much as Kevin O’Connell loves Johnny Mundt.
Re-sign Trent Sherfield for one year, $2 million, with $1 million guaranteed
Cap Impact: $2,000,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
I like what Sherfield brought to the Vikings as a blocking WR and special teams ace. It would be perfectly fine to switch him out with a receiver of a similar profile, though.
Re-sign Kamu Grugier-Hill for one year, $1.5 million, with $245,000 guaranteed
Cap Impact: $1,500,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
For lack of a better option, I chose to bring Grugier-Hill back as a backup LB. I’m open to other solutions.
Sign D’Onta Foreman for one year, $1.255 million, with no guarantees
Cap Impact: $1,255,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
I would rather have Foreman on the team than Cam Akers, who I view as a player with limited value. Foreman is a big back who should help the Vikings in short-yardage situations, although I’d primarily like to see the team address its depth concerns at RB through the draft.
Sign Nick Gates for one year, $1.25 million, with no guarantees
Cap Impact: $1,255,000 in 2025, no change in 2026
Gates has significant starting experience along the IOL, including at C. In this case, he is the replacement for Dan Feeney.
Results
If I make a depth chart out of Minnesota’s current roster and the players above, it would look like the one below, with starters highlighted in green.
I think this is a competitive roster if J.J. McCarthy plays well, with a significantly better offensive line and IDL and CB room than the team had in 2024. Hopefully, this would mean the team is better equipped to face the top teams in the league once they get to the playoffs.
As far as how this impacted the cap, this left the Vikings with $3,669,021 in cap space for 2025 and $5,641,099 in projected cap space for 2026 (if you allow the 2025 cap space to roll over). It also kept the sheet pretty clean in 2027, with $34,601,686 in projected cap space, although this would leave the team with nine contracts having cap hits of over $10 million and six over $20 million in that year, which would mean that multiple deals would be ripe for restructures.
Remember that my projections are punishing, and I account for the cost of draft picks, a full 53-man roster, and practice squad players. While there will be odds and ends that eat up more space, those are the main expenses the team will have to plan for by the start of the season. If you look at a website like OverTheCap after these deals, you’d see something more like $7,737,021 in space for 2025, $34,704,477 in space for 2026, and $77,392,486 in space for 2027, which all seem like very palatable numbers to me.
There are also several other levers you could pull to save cap money in 2025, such as restructuring or extending Brian O’Neill, Jonathan Greenard, T.J. Hockenson, Andrew Van Ginkel, Josh Oliver, Harrison Phillips, Blake Cashman, Josh Metellus, or Garrett Bradbury. All of those players could make more cap space for 2025.
Earning the third-round comp pick
I mentioned at the start that my goal was to get the Vikings a third-round comp pick, and this plan accomplishes that goal. Because the Vikings have so many free agents leaving, many are projected to earn enough money to become compensatory free agents. The cutoff to become a compensatory FA is about $2.5 million per year while playing over 50% of the snaps, while the cutoff to become a third-round pick is about $21 million while playing 70%.
With this plan, the departing players I expect to earn comp picks are Sam Darnold, Cam Robinson, Daniel Jones, Pat Jones, Stephon Gilmore, and Dalton Risner. Of those, I expect only Darnold to reach a deal that merits a third-round pick, so I can’t sign any free agents for over $20 million per year, precluding me from signing a player like Milton Williams. It’s also notable that Gilmore and Risner didn’t sign until after the comp-pick window had closed last year, so both players are worth monitoring and you may have to sacrifice one of my signings above to ensure Darnold’s comp pick.
The compensatory free agents I signed in this plan are Will Fries, Charvarius Ward, Ben Bredeson, Levi Onwuzurike, and Olamide Zaccheaus. You could easily eliminate Zaccheaus from this plan and bring back Powell, and you could keep rolling with Brandel instead of spending big on Bredeson, maybe also bringing Risner back if you don’t expect him to earn a comp pick. There’s more than enough flexibility to ensure you’re picking 97th overall again in 2026.
Milton Williams
At this point, Milton Williams is likely the apple of many a Vikings fan’s eye in free agency, so I figured I’d take a stab at adding him. He had a dominant stretch as an interior pass rusher for the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs and would have a significant role increase with the Vikings. His projected contract is for three years, $63 million, with $40 million guaranteed.
I had to pull more levers than I did with the previous contracts to fit his deal under the cap. In addition to the three years of the deal, I added three void years. That spreads the $25 million signing bonus I’m projecting over five years. However, it also allows me to put a $12.6 million option bonus in the second year of the deal that gets spread over Years 2 through 6. I combined that with minimum salaries of $1.17 million in 2025 and $1.2 million in 2026, which pays Williams his full $40 million guaranteed through two years. Then, he has a non-guaranteed $23 million salary in 2027.
That leads to very low cap hits in 2025 and 2026 of $6.17 million and $8.3 million, respectively. The cap hit balloons to $30.5 million in 2027, and there’s also $17.5 million in dead cap in 2028 if Williams were to play the deal out. However, it adds an exciting player to the Vikings and makes the most of their available cap space.
Accounting for Williams instead of Onwuzurike, I can still stay under the cap in 2025, with $1,099,021 in effective space, and in 2026, with $2,433,099, but it’s close. I’m also dangerously close to the 2027 cap, with $8,878,686 in effective space. OTC numbers would be $5,167,021 in 2025, $34,066,477 in 2026, and $51,699,486 in 2027, so that doesn’t look too bad. However, it would be because the Vikings have few players under contract in future years. The team would also lose out on earning the third-round comp pick for Darnold and would instead receive a lesser pick, likely a seventh-rounder.
