Report: Vikings give Johnny Mundt $2.5 million salary

$2.5 million isn’t a lot for a tight end who will play significant time.

The Minnesota Vikings announced on Friday afternoon that they signed tight end Johnny Mundt to a one-year contract. It signaled that the Vikings were comfortable having Mundt, Josh Oliver and Nick Muse as the tight ends heading into the 2024 season as T.J. Hockenson heals from his torn ACL.

What also signaled that was the case was Mundt’s salary. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, he will make $2.5 million in 2024. The structure of the deal hasn’t been released yet which could be impactful on the Vikings’ salary cap for 2024.

Bringing Mundt back should have been expected, as head coach Kevin O’Connell called him the “best tight end three in the NFL” this past season. He is capable in the offense and knows it very well. The Vikings have many other needs that paying more for another tight end could be argued as a bad business strategy.

With the signing of Mundt, it likely takes around $1.5 million from the Vikings’ salary cap space.

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Vikings re-sign TE Johnny Mundt

The Vikings bring back the player Kevin O’Connell has called the league’s best number 3 tight end

The Minnesota Vikings have re-signed reserve tight end Johnny Mundt, according to reports from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and NFL insider Ian Rapoport.

Mundt, originally an undrafted free agent out of Oregon, spent his first five seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, seeing limited action and coming away with only three starts and ten receptions in those five seasons.

Since coming to Minnesota, Mundt has seen a significant increase in his usage, even as the team’s third tight end. Mundt got 12 starts in his first season with the Vikings in 2022, setting a new career high with 19 receptions.

Mundt’s 2023 season was devoid of starts and saw a slight dip in receptions, but Mundt was able to set a new career high in yards with 172. His time and contributions in Minnesota have led head coach Kevin O’Connell to refer to Mundt as “the NFL’s best No. 3 tight end”.

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Saints sign a new fullback, but he isn’t new to their coaching staff

The Saints signed a new fullback, but he isn’t new to their coaching staff. Meet Zander Horvath:

The New Orleans Saints signed a new fullback, but he isn’t new to their coaching staff. Meet Zander Horvath, formerly of Purdue, whose addition was announced on Thursday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire.

Horvath, 25, played college football at Purdue before turning pro with the Los Angeles Chargers, who picked him in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft. He measured out exceptionally well in the pre-draft process with a 9.83 Relative Athletic Score (a metric which often lines up with attributes the Saints value). He weighed in at 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds but has been listed at 232 and 235 with different teams.

Former Chargers running backs coach Derrick Foster worked with him closely in L.A., so there’s an obvious connection with Foster holding the same position on staff these days in New Orleans. Horvath was waived during roster cuts last August and briefly landed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Chargers brought him back to their practice squad to close out the season. He wasn’t re-signed after that.

He wasn’t the only player the Saints tried out on Thursday; the wire also reports 232-pound running back Qadree Ollison as a participant. He’s a former Atlanta Falcons draft pick (fifth round in 2019) who was teammates with Horvath on the Steelers for a few months last season. The Saints must have liked what they saw from Horvath better.

This might mean the end of the road for Adam Prentice. The incumbent Saints fullback is a restricted free agent but he’s coming off a down year with dropped passes, blown blocking assignments, and a very unfortunate fumble. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is going to be asking different things of his fullback than Pete Carmichael asked of Prentice last season, so they might look for someone else to push Horvath for the job in training camp.

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Ezra Cleveland’s contract extension justifies Vikings trade to Jaguars

After Ezra Cleveland signed an extension with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Minnesota Vikings trade for a 6th round pick was justified

The Minnesota Vikings made the difficult decision to trade left guard Ezra Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick in 2024.

When the move was made, it was an odd one on the surface because Cleveland was the starter at left guard. Dalton Risner stepped in and it was a signal that Cleveland wasn’t a part of the long-term plans for the Vikings. On top of the compensation, the move saved around $1 million in salary cap space.

Even so, trading him for a sixth-round pick, which was from the Carolina Panthers, felt like a slight return. On Thursday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Cleveland signed a three-year, $28.5 million deal. That would have earned the Vikings a projected fifth-round pick in the compensatory formula.

If the Vikings were to get a compensatory pick, it would be in 2025, which right now is worth one round less, a compensatory sixth-round pick. Future draft picks are devalued by a round because they are a future asset. Taking the top pick in the sixth round is a positive gain for the Vikings.

It would have been nice to get a larger return in real-time (a fourth-round pick felt like good value), but the market can be fishy like that. It ended up being a good trade for both sides.

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Vikings re-sign TE Nick Muse

The Minnesota Vikings have re-signed exclusive rights free agent tight end Nick Muse.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings announced that they have re-signed exclusive right free agent tight end Nick Muse.

A seventh-round pick of the Vikings in the 2022 NFL draft, Muse was one of the team’s final cuts after the preseason. He was signed to the practice squad after clearing waivers. That nullified the four-year rookie contract that he signed when he was drafted, giving him a one year deal when they brought him back to the main roster.

In 2023, Muse was on a one-year contract at the league minimum. He didn’t play much for the team but was on the roster for all 17 weeks.

Because he was an exclusive rights free agent, he will receive a contract worth $985,000, just like safety Theo Jackson got. That is a good deal for tight end depth with the uncertainty with T.J. Hockenson’s health.

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Minnesota Vikings release RB Alexander Matison

After it was reported last week, the Minnesota Vikings officially released running back Alexander Mattison on Monday.

After the report came out last week, the Minnesota Vikings made it official by releasing running back Alexander Mattison on Monday afternoon.

The move will save the Vikings $3.35 million in salary cap space for the 2024 season. Initially, the thought was that a release would only save $600,000 but what the guarantees were wasn’t reported correctly at the time of the contract.

Mattison wasn’t fully guaranteed the $2.7 million of his $3.3 million salary but it was guaranteed on the third day of the league year in 2024. The move also signals the Vikings desire to add a running back to the room for the 2024 season and beyond to pair with Ty Chandler.

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Report: Vikings to release RB Alexander Mattison

Mattison didn’t score a single touchdown in 2023 and only ran for 3.9 yards per carry. He will have an opportunity to find a new team in free agency.

The Minnesota Vikings were likely to make some cuts to create salary cap space but they made a move that wasn’t expected.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Vikings are releasing running back Alexander Mattison and informed him on Thursday.

This is a surprise for many reasons. Mattison signed a two-year deal worth up to $8 million with $6.35 million fully guaranteed. He was set to receive a salary of $3.3 million with a cap hit of $4.6 million. Releasing him only clears $600,000 in salary cap space with $4 million in dead money.

The real question here is whether Mattison has offset language in his contract. That would mean whatever he is paid by another organization ends up coming back to the Vikings in salary cap space. If that ends up being the case, they could recoup up to $2.75 million in cap space with only $1.25 million in dead money.

Mattison struggled in 2023 with 700 yards and no touchdowns at a paltry 3.9 yards per carry. He was essentially replaced by Ty Chandler by the end of the season. The move likely means the Vikings are going to be in the market for a running back.

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Vikings sign CB A.J. Green III to futures contract

The Minnesota Vikings announced Tuesday that they have signed former Cleveland Browns CB A.J. Green III to a futures contract.

A busy offseason for the Minnesota Vikings continues, as the team announced Tuesday that they have signed former Cleveland Browns cornerback A.J. Green III to a futures contract.

Green had been with the Browns since entering the league in 2020 as an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State. During his time with the Browns, Green appeared in 29 games, making two starts and coming away with two interceptions during his four seasons in Cleveland.

Green has great size for the position, coming in at 6’2″ and nearly 200 pounds, and should provide the Vikings with some much-needed depth at the position. Minnesota has a lot of questions going into the 2024 season, and not much cap flexibility to address them, so signing a guy with potential like Green can help mitigate those concerns.

Minnesota is still likely to address the cornerback position further, whether that comes through free agency or the NFL draft, as Green isn’t likely to be a player who is going to make a sizeable contribution, but rather provides competition in camp and may provide depth in the event of an injury.

With the signing of Green, the Vikings now have 13 players signed to futures contracts.

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Eagles sign former Saints WR Shaquan Davis to reserve/future deal

The Eagles signed former Saints wide receiver Shaquan Davis, a fan favorite from the 2023 preseason:

The Philadelphia Eagles signed former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Shaquan Davis to a reserve/future contract on Thursday, the team announced. Davis signed with the Saints last year as an undrafted rookie out of South Carolina State, having received more guarantees than many other first-year pros around the league.

Davis spent his rookie year on the practice squad and was sidelined by an injury at one point, but returned to health and was active in practice by the end of the season. But he never got into a game. It was a disappointing showing after he quickly became a fan favorite during the 2023 preseason.

It’s never good for an older team to lose young talent, though you have to wonder how much of this was Davis’ decision. It’s just as possible the Saints chose to let him go. With wide receivers coach Kodi Burns being shown the door, Davis would’ve returned to a very different situation in 2024 than what he experienced in 2023.

The Saints will need to start signing receivers at some point just to fill out the roster. They have only three under contract for 2024: Chris Olave, A.T. Perry and Michael Thomas, whose contract effectively contains a poison pill that will require him to be extended or released in March. Rashid Shaheed will be back as an exclusive rights free agent, but the Saints need to add more players here — fast.

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Vikings sign WR Daylen Baldwin to futures contract

Baldwin becomes the 12th player the Vikings have signed to a futures contract.

The Minnesota Vikings are continuing to address their roster during the first portion of the offseason. The team announced that they have signed wide receiver Daylen Baldwin to a reserve/futures contract.

The Vikings had brought in Baldwin to the practice squad during the season and he lasted a few weeks before the Vikings released him. He was added to the practice squads initially to fortify a wide receiver room that was dealing with injury.

Just nine days from the Vikings starting their offseason, they have now signed 12 players to futures contracts, including running back Myles Gaskin and wide receiver N’Keal Harry.

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