How Riley Reiff and Yannick Ngakoue affect the Vikings’ salary cap

The Minnesota Vikings are a team known for being close to the salary cap limit as of late.

The Vikings are a team known for being close to the salary cap limit as of late. The team recently ended up there again after it traded for defensive end Yannick Ngakoue.

Ngakoue reportedly took a pay cut, but the Vikings couldn’t have had too much space.

Then, the Vikings reportedly restructured with tackle Riley Reiff. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Reiff agreed to take his salary from $11 million down to $6 million. The offensive lineman can earn back $2 million of that with playtime incentives.

So where does that leave the Vikings? The NFLPA has Minnesota with around $4.1 million in salary cap space for the 2020 season, per Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. Impressively done for a team that just took on Ngakoue’s reported $12-million deal.

Of course $4.1 million in space is not enough to make any significant moves on the cap. But there are options such as signing bonuses and money after 2020 that could make a deal for a player possible.