Dalvin Cook’s contract is through the 2020 season. For the Vikings, a reduction in the 2021 salary cap could complicate the logistics of giving their running back an extension.
Judd Zulgad of SKOR North thinks a salary cap reduction could be bad for Minnesota. The 2021 salary cap could drop by $40 million, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Here’s what he said:
“But with Cook looking for the type of deal that Carolina gave Christian McCaffrey (an average of $16 million over four years) and Dallas gave Ezekiel Elliott (an average of $15 million over six years), it seems like a long shot the Vikings could now match that without getting extremely creative. The problem is that even if Vikings cap guru Rob Brzezinski did work some magic no one would be exactly sure when the cap might rebound.”
Over The Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald recently said that an extension for Cook would probably run the Vikings $13 million a year. Fitzgerald also thinks that if Minnesota lets Cook walk, then the running back wouldn’t hit $10 million in free agency.
If the salary cap is seeing a $40-million reduction, the Vikings’ decision to extend Cook just got even more complicated.