After being waived by the Minnesota Vikings in March, Cameron Dantzler is on the move again.
After just a few months in the nation’s capital, former Minnesota Vikings defensive back Cameron Dantzler, Sr. is on the move again.
On Tuesday, the Washington Commanders announced that they released Dantzler to make room on the 90-man roster for defensive back Turrell Burgess and tight end Brandon Dillon.
#Commanders sign Terrell Burgess, Brandon Dillon, released Cameron Dantzler Sr, placed Andrew Norwell on the reserve/physically unable to perform list
Dantzler, 24, was claimed by the Commanders in March after the Vikings chose to part ways. Now, just a few months later, he’ll be back on waivers for the second time this off-season.
A third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Dantzler played three seasons for the Vikings, starting 26 games over three seasons. Last season, Dantzler started in nine games, totaling 50 tackles, one forced fumble, and five pass deflections. Although he did not intercept a pass last season, Dantzler has three interceptions over his career.
Although the Vikings could technically choose to reunite with Dantzler by placing a claim, that situation feels highly unlikely. Not only did the Vikings release Dantzler earlier this off-season, but they’ve also addressed the position in free agency and the 2023 NFL Draft. Instead, Dantzler will likely have to land on his third team in three months.
Ja’Marr Chase’s 2019 season was among the best in college football history. Cameron Dantzler was terrific against Chase that season.
The Washington Commanders went into the offseason with a major need at cornerback. Washington had good cornerbacks on the roster in Kendall Fuller and Benjamin St-Juste, with veteran Danny Johnson as a backup. Still, the Commanders needed to add another starting-quality corner to the roster.
Washington fans weren’t quite sure what they were getting in Dantzler. If he were good, why would a team needing plenty of defensive help cut him?
After a promising start to his rookie season in 2020, the 6-foot-2 Dantzler apparently fell out of favor with former head coach Mike Zimmer. Zimmer was gone after the 2021 season, giving Dantzler a new lease on life with the Vikings in 2022.
For one reason or another, things didn’t work, and the Vikings released Dantzler on March 10.
In Dantzler’s final season at Mississippi State in 2019, he showed enough promise for the Vikings to select him at No. 89 overall.
One game stood out from Dantzler’s final season in Starkville. In 2019, Dantzler’s Bulldogs faced undefeated and eventual national champion LSU. That LSU team is arguably one of the greatest of all time, featuring quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. Chase and Jefferson are unquestionably two of the top five receivers in the NFL.
It was on that day that the NFL took notice of Dantzler. Chase, who had an amazing nine games of at least 123 receiving yards or more, finished that game with five receptions for 48 yards. It was the only game that season in which he averaged less than 10 yards per reception.
According to Zach Selby of commanders.com, Dantzler lined up opposite Chase 12 times that day. Chase caught one pass while Dantzler broke up two other attempts.
While that game was over three years ago, it shows Dantzler’s potential. Now it will be up to the Commanders to unlock that potential.
The announcement of Murphy’s contract comes at a critical time for Minnesota. Heading into free agency, only Akayleb Evans played a significant amount of snaps for the Vikings at cornerback last season.
Minnesota saw two former cornerbacks move to different teams since free agency opened on Monday. Veteran Patrick Peterson signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cameron Dantzler Sr. was claimed by the Washington Commanders.
Here is how Byron Murphy can fit into the Vikings’ plans.
Dantzler was a third-round pick of the Vikings in 2020.
It’s been a busy day for the Washington Commanders. In addition to agreeing to terms with two offensive linemen and a linebacker, defensive tackle Daron Payne was in Ashburn to sign his new four-year contract with the Commanders.
Lost in the chaos on the opening day of the NFL’s legal tampering period was Washington adding a cornerback off waivers from the Minnesota Vikings. Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, the Commanders claimed cornerback Cameron Dantzler after Minnesota released the former third-round pick three days ago.
Dantzler was the No. 89 overall pick of the 2020 NFL draft out of Mississippi State. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Dantzler was a pick of former Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer and appeared in 10 games last season under new head coach Kevin O’Connell and his staff.
The Vikings hired Brian Flores as defensive coordinator this offseason to replace Ed Donatell, who was fired after one season.
With the Vikings waiving Cameron Dantzler Sr., there are just two corners on the roster. @TheKevinFielder highlights 7 CBs to keep an eye on
Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has made a statement.
For the first time in his tenure, this feels like it will be his roster. Whether it was the decision to release long-serving players like Erik Kendricks or Adam Thielen or the comments regarding Kirk Cousin’s future, Adofo-Mensah has taken the roster by his hands.
The move saves the Vikings about $2.7 million towards the cap. Although the Vikings remain over the ceiling, that number is down to $7 million, meaning the Vikings will have to make more moves.
Releasing Dantzler leaves the Vikings thin at cornerback. While they could re-sign someone like Duke Shelley, who performed well at the end of the season, it looks like they’ll be players in the free-agent market.
If that’s the case, there are seven free-agent cornerbacks to watch for the Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings are experiencing a massive shift. @jzulgad opines on why this is the right track
The Vikings’ offseason decisions last year left many wondering whether general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell were running the show, or if it was owners Zygi and Mark Wilf calling the shots?
Despite having just been hired, Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell oversaw few changes and it seemed as if loyalty to an aging group of players was put ahead of making moves that were needed to update the roster and create salary-cap room.
If that was ownership’s desire to maintain the status quo, it’s now clear that Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell have been allowed to do things their way.
The Kendricks move saved the Vikings $9.5 million to the cap for the coming season. The Thielen move was far more interesting because the Vikings elected not to make it a post-June 1 transaction, meaning they will save $6.4 million in cap space for 2023 but take a dead-money cap hit of $13.55 million. Dantzler’s removal from the roster saves $2.7 million.
There are a couple of takeaways from these decisions, as the Vikings work to get compliant, or below the salary cap, by the time the new league year starts at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The first is that the Vikings literally mean business. Kendricks and Thielen both were fan favorites and had long and successful runs with the Vikings. But the NFL is a brutal business in which rewarding aging players is a bad idea and cutting a player a year early is often a wise decision.
The second takeaway is that the Vikings appear focused on making sure that a year from now salary-cap space will be plentiful. The decision not to push some of Thielen’s dead money into 2024 was a clear indication that Adofo-Mensah will take short-term financial pain in exchange for significant cap flexibility next March.
This also means more moves are likely coming. Linebacker Za’Darius Smith posted what amounted to a goodbye to the Vikings on social media on Thursday. Smith still has two years left on his contract but reportedly wants more money. It appears the Vikings are trying to trade him for a late-round draft pick. Otherwise, Smith almost certainly will be released, saving $12.2 million against the cap.
Veteran safety Harrison Smith is almost certain to take a pay cut or be jettisoned. His cap figure for 2023 is scheduled to be $19.1 million and letting him go would create $11.7 million in dead money. But the Thielen move means that it’s possible the Vikings would make the same type of decision with Smith.
Moves also could be coming on running back Dalvin Cook, fullback C.J. Ham and linebacker Jordan Hicks.
According to Over The Cap, the Vikings remain $7.4 million over the $224.8 million cap for 2023. But things are definitely trending in a positive director for next year. The Vikings currently owuld have $120.2 million in cap room with the projected cap being $256 million.
That will change in the coming weeks and months but it’s still a good start for a team that has been cap-strapped for several seasons. That available number will balloon even more if the Vikings allow quarterback Kirk Cousins to play out the final season of his contract and subtract his 2023 cap hit of $36.25 million.
These types of decisions might not be easy for some Vikings fans to accept, but Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell were hired to win a Super Bowl. That isn’t done by holding onto aging players.
So while watching Kendricks and Thielen get told their services are no longer desired in Minnesota might not be pleasant, what will be productive is the ability to sign free agents next March, and give rich contract extensions to wide receiver Justin Jefferson (this offseason) and left tackle Christian Darrisaw (next offseason).
They are the future of this franchise, just as Kendricks, Thielen and Harrison Smith were at one time. That trio, unfortunately, never got to hoist a Lombardi Trophy amid a sea of confetti and now two of them are gone and Smith soon might follow.
In the NFL, this is called progress and Adofo-Mensah and O’Connell should be applauded for embracing it.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com
The Vikings have been clearing cap space and do so with a surprise by waiving the fourth-year cornerback
The Minnesota Vikings are continuing to make moves to get under the salary cap. After releasing Adam Thielen earlier on Friday, the Vikings have waived cornerback Cameron Dantzler Sr.
Back in January when thinking about who the Vikings could end up moving on from to save money on the salary cap, Dantzler Sr. came to mind.
Dantzler is an interesting one. He has played well, but he is always hurt. With Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans coming back from injured reserve and the emergence of Duke Shelley, do they consider moving on from Dantzler? He might be a valuable trade piece to a team that needs a cornerback.
His release saves the Vikings $2.745 million on the salary cap.
With three seasons in the books, let’s reflect on the 2020 NFL draft class
Now that we are three years removed from the 2020 NFL draft class, we can start to get a semblance of what they are as professional football players.
Why do you need three years before you fully grade out a class? It’s simple. The development of young players takes time. The college game is competitive, but also incredibly different. The speed and spacing of the game is different on a significant level.
Now that the class has had three seasons to adjust to the NFL game, we can properly assess if the Vikings picked good players at each of their 15 picks.
After playing in the league for three season, four Vikings draft picks from 2020 received performance-based raises
When the National Football League instituted the rookie wage scale in 2011, it was just about first-round picks. That leveled off how much rookies would make on their first contract.
In the 2020 CBA, the league set up provisions for when non-first-round picks outperform their contract, they get raised to compensate for their performance on the field.
According to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press, the NFL Players Association came out with those figures today and four Vikings saw raises.
LG Ezra Cleveland: $1.365 million to $2.99 million
CB Cam Dantzler: $1.154 million to $2.743 millino
OLB D.J. Wonnum: $1.01 million to $2.743 million
WR K.J. Osborn: $1.01 million to $2.743 million
These escalators are available to second-round picks and later and have levels, which are based on playing time and Pro Bowl selections.
Over The Cap had the Vikings a shade above $23 million over the salary cap with these already factored into their projections. In essence, they aren’t adding any extra money to the salary cap.
The Vikings will have some hard decisions to make with the salary cap
With the Minnesota Vikings season over, it’s time to face realities about where this team is going.
The Vikings decided to go somewhat all-in on making the 2022 team competitive for a playoff spot and they won the NFC North division title. Unfortunately, they now sit in a less-than-ideal spot with the salary cap. They are projected to be $24,431,507 over the salary cap for next season.
In order to get under the salary cap and make some moves in free agency, the Vikings will have to get creative. Here are 10 players they can cut to make their salary cap situation better.
