Minnesota did not have the options that some other NFL teams did this offseason.
Teams such as the Browns and Buccaneers had enough cap space to sign free agents if they wanted to. Tampa Bay ended up winning the Tom Brady sweepstakes and retained some talented players.
However, the Vikings had a simple way to add talented players on cheap contracts: they had the NFL Draft. The team ended up with 15 draft picks, a record for a seven-round NFL Draft.
The Vikings went about acquiring talent through that method, and signed a plethora of unsigned free agents. So what’s the salary cap, which was at just over $12 million heading into the draft, looking like now?
According to Over The Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald, the Vikings are at an estimated $8.5 million in cap space based off salary projections for draft picks. The team’s picks take up about $3.7 million of room.
Let’s see if the rookies added enough talent so that Minnesota doesn’t take a step back.