Due to the way the 2021 salary cap could be structured, it seems like an awful lot of NFL teams will have to cut back on pricy contracts.
The Saints are one of the latest teams to do just that. New Orleans released Nick Easton on Friday. Easton is a former Vikings player and a guard, a position of need for Minnesota. So the Vikings making a move for Easton makes sense on paper.
New Orleans cutting Easton saves the team over $5.8 million in cap space, per NFL.com’s Nick Shook. In a cash-strapped year for many NFL teams, it seems like Easton could be going for less than that in the free agency market.
Pro Football Focus has Easton’s current production value at a little over $4.3 million. Granted, PFF says that its production number does not factor in age, health and other things outside of Easton’s on-field performance.
Though Easton is 28 years old, the guard has had plenty of problems with injuries. He has played in less than 13 regular season games in both of his seasons with the Saints. His value might be lower than $4.3 million, given his health.
Minnesota seems to be in a tough situation with the salary cap at the moment. That said, even cutting or restructuring with the likes of Kyle Rudolph, Anthony Barr, Harrison Smith and/or Riley Reiff, would put the Vikings well in range to land Easton.
Free agent guards like Brandon Scherff and Joe Thuney should command a higher value than Easton in the open market. That could help the Vikings if they want to end up signing their former guard.
If I had to guess, Easton’s next contract would probably land somewhere between $4 million and $5.5 million. Of course, there are a lot of factors at play, but if Minnesota wants to cut back on contracts this offseason, it could probably go out and get Easton if it really wanted to do so.