Minnesota’s cap space has been a topic of discussion for basically the entire offseason.
At one point in the offseason, Over The Cap founder Jason Fitzgerald ranked the Vikings among 11 teams that had more dead money than cap space.
Also earlier, Minnesota was dead last in the league when it comes to cap space, per Over The Cap.
Now, the Vikings have just over $12.2 million in cap space. The team started the offseason as one of the more cash-strapped franchises in the NFL. Then, the Vikings made some moves to free up space, but still probably don’t have enough money to sign any big-time free agents.
A new extension for Dalvin Cook, who reportedly plans to refrain from team-related activities if he doesn’t receive a new deal, could take up most of the space Minnesota has left for this season.
Having less cap space makes it so that the Vikings are locked in with the current roster. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins received a new deal this offseason. Minnesota shored up special teams by giving new deals to kicker Dan Bailey and punter Britton Colquitt.
The Vikings even signed a decent free agent this offseason: Defensive tackle Michael Pierce. He is the probable starter at defensive line.
In an offseason where the Vikings didn’t have a lot to work with, Minnesota still made some moves in the name of continuity and even signed a player who can come in and start.
The Vikings were also able to fix the roster problems that free agency departures created by accumulating draft picks. With some of those picks, the team nabbed players who might even be able to replace some key contributors from 2019, namely Justin Jefferson replacing Stefon Diggs and Jeff Gladney replacing Xavier Rhodes.
If you still think the Vikings not having a lot of cap space is a problem, you also need to look at the teams in the NFL that have the most.
Currently, the top five teams in cap space are the Browns, Redskins, Lions, Eagles and Jets.
Sure, the Eagles have a decent roster and the Browns might surprise some people this year, but those other three teams seem pretty unlikely to contend for the playoffs in 2020.
Want to know the teams that currently have the least amount of space? The Patriots, Buccaneers, Chiefs, Rams and Steelers. Those are teams in win-now mode.
Here’s the bottom line: The Vikings will be right up against the cap in this season, and eventually the next seasons, because they are a team in contention for the playoffs. The best teams sign players and are aggressive in spending and re-signing talent.
Yes, the Vikings don’t have a lot of cap space, especially if they extend Cook. But extending Cook means the offense shouldn’t be in store for too much regression. It’s painting with a broad brush and obviously teams with a lot of cap space heading into the season can still be successful, but teams with little space are usually ones that are trying to move through the playoffs and avoid rebuilding.
When you look across the league, you will find that the teams playing for the short term are spending more and cutting veterans loose who might create dead money.
So long as the Vikings are doing that and not accruing cap space, their odds of at least playing for the postseason are good.