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Welcome to Part 2 of this Vikings off-season primer. If you missed Part 1, where I covered the recent Front Office and Coaching changes, you can read it here.
The NFL Free Agency tampering period officially opens in less than 24 hours, and the Vikings are expected to have a relatively quiet FA this year. After the NFL announced the salary cap increasing to $301m for 2026, the Vikings started about $45m over the cap, and have made a series of moves to get compliant. Let’s dive into the changes in the past week, and highlight moves we should expect to see in the next couple of weeks.
Before we get into the details, I wanted to share a couple of resources that can help with player contracts and team salary cap details:
- Spotrac
- Over the Cap
- Be a GM (a fun tool to play with various off-season scenarios)
Last Week Recap
In case you missed anything from a crazy week of Vikings, and NFL, transactions, let’s go through a quick recap of the moves so far and the cap indications that followed:
On Sunday, NFL Insiders reported that Aaron Jones and Javon Hargrave will be released at the start of the league year, pending a trade. These moves saved the Vikings nearly $18m on the cap. I don’t envision a trade coming for either player, so I expect the official release to come within the next day.
On Tuesday, reports came out about the Vikings openness to trading Jonathan Greenard:
If the Vikings do trade JG, they’d want at least a day 2 pick, and I’d argue they should get a 2nd rounder-plus for him, at this point. Any pre-June 1st trade would result in the Vikings saving $12.5m to the cap. A post-June 1st designated trade would save the team about $19m, but would carry a $3m cap hit this season. With the emergence of Dallas Turner late last season, moving JG makes sense and allows the Vikings to better spread out their assets across the rest of the defense and team. Typically, when teams say they are listening to offers, trades usually happen. I do expect Greenard to be moved, but this may be a move that doesn’t happen until closer to the Draft.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Jonathan Allen will be released:
Depending on the release designation (either pre- or post-June 1st) it would save the Vikings either $6.5m or $11m to the cap. Let’s assume it’s a standard release, so the Vikings save $6.5m this year.
After a busy off-season last year, this now marks both Allen and Hargrave as released players less than a year after they were considered premier additions to the interior defensive line. We’ll go into more detail in the below Defense Breakdown on the changes and new look that is coming in 2026, and if any moves will be made to the DL room.
On Friday, the Vikings did a simple restructure of Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw, and Byron Murphys’ contracts. For insight, a simple restructure is moving guaranteed salary money into a signing bonus, creating immediate cap space, and doesn’t require player approval.
Justin Jefferson’s cap number for 2026 was about $38m. With the simple restructure, it comes down to $20m, saving about $18m of cap space this season.
Christian Darrisaw’s cap number for 2026 was about $23m. The simple restructure saves the Vikings just over $9m this year, making Darrisaw’s cap hit $14m for 2026.
Byron Murphy’s cap number was $19.5m for 2026, but with a restructure, they save just over $11m.
In total, these moves create about $38m this year, and puts the Vikings into cap compliance. These restructures push money into future years, which is normal and can be flexible for the length of each players contract. It doesn’t need to be said, but these are franchise players, and will not be leaving the Vikings any time in the near future.
Ryan Kelly has also announced his retirement from the NFL:
While it’s sad to see his career get cut short, it’s important that he takes care of his long-term health and safety. Kelly brought elite Center play when he was available last season, and this leaves a hole in the middle of the O-line. His retirement saves the Vikings $8m towards the cap and we’ll discuss options below.
Lastly, the Vikings have restructured T.J. Hockenson’s contract that will lower his cap hit down by $5m in 2026, bringing his cap hit to just over $16m. This move keeps T.J. on the team while bringing him from the highest cap hit, to around 5th highest in the NFL.
Right now, the Vikings are considered cap compliant, and have about $31m in cap space for Free Agency. The Vikings have a few of their own FAs that I’d like to see extended, including Jalen Nailor, Eric Wilson, and Jalen Redmond. As I mentioned earlier, I expect this to be a relatively quiet period for the Vikings for bringing in any high-impact FAs.
Offense Breakdown
We all know the elephant in the room is who will be under center in 2026. All of the discourse around the Vikings off-season is about who they will be adding to the QB room in the next week. While I expect a veteran to be added, I wouldn’t expect a huge shakeup move (so long Joe Burrow), and the focus to be on competition for JJ McCarthy. The leader of the club house appears to be Kyler Murray, but there are other options that the Vikings appear to be flirting with. I’ll do a full breakdown of the new guy in town once the fully ink dries.
Since the addition is still a question mark at this point, I wanted to highlight some of the other position rooms that a change is needed.
Center
With Ryan Kelly retiring after suffering multiple concussions last year, and at least five reported in his NFL career alone, the Vikings have a question mark at Center again, but could have some options already on the roster.
Blake Brandel enters the final year of his 3-year, $9.5m contract, and has been a solid backup swing lineman so far in his tenure. In 2024, Brandel was initially brought back to start at LG, but after drafting Donovan Jackson in the 1st round last year, transitioned back into the swing lineman role (a swing lineman is a lineman who can play any of the five OL positions at a solid level; similar to a 6th man in basketball).
In 2025, Brandel started nine games at Center, and filled in admirably for Kelly. In those nine game, he only gave up three sacks, and had six penalties against. He did all of this while learning to play Center for the first time in his football career.
Just turning 29, Brandel probably isn’t viewed as the long-term solution at Center. As a team that is cap strapped, and with a deep Center class in this years draft, I would be surprised if Brandel wasn’t just on the Vikings next year, but competing for the starting role.
Michael Jurgens was a 7th round draft selection in the 2024 draft, and as an older prospect, just turned 26, enters the third year of his career. In 2025, Jurgens started three games at Center, where he had struggles, including giving up four sacks, and having five penalties against. With a deep Center class, I’d expect Jurgens to be on the hot seat and battling to keep a job if the Vikings do draft one this Spring.
Tight End
The Vikings have had a strong history of Tight End play throughout their franchise’s history, and the trade for T.J. Hockenson in 2022 was expected to deliver another great one. Unfortunately, T.J. had a severe knee injury in 2023, and hasn’t fully returned to full form.
Now, T.J. has the highest cap hit at the TE position in the league at $21.3m, but after a contract restructure late Saturday night brought his cap hit down to $16.3m. T.J. is still a solid TE, but slightly overpaid at this point of his career, so a restructure was needed. In an up and down 2025, T.J. finished with 51 receptions for 438 yards and 3 TDs.
To give insight, including 2025, T.J.’s 17 game averages are 76 receptions for 778 yards and 5 TDs. The QB play last year certainly doesn’t help, but to give more context of where T.J. is ranked, he was the 27th ranked TE by PFF in 2025.
Personally, I’m happy T.J. took a pay-cut to stay with the team. There are quite a few holes on the roster already, and while this is a deep draft class, TE is one of, if not, the hardest positions to learn and develop in football so any replacement may not be ready for another year or two at the earliest.
Josh Oliver is an excellent TE2, and will be back for his third season in Viking purple. In 2026, Josh had 19 receptions for 160 yards and 4 TDs, but his role isn’t to primarily catch the football.
Since 2022, Josh has been graded as one of, if not, the best run blocking TEs in the league. The Vikings offense has also adopted more heavy personnel looks throughout the year, too. Heavy personnel includes 12/22/13 personnel, which is multiple TEs on the field, as indicated by the second number in personnel packages (x2, etc.).
The NFL is also starting to trend into a more heavy personnel style offense. In the last decade, we’ve seen the emergence of three-plus receiver sets. Now, more offenses are finding advantages with multiple TE sets, with recent examples including the Bears, Rams, and Seahawks.
The Vikings also are trending towards more 12 personnel sets, and ran around 40% of their plays out of 12 personnel in 2025. With two good TEs, I don’t expect this trend to change, and why I think this room may only see a day 3 rookie join this off-season and a resolution to be found with Hockenson.
Running Back
Last week, I discussed the changes to the Coaching Staff that should bring an updated scheme to the run game. With the release of Aaron Jones last week, the Vikings running game is undergoing a major renovation.
As of the release of this breakdown, the Vikings have just two RBs under contract:
- Jordan Mason
- Zavier Scott
Myles Gaskin and DeWayne McBride were signed to future contracts, but I don’t expect them to be considerations for the final 53 in the Fall. That leaves a few holes in the Vikings RB room, especially with the retirement of C.J. Ham.
An overhaul to the run game and personnel is coming, and this will be an X-factor for this off-season. If we look at Frank Smith’s time with the Dolphins, he employed a wide-zone scheme, and used a good amount of 21 personnel (2 RBs/1 TE). The Dolphins also had a good skillset mix in their room, including De’Von Achane, Ollie Gordon, and Jaylen Wright, who all range from more speed/skill backs to more power/heavy running styles.
Jordan Mason matches to the Ollie Gordon profile quite well in terms of size and speed. Mason is two inches shorter than Ollie, but weighs five more pounds (230 Ibs) and they both ran a 4.6 40.
I expect the Vikings to look for their version of De’Von Achane whether it’s through the Draft or Free Agency. There are a few prospects in the Draft that I like that are Day 2/early Day 3 guys, and I’ll do a full breakdown as we get closer to the draft.
With cap space being tight, I don’t expect the Vikings to make a splash signing for someone like Kenneth Walker or Travis Etienne, although both would be wonderful additions to pair with Mason. With Jordan Mason already making $5m in 2026, a rookie joining the room will keep the unit’s cap hit low, which is what this team needs with this year’s cap.
This is the room I’m most excited about this off-season, and getting a dynamic run game again will help elevate this Vikings offense again.
Defense Breakdown
The Vikings defense has gone through major renovations in the last two seasons, and this off-season isn’t bucking the trend. We’ve already seen significant changes to the unit, mostly on the defensive line, that we should see a lot of movement for this group continue throughout the next couple of months.
Although the unit has been elite the last few seasons, especially after Brian Flores joined, they have also been one of the oldest, with an average age of 29.06, ranking as the oldest in 2025. An injection of youth is overdue, and we are seeing that process start now.
As I did for the offense, let’s breakdown three positions on the Vikings defense that will see significant changes:
Safety
Harrison Smith may, or may not have, played his final NFL game this season. Rumors have circled the last few months about him hanging it up at the conclusion of the season, but no official announcement has been made by him just yet.
Harrison is the biggest domino to fall for this room, but an upgrade is needed no matter what. As of today, the Vikings only have Josh Metellus, Jay Ward, and Theo Jackson under contract. The room as a whole underperformed last year, and the Vikings secondary has been ranked towards the bottom of the league in terms of personnel and grading.
In 2025, the Vikings had the 27th ranked Secondary, according to PFF, and fans have been clamoring for upgrades the last few off-seasons. Extending Theo Jackson last off-season was a gamble that doesn’t appear to be working out so far, and recent draft picks to the room haven’t found a long-term solution.
The Vikings already made a significant change to the direction by adding Gerald Alexander to the coaching staff. With many mock drafts projecting the Vikings to use a combination of Day 1 & 2 picks in the secondary, I expect this room to find some developmental pieces to rebuild and bring youth to this unit. I also expect Josh Metellus to return to more of a “joker” role than being a full-time safety, like we saw in 2024 with his breakout season.
EDGE
With the report of Jonathan Greenard’s trade rumors, I fully expect the Vikings to have an opening for a third pass rusher. I don’t think trading JG would result in the Vikings investing a lot of capital into the room, but netting a Day 2 pick would help reallocate assets to a team that has been spread a bit thin so far.
Even with JG potentially on the move, a room with Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner is still a solid duo, especially with the emergence from DT last season.
Lots of folks were quick to pen DT as another draft bust, but they also forgot that Dallas just turned 23, and was asked to play a unique position in his first NFL season. As a rookie, Dallas played multiple positions and roles, including over 50 snaps in coverage. This is pretty standard for a complex BFlo defense, but it didn’t help the narrative and comparisons to fellow rookie Jared Verse.
However, in 2025, DT filled in for Greenard as more of a true pass rusher, and played excellent down the stretch, which resulted in eight sacks and four forced fumbles for the season. He is ready for an expanded role, and the coaching staff appears to believe this, too.
The other pass rusher we’ve gotten to know well is Andrew Van Ginkel, or AVG. The man who looks like the logo, has been nothing short of amazing since putting on the Vikings uniform. An underrated player for BFlo back in Miami, AVG has accumulated 18.5 sacks and three interceptions, including two pick sixes in 2024:
These plays have become his signature, and it feels like he gets close to having another pick-six on this same exact play every few games.
AVG is an aging vet, and he turns 31 right before Training Camp starts. He signed a 1-year contract extension last Spring, which keeps him on the team through 2026. I could see him being an extension candidate this year, but nonetheless, a new face will need to be added to this room to help out depth.
I envision a less expensive veteran joining the room, with an addition made in the draft, but more in the terms of an early Day 3 pick. BFlo has shown the ability to generate pressure with his scheme and bizarre blitz packages, and having depth at this premier position is a must in today’s NFL.
Interior D-Line
Welcome to the new look interior defensive line, where Jalen Redmond and Levi Drake-Rodriguez lead the room, for now. The Vikings made substantial investments to this unit last year, but the true shining star came from a Practice Squad signing back in November 2024.
Redmond became a fan favorite throughout the 2025 season, and put up an extremely impressive stat line for an IDL:
- 6 sacks
- 12 TFLs
- 33 solo tackles
The Vikings placed the Exclusive Rights Tender on Redmond on Wednesday, securing his return to the team in 2026. Only 26 years old, I expect a long-term extension to be coming in the Summer, when the Vikings typically do a lot of early season extensions.
Levi Drake-Rodriguez, or LDR, also showed flashes throughout the season. A 7th round draft pick in 2024, LDR played sparingly as a rookie, but made standout plays in training camp to earn more playing time through the year. He played in 16 games last year, where he racked up two sacks and 19 solo tackles. He is a strong rotational piece going into 2026.
The other two players signed for this unit include Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and Elijah Williams. Both joined the Vikings in 2025 as rookies and showed flashes to earn additional playing time towards the end of 2025, and into 2026. I expect both guys to continue to develop, and I’m excited to see what they can do with more opportunities in 2026 as playing time has quickly become available.
Overall, this room is an interesting one, as the major investments from last year failed, and there has not been a lot of valuable draft assets invested into the room in recent drafts. I anticipate this changing in this year’s draft, and would not be surprised to see a 1st round pick enter the room.
Final Thoughts
Although the Vikings may not make any splash moves this year in Free Agency, it is still shaping up to be an interesting period for this roster. The bandaid of expensive veterans has been ripped off, and it’s looking like a wave of new faces and youth is on the way in. The Draft is where we will see the most action, at least that’s what rumors point towards.
Over the next few days, I do expect some smaller moves to fill depth, and most importantly, bring competition to the QB room. In next week’s breakdown, I will be going through the first week action, and highlighting the moves that are most important, or may play a bigger factor than initially thought.
If you enjoyed the read, follow me on X & Threads to continue the conversation, share your thoughts and wishes for the team, and to stay up-to-date on the next weekly article.
Skol To Go 
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