Vikings Sew Up Matt Kalil Ahead of Camp Open; All Draft Picks Now Signed

As of Thursday morning Matt Kalil was the last of the Vikings’ 2012 draft picks who had not yet signed a contract, and there was some concern that he wouldn’t be locked up in time to make the 4 PM deadline for players to report to camp. Those concerns proved to be unfounded. The Vikings have indeed gotten a deal done with the #4 overall pick and he will be in camp. Terms have not been disclosed but the deal is believed to be for $20 million over four years with a fifth year option.

How did the Vikings get the deal done? Simple: they dropped their demand for offset language. No offset language means if Kalil is cut after year three he can sign with a second team and also still get paid by the Vikings for the fourth year (it’s called double-dipping and teams don’t like it for obvious reasons). The Vikes had previously insisted on offset language in all rookie contracts, a practice going back many years, but so many deals were signed this year without the provision that they had no choice but to follow the new precedent and drop it themselves.

The Vikings could’ve elected to string out the contract negotiation and keep Kalil out of camp, hoping his agent would blink, but in the end they obviously decided that keeping the offset precedent intact was less important than getting their #4 pick in camp and starting him on the road to NFL dominance. Or maybe they just realized there was no way they were ever going to get the offset language after so many high picks were signed without it this year. Who cares now anyway. Kalil is a done deal and will be in camp.

It’s time to get rolling on this sucker.

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