The NFL’s salary cap will reportedly increase to at least $178 million for 2018, giving the Minnesota Vikings more ammo to sign free-agents this year.
When discussing the teams that are in contention to sign Kirk Cousins this offseason, the Minnesota Vikings are included not just because they need a starting quarterback, but because of the cap space the team currently has as well.
In 2017, the NFL’s salary cap allowed teams to spend up to a total of $167 million on their players. For next season, that value will reportedly increase by more than $10 million according to Pro Football Talk.
Minnesota Vikings
The league’s projected salary cap for 2018 will reportedly be at least $178 million and could even reach $180 million. An amount that is almost $25 million more than what it was just two years ago.
If the salary cap does indeed hit $180 million, Spotrac estimates that the Vikings will have around $54 million to spend this offseason. If Minnesota figures out a way to release defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd this year, that amount would increase to almost $62 million.
With this amount of money, the Vikings can easily offer a big-time contract that should satisfy the wants of Cousins this offseason. Even if Minnesota signed the quarterback to a deal that paid him $30 million for next season, the team would still have more than $31 million left to spend on other free-agents and rookies.
Some do not like the idea of the Vikings paying a ton of money to sign Cousins this year. However, a high-priced contract for him would really not have a drastic effect on Minnesota’s remaining plans for the offseason.
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For those who think the quarterback will cost the Vikings too much in 2018, the projected salary cap makes this a hard argument to win.