Expect Anthony Barr to be the next Vikings player to get an extension

After Eric Kendricks was given a five-year extension on Monday, his fellow linebacker should be next in line for a new deal from the Minnesota Vikings.

Monday’s news was a bit of a surprise, but also not. Many assumed the Minnesota Vikings would extend the contract of linebacker Eric Kendricks within the current year. When exactly that was going to happen was just the unknown.

Well it went down on Monday and Kendricks is now signed with the Vikings through the 2023 season. Minnesota and the young linebacker agreed to a five-year, $50 million extension, including $25 million guaranteed and a reported signing bonus of $10.5 million.

With Kendricks previously scheduled to become a free-agent in 2019, this was a deal that was expected, but also one that the Vikings apparently felt needed to be done sooner than later.

With this extension, one of their top impending 2019 free-agents is now taken care of. Minnesota must now figure out a way to extend the current contracts of linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive end Danielle Hunter, and wide receiver Stefon Diggs before the end of next season.

Minnesota Vikings

Of these three, it appears that Barr will likely be the next to receive an extension from the Vikings. At least according to a few people with quite a bit of knowledge relating to the team.

When speaking about the Kendricks deal on Monday, NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport mentioned that Barr will likely be the next player to get an extension from Minnesota. Rapoport has been known to be right about a few things in the past (just a couple).

Both ESPN’s Courtney Cronin and 1500 ESPN’s Matthew Coller also believe that Barr could be next in line for an extension. Keeping the duo of Kendricks and Barr together is the main fuel behind their reasoning.

The two linebackers have been playing together since their days in college at UCLA. They clearly have a chemistry on the field and it has translated into each of them being a key part of the Vikings’ recent success on defense.

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So it does seem like Barr will be the next to get his contract extended by Minnesota before Diggs or Hunter. When exactly that deal will be made is something that has yet to be determined.