Brian Robison takes significant pay cut to stay with Minnesota Vikings

Veteran defensive end Brian Robison recently announced his return to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2018 NFL season and will do so at a huge discount.

Fans of the Minnesota Vikings love seeing Brian Robison celebrate after a sack. Casting his imaginary fishing line out, catching a fish, a throwing it back is one of the most fun ways to commemorate one of the biggest plays in professional football.

Over the course of his career, Robison has accumulated 60 sacks, never having a season where he notched fewer than 2 during each of his 11 seasons in the league. That number is sure to grow in 2018, since the defensive end will return for another season.

Following the news of his return, the Star Tribune recently revealed that Robison also took a massive pay cut to stay with the team, trimming over $2 million from his salary for the year. Here is what the long-time Vikings pass rusher had to say about his decision to return.

"“I just wasn’t ready to hang it up yet. I needed to give it one more shot. It was a tough decision. It was something where I had to sit back and think about what was right for not only myself, but my family.” Minnesota Vikings The Viking Age 0d - 6 biggest draft steals in Minnesota Vikings history More headlines around FanSided: 1d - Former Vikings first-round pick could reportedly return to NFC North 1d - Bears analyst has extremely embarrassing Kirk Cousins take 1d - 6 Vikings who (maybe) won't make the 53-man roster in 2023 2d - Which teams could be drafting a quarterback next year? 2d - Predicting what the Vikings will do in the 2023 NFL Draft based on 2022 More News at The Viking Age"

The details of the pay decrease are rather staggering. Robison will now make only $1.015 million this year, the veteran minimum, plus his $90,000 workout bonus. Since he was due to make up to $3.5 million, this puts the team at $17.136 million in terms of their remaining salary cap.

Why Robison took that significant of a pay cut is easy to explain. He wants to win and he wants to do so in Minnesota.

"“I’ve said since day one I wanted to bring a championship to the state of Minnesota. If that’s something I have to give back $2 million to do, I’ll gladly do it.”"

At 35 years old, Brian Robison will be hanging up his cleats soon. The team has been preparing for his exit by grooming Danielle Hunter to take over for him as a starter and bringing in young, talented players in the draft and free agency like Tashawn Bower, Ade Aruna, and others to work with the franchise’s other starting defensive end, Everson Griffen.

Next: 7 best moves of the Vikings' 2018 offseason

Having Robison’s experience and ability during the 2018 NFL season should help push the Minnesota Vikings toward their goal of bringing home a Lombardi Trophy, but only time will tell if this classy and remarkable gesture by the veteran defensive end pays off for him.