A number of former Vikings among the most overpaid in 2018

Former Minnesota Vikings players Jerick McKinnon and Matt Kalil were included in a recent list of the NFL’s most overpaid players in 2018.

Over the past few years, a number of players have left the Minnesota Vikings in hopes of landing a big payday with another team. Some have been successful in that journey while others have not.

Some of those former Vikings that have gone on to land lucrative contracts elsewhere include running back Jerick McKinnon, offensive tackle Matt Kalil, and tight end Rhett Ellison. Just because these guys were able to sign big-money deals with other teams, however, does not mean that they are worth the price they agreed to.

According to a recent article published by OverTheCap.com’s Jason Fitzgerald, the current contracts of McKinnon, Kalil, and Ellison are some of the worst in the NFL this year.

Fitzgerald listed off the worst current contracts for all 32 teams around the league heading into 2018 and his selections included these three former Minnesota players as well as current Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph.

Of the 32 included on the list, Fitzgerald believes that McKinnon is the NFL’s third-most overpaid player of 2018. The running back signed with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason and the OverTheCap.com writer believes he was given way more money than what he is truly worth.

Minnesota Vikings

"“This is arguably the worst contract signed in 2018. The 49ers need McKinnon to thrive in their offense, because there is no other way to justify a top running back contract for a player who has never produced 600 rushing yards or 500 receiving yards. This deal is a minefield of potential mistakes, from valuation to structure. He’ll have 16 games to prove the 49ers right.”"

The former Minnesota running back inked a four-year, $30 million deal with San Francisco last March and $12 million of the contract is fully guaranteed. It seems like a little too much money to give to McKinnon at this point in his career, but the 49ers can also get out of this deal in 2019 for the low cost of $1.5 million.

Kalil’s current contract with the Carolina Panthers was ranked as the 21st-worst in the league this year by Fitzgerald and Ellsion’s deal ended up on the list as the 24th-worst. Rudolph’s appearance on the list (30th) seems to be more based on an effort to include a player from each team rather than it truly being a bad contract.

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McKinnon’s ranking seems a little high on this list, especially when looking at his potential to succeed with the 49ers in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. As for Kalil and Ellison, yeah those deals are pretty awful.