3 players the Minnesota Vikings could franchise tag for 2020

The Minnesota Vikings have some big free agents scheduled to leave the team if they can’t work out an extension and a franchise tag could keep one around.

Using the franchise tag on a player is never ideal. It is usually used as a last-ditch effort to keep a player around when it appears as though they will leave the team in free agency and sign with another squad. That is why the Minnesota Vikings rarely use their tags and instead opt to negotiate more team-friendly extensions.

For the 2020 NFL season, the purple and gold find themselves in a situation where the salary cap isn’t their friend. Of course, they have been able to retain many of their key players thanks to creative contract work from salary cap wizard Rob Brzezinski, but that well has come up dry and Minnesota is already in a situation where they enter the offseason in the red.

The Vikings could free up some cap space by restructuring contracts, asking players to take a pay cut, or outright releasing some individuals. If they do, that could free them up to use the franchise tag on one of their important players who are set to leave this offseason.

Let’s take a look at three players from the Minnesota Vikings who are unrestricted free agents and could be handed a franchise tag if the team can manage to free up enough salary cap to do so this offseason.