Re-grading the Vikings decisions during the 2019 offseason

The Minnesota Vikings were magicians at manipulating the salary cap last offseason. But how do those deals look one year later?

As the Minnesota Vikings sit less than a week from the start of free agency, they find themselves in the middle of salary cap purgatory.

With Kirk Cousins $31 million cap hit leading the way, the Vikings have just over $1 million to spend, leaving such familiar names such as Anthony Harris, Everson Griffen, and Trae Waynes free to hit the open market this year.

Of course, Minnesota found themselves in a similar situation last offseason. With the Vikings pressed up against the cap, Rob Brzezinski was lauded for his ability to squeeze the contracts of Anthony Barr, Kyle Rudolph, and Adam Thielen under the salary cap and the team still had money to add Shamar Stephen and Josh Kline in free agency.

These moves looked great on paper and with the goal of getting the team back into the postseason, the contracts worked as Minnesota picked up its first road playoff win since 2005 and finished just out of the race for a third NFC North title in five seasons.

But as the Vikings turn over couches to find loose change this offseason, it’s a question to ask if these contracts were really worth it and whether the long-term effects of paying up for familiarity were more damaging than originally thought.

So let’s go over some of the biggest decisions Minnesota made during the offseason last year and re-grade them based on the results that were produced.