4 of the richest contracts ever given out by the Minnesota Vikings
By Adam Patrick
John Randle – DT
- Average Salary in 1998: $6.5 million
- Average Salary in 2020: $24.6 million
After leading the NFL in sacks with 15.5 and earning his fifth-career First-Team All-Pro selection in 1997 with the Vikings, John Randle actually entered the 1998 offseason as a free agent.
Randle ended up meeting with multiple teams and he even took a trip to Florida to discuss a possible deal with the Miami Dolphins.
In the end, Minnesota and their top defensive lineman were able to agree to a five-year contract worth up to $32.5 million. At the time, Randle’s new deal with the Vikings made him the highest-paid defensive player in the league.
In 1998, the NFL salary cap was just $52.4 million and that amount has increased by 278 percent since then. So if Randle’s average yearly salary from the contract he signed in 1998 is increased by 278 percent, it would translate into him making around $24.6 million today.
With his adjusted amount, Randle would still remain the highest-paid defensive player in the league this year as Khalil Mack’s average yearly salary of $23.5 million is currently the highest among NFL defenders.