What moves could the cash-strapped Minnesota Vikings make to save $40 million on their salary cap in 2023?
The NFL recently revealed a bumper rise in the 2023 salary cap. However, that does little to assist the Minnesota Vikings based on their current financial predicament.
According to Spotrac, the Vikings are currently $21.19 million over the cap. Not exactly ideal for a team that could still have a slight window of opportunity in their elusive quest for a Super Bowl.
This ensures some difficult decisions are coming for general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Minnesota needs reinforcements in key positions – mainly on the defensive side – with current players looking for new deals or facing the prospect of being cut before their contracts expire.
How the Vikings approach this should become clearer in the near future. Using the Over the Cap calculator, we picked out five moves that could save Minnesota $40 million in 2023.
Move No. 1
Cut Jordan Hicks
- Cap savings – $5 million
When the Vikings signed Jordan Hicks in 2022 free agency, hopes were high that he could form a prolific partnership with Eric Kendricks within Ed Donatell’s 3-4 scheme. Unfortunately for the player and Minnesota, this didn’t go according to plan.
Hicks just couldn’t transition smoothly enough to a different environment for one reason or another. Releasing the player with one year remaining on his deal represents a cap saving of $5 million, which is hard to ignore in the circumstances.