4 Vikings players who robbed the team blind in 2023

Vikings Player No. 1

Garrett Bradbury - C

After four seasons with the Vikings, center Garrett Bradbury became a free agent in 2023, and some expected him to end up signing with another NFL team after the majority of his tenure in Minnesota was underwhelming.

But in a bit of a strange turn of events, Minnesota decided to re-sign Bradbury, and not only did they re-sign him, but they gave him a new three-year contract worth $15.75 million.

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell was clearly impressed enough with Bradbury in 2022 that he wanted him to return for the 2023 season. Well, someone should've warned O'Connell that the performance from Bradbury in 2022 wasn't normal for the center.

Luckily, Bradbury was able to return to his normal, below-average form this season to let Minnesota's new regime know that they made a big mistake in bringing him back.

During his first few games of the 2023 campaign, the Vikings starting center was actually pretty decent. But that didn't last long.

Since Week 7, Bradbury has given up the fourth-most pressures among qualifying centers in the NFL, according to PFF, and his run-blocking grade from PFF during this time span ranks 27th among centers.

Thankfully, Minnesota is able to move on from Bradbury in 2024 without a dead cap penalty if they want to release him before his contract expires in 2026. If the Vikings cut their starting center this offseason before March 15th, they will clear up more than $5.8 million in cap space and not owe him a dime.

Based on Bradbury's performance this season, Minnesota deciding to release him wouldn't be shocking at all.