The team is steadily making moves!
Free agency is now at the stage where small signings will all that we will probably see. The largest one will likely be for another QB whether that be you know who or someone else. The current cap space is still about 32M but that is without Jordan Mason included. The details are not out yet but here is one site that has something …
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/inside-the-jordan-mason-deal
We do not know if there are any void years included. This probably takes the cap space down to 28.5M.
The Bradbury post June1 cap savings of about 5M could be used to sign the draft picks.
I do not know if they are going to do something with O’Neill’s deal but I think they probably will. They might extend Oliver and Metellus too. That would free up cap space this year but take away cap space in 2026 where they are already in the red.
There will be some modifications for sure.
If they sign you know who then I expect a lot of cap moves.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
How have free agency additions impacted Vikings’ NFL draft outlook?
Think about Minnesota’s needs coming into free agency (here’s how I ranked them) and how many of the boxes they’ve checked within the last week alone.
Interior offensive line? Checked off with Will Fries and Ryan Kelly.
Interior defensive line? Welcome, Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave.
Cornerback? Byron Murphy Jr. is back and Isaiah Rodgers joins the fold.
Running back? Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason could be one of the best duos in football.
Safety? Harrison Smith is running it back for a 14th season.
The Vikings also added depth pieces and special teams contributors in Justin Skule, Tavierre Thomas, and Eric Wilson — and they have the cap space to keep going. They’ll sign a veteran quarterback to pair with J.J. McCarthy at some point. Hosting Rondale Moore and Jeff Okudah on free agent visits indicates that additions at wide receiver and cornerback remain likely. They could potentially add another guard, too.
When April rolls around, the Vikings’ decision-makers will be able to stick to their big board and take the best player available at a wide range of position groups.
Vikings notes: Jefferson’s contract a bargain, Rondale Moore visiting Bears
On Sunday night, Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase agreed to a four-year, $161 million contract extension with $112 million guaranteed. That $40.25 million average annual value makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
It also makes the Vikings’ contract extension for Justin Jefferson last offseason look even better. Jefferson signed a four-year, $140 million deal with $110 million guaranteed. At the time, he was the highest-paid non-QB ever, but he’s since been surpassed by Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett, and now Chase.
Moore visiting Bears
Free agent wide receiver Rondale Moore, who visited the Vikings on Friday, is now visiting with the Chicago Bears, according to NFL Network. The former second-round pick out of Purdue may have other options as well, but it’s possible he’ll be deciding between a pair of NFC North rivals. If all contract terms were hypothetically equal, would a receiver rather play with Kevin O’Connell and McCarthy or Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams?
Updated Vikings depth chart after Minnesota’s near $300M free agent spending spree
You could easily make that argument after one of the most skilled and playmaking teams on both sides of the football got bigger, tougher and more experienced this past week. If the Vikings can get Pro Bowl-level play from McCarthy in what should be his highly-anticipated debut season as QB1, the Vikings will enter 2025 on the NFL’s short list of Super Bowl contenders.
Minnesota Vikings in Contact with Another Veteran QB
We know one thing for sure. Brett Rypien is not going to be QB2 in Minnesota next season. Beyond that, and the Rodgers rumors, reports on which veteran quarterbacks the Vikings value most out of those remaining have been mostly neon-existent.
That was until today, when respected NFL insider Albert Breer (Sports Illustrated) reported in his Monday Morning Quarterback column that the MN Vikings have been in contact with the other 40-year-old Super Bowl winner still on the market, Joe Flacco.
“Joe Flacco visited the Giants last week—which was a way, I think, for the team to check him out, and for Flacco to get his name back in circulation. Yes, he’s 40. But as a one-year solution, at a way cheaper rate than Cousins or Rodgers, I think the guy can still play. And the Browns, Steelers and Vikings think enough of him still to have checked on him.”
What does Joe Flacco have left in the tank?
As Breer points out, while Flacco is 40, there would be no questions as to whether or not he could take take over as Minnesota Vikings QB1 in a pinch. In his 8 appearances (6 starts) with the Colts last season, Flacco posted a 65.3% completion rate with 12 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
If the Vikings were to sign Flacco, it shouldn’t cost much. He made just $5 million in Indianapolis last season. That’s half of what Darnold signed for as the Vikings’ bridge option in 2024. Flacco brings 196 games of NFL experience to the table, along with 4,166 career completions for 54,697 yards, 257 touchdowns and 162 interceptions. that’s a lot of QB wisdom for a curious young JJ McCarthy to soak in.
Execs Mixed on Aaron Rodgers: ‘He’s on the Downside’ and ‘the Guy Is Still a Beast’
I talked to one pro scouting director earlier in the month who told me to go back and watch the New York Jets’ Week 15 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He said it was all there. Rodgers’s ability to throw and see and think the game at a high level was on that tape. So I took a look, and he wasn’t lying. There were examples where you could see Rodgers couldn’t escape the way he used to, but a lot more where he showed he can still sling it with anyone.
“He’s on the downside,” said one AFC exec whose team played the Jets late. “He still has the flashes of arm talent and accuracy. There’s a depreciation of the mobility that made him great, when he was that two-way, run/pass option player on every play. It’s relegated him to being more of a pocket-passing veteran. Do I think he can start for a year? I do. … He still sees the field well, has football intelligence, the quick release. His arm’s not quite what it was but with the right surrounding cast? Yes.”
“I think the guy is still a beast,” texted an AFC defensive coach who went against him during that time. “Mentally and arm-talent-wise, he hasn’t dropped off at all. Now, his mobility and athleticism, of course, isn’t the same as it was 10 years ago. [But] if I’m a team and I need a quarterback right now, I don’t hesitate signing him.”
The coach then sent another text, “I would not flinch.”
The AFC exec was a little more measured, in saying, “Know the options are limited, yeah, I would, if I had the right coaches, the OC specifically, the support system. You’d have to consider it.”
Now, there’s certainly a perception out there that last year was indicative of Rodgers’s career careening off the NFL’s freeway and into a ditch. The reality is that, again, while he wasn’t what he had been before, he finished eighth in passing yards (3,897), seventh in touchdown passes (28) and had a middling passer rating (90.5) while enduring a train wreck of circumstances with his head coach and offensive coordinator replaced midseason.
Could it be better in a more stable situation? Since he’s 41 years old, there’s obviously a ceiling on that, but it’s fair to think a motivated Rodgers has one last real run in him.
“There was a time when Aaron was like [Patrick] Mahomes or Josh Allen—when things would break down, he could create with his mobility and athleticism,” the coach continued, via text. “Obviously, at 41, he can’t do that like he used to. But he can still move. He’s not a complete statue back there. And he also might be a little bit more mobile this year, two years removed from the Achilles.”
NFL News: Aaron Rodgers reportedly requests huge salary from Steelers, Vikings or Giants
Aaron Rodgers already has a salary figure in mind for any team that tries to sign him, according to a report by Dianna Russini and Mike Silver. Approximately, a contract that pays him between $30 and $35 million per year to match what Sam Darnold got with the Seahawks. His options would be the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Minnesota Vikings, or the New York Giants.
Note: It is that time of year when it sometimes is necessary to utilize an overactive imagination!
NFL analyst drops another ridiculous Justin Herbert-J.J. McCarthy trade idea
Not that it needs said, but the Los Angeles Chargers aren’t trading quarterback Justin Herbert for anything.
That’s especially the case since Jim Harbaugh’s arrival. To say the coach has taken a liking to Herbert would be an understatement.
Just don’t tell Nick Wright of FS1.
Wright just went on First Things First and decided to drop another outlandish trade idea involving the Chargers and Minnesota Vikings swapping Herbert and J.J. McCarthy.
“If the Vikings are this squeamish about J.J. McCarthy… then they should quietly call the Chargers, be like hey…we’ll give you him and our first-round pick and we’ll take Justin Herbert.”
Yore Mock
Trade Recap
Minnesota Receives: 2025: Round 2, Pick 36, 2025: Round 3, Pick 70, 2025: Round 7, Pick 221
Jacksonville Receives: 2025: Round 1, Pick 24
…
Minnesota Receives: 2025: Round 2, Pick 59, 2025: Round 4, Pick 136
Baltimore Receives: 2025: Round 3, Pick 70, 2026 Round 3
…
36. Derrick Harmon DT Oregon 6’4.4”313
59. Donovan Jackson OG Ohio State 6’4” 315
97. Jacob Parrish CB Kansas State 5’9.6” 191
136. Smael Mondon Jr. LB Georgia 6’2.2” 224
139. Brashard Smith RB TCU 5’9.7” 194
187. Dont’e Thornton WR Tennessee 6’4.5” 205
221. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins DL Georgia 6’4.6” 276
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Photo by John Korduner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
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