What does that mean?
The man who has been the primary starter at center for the Minnesota Vikings since he was drafted is now, officially, no longer with the team.
The Vikings have announced that they are releasing center Garrett Bradbury after being unable to find a trade partner. The move comes with a post-June 1st designation, which we’ll get to here in a moment.
The writing was on the wall for Bradbury when the Vikings signed veteran Ryan Kelly to a two-year deal in free agency last week. He has started 88 games for the Vikings since the team took him in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The book on him remained the same throughout his tenure in Minnesota, as he was a solid run blocker but had a tendency to get overpowered in pass protection, resulting in Vikings’ quarterbacks facing consistent pressure on the interior.
With Bradbury being designated a post-June 1 cut, the Vikings will save more on their salary cap than they would have by just releasing him. Had the team just released him, they would have incurred a $2.4 million dead cap hit while saving $3.6 million against this year’s cap. With the post-June 1st designation, that dead money amount drops to just $814,000, giving the Vikings $5.25 million in savings. The downside to the designation is that the team must carry Bradbury’s full cap charge until 1 June.
Everybody got that?
The Vikings probably could have used Bradbury as a backup on the interior, but they’re giving him the opportunity to move on. He will almost certainly have teams looking for his services, particularly the Atlanta Falcons, who lost Drew Dalman in free agency and has Bradbury’s former N.C. State offensive line coach, Dwayne Ledford on their staff as an assistant. Bradbury was an All-American for the Wolfpack under Ledford’s coaching.
The Garrett Bradbury era in Minnesota is officially over, folks. What are your thoughts?
