2023 Offseason Plan

Below is an offseason Plan I put together. I used Spotrac for salary cap calculations, market values, and contract comparisons to similar players, I did check pff grades (I know its bullshit but it’s better than nothing) to try to confirm contract values relative to performance. I used profootballnetwork.com for the mock draft.

Cut Their Overpaid Asses:
Adam Thielen – Cap Savings $6.5 mil
Harrison Smith – $7.4 mil
Za’Darius Smith – Saved: $13.5 mil
Dalvin Cook – Cap Savings $7.9 mil
Eric Kendricks – $9.5 mil
Chris Reed $2.5 mil

I don’t see any teams trading for any of these players. Cook is probably the most likely to get something back but there aren’t many teams interested in a RB getting close to 30 with an injury history on a bloated contract. The rest are bad contracts or not worth any draft capital. The purpose here, especially on defense is to get younger and faster.

Restructure:
Brian O’Neill – Cap Savings $10 mil

Extend:
T.J. Hockenson – 5 years $70 mil – 2023 Cap Savings $5 mil
Kirk Cousins – 1 year $36 mil – No change to 2023 cap hit
Justin Jefferson – 5 years $150 mil – No change to 2023 cap hit

Re-signed:
Austin Schlottmann 1 year $1.5 mil
Blake Brandel ERFA – $750k
Khyiris Tonga ERFA – $750k
Andrew DePaola – 2 years 2.5 mil – Cap Hit – $1.25 mil

Free Agents:
Kicker Matt Gay – 5 years $25 mil – Cap Hit – $1.5 mil
Cornerback Rock Ya-Sin – 4 years $43 mil – Cap Hit – $5 ml
Linebacker Germaine Pratt – 4 years $30 mil – Cap Hit – $4.25 mil
Defensive End Rasheem Green – 1 year – $4 mil
Edge Samson Ekubam – 3 years $23 mil – Cap Hit $4 mil

After all of this the Vikings have a little over $10 mil in cap space available, which will be reduced by rookie contracts and the buffer to account for likely earned bonuses by players. Also, none of the players signed are over the age of 27, well the kicker is but age is nothing for that position. Going into the draft the starters look like this:

QB – Kirk
RB – Chandler
WR1/WR2 – JJ & Osborn
TE – Hock
LT – Darrisaw
LG – Cleve
C – Schlottman
RG – Ingram
RT – O’neill
WR3/TE2 – Nailor/Mundt
DE – Phillips and Green
NT – Tonga
Edge – Ekubam and Jones
LB – Pratt and Assmaoh
CB – Shelly, Ya-Sin, Dantzler
S – Bynum and Cine/Metellus
Kicker – Matt Gay
Punter – Wright
LS – Depaola

Draft:

Trade: Vikings receive 2023 pick 6 round 1 – Detroit receives 2023 pick 23 round 1, 2024 round 1, 2024 round 4
1.6 – QB Will Levis, Kentucky

Trade: Vikings receive 2023 round two pick 49, 2024 pick round 4 – Pittsburgh receives Danielle Hunter
2.49 – C John Michael Schmitz, Minnesota

3.87 – Edge Byron Young, Tennessee

Trade: Vikings receive round 4 pick 120, round 6 pick 204 – Kansas City receives round 4 pick 117
4.120 – CB Jartavius Martin, Illinois

5.156 – LB Ventrell Miller, Florida

6.204 – RB Mohammed Ibrahim, Minnesota

Heading into this draft it was highly unlikely the Vikings were going to get any day one starters that would perform above replacement level in 2023. In this scenario they trade future draft capital to trade up for a potential QBOTF, very similar to the Chefs trade up for Mahomes in terms of value and draft positions. The Kirk Cousins extension had nothing to do with his cap hit for 2023, it is insurance in case Levis is not ready by 2024 and if he is you can just trade Kirk for something of substance rather than him just leaving in FA. JMS should be able to compete with Schlottman for the starting Center job. Young is just another depth corner, Miller might compete on Special Teams, and Ibrahim can at least contribute as a short yardage back and compete for additional snaps.

I can pretty much guarantee this is not anything close to what KAM will do as it is puts the chances of being mediocre to slightly above average at risk by potentially taking a step back this upcoming season and potentially being well below or above average in the very near future. They will be in good cap position heading into 2024 with a QB on a rookie deal and a young team with some real potential. The Vikings actually ridding themselves of a lot of old and expensive players on defense and actually trying to find a franchise QB would give me hope for the first time in a long time that the Vikings could someday soon get to a SB.