Where Do We Go From Here?: Eric Kendricks

Hello Skoloholics! We continue our “Where do we go from here?” series as we look at another long-time Viking who has become a fan favorite, linebacker Eric Kendricks. Kendricks has been in the league for 8 years, all of them with Minnesota, who selected Kendricks in the 2nd round of the 2015 NFL draft. I remember being relieved when the Packers passed on Kendricks at the end of the first round, and was stoked when we selected Kendricks with our second-round pick.

Kendricks has been rock solid for the Vikings, putting up over 100 combined tackles in every year except his rookie year (he had 92 that year). There was a several-year period where Kendricks was elite and among the best LBs in the league. He’s been solid against the run, solid in coverage, and can be used to rush the passer. Those skills seem to have deteriorated, especially so in 2022. Kendricks still put up solid stats, but seemed to be slow at times. We must ask the same question we asked with Thielen: How much of the apparent drop-off is normal physical decline with age, how much of it is learning a new defense, and how much of it is the coaching scheme/design?

Eric Kendricks’ Contract

The Kendricks contract is one of the few contracts that Rick Spielman didn’t screw up! In his current contract, which enters its final year in 2023, Kendricks will occupy $11.43 million of cap space with $1.93 million in dead cap, per Spotrac. If my counting is correct, that would make Kendrick’s the league’s 12th-highest paid linebacker in 2023 (not including contracts that have yet to be signed, so I expect him to be much lower on that list by training camp), per Overthecap. This puts the Vikings in an advantageous situation where they actually have options.

The options are to keep Kendricks on his contract, keep him and extend him, trade him, or release him. It’s hard to guess what the front office will do. Do they feel that Kendricks is still playing at a high level and will continue to do so for a few more years? If so, they may extend him. If not, then a release or trade is most likely. We’ll explore each option and discuss the costs and/or benefits.

Options

Keep Kendricks

The Vikings could choose to keep Eric Kendricks on the team for 2023 and possibly beyond. If they feel he is still performing at a high level and/or feel that he will improve in his second year in a 3-4, then they could do one of two things.

Let him play out his contract

Let him play out 2023, then Kendricks would become an unrestricted free agent after the season ends. The Vikings would get nothing for him other than one more year of play, then he would walk. I suppose we could hope for a compensatory pick in this scenario.

Sign Kendricks to an Extension

If the Vikings feel that Kendricks can continue to play at a high level for several more years, then they could extend Kendricks. An extension would create cap space in 2023 and lock him in as a Viking for a couple more years. You could hypothetically offer to extend Kendricks 3 more years at $21 million (not sure whether he’d take that, but the math is easy), and would lock Kendricks in at around $7.5375 million/year through 2026, when Kendricks will be 34 years old.

Trade Kendricks

The Vikings could trade their star linebacker. If the Vikings feel that Kendricks has passed his prime and that age is catching up with him, now is the time to move on. The Vikings are currently heading into the 2023 draft with four draft picks, and I do NOT expect them to enter the 2023 draft with only four draft picks. Therefore, they’re going to have to make moves to accumulate more picks. For these reasons, a trade makes sense.

Kendricks will be 31 years old next month, which is not ancient. He has also continued to put up solid statistics, so a team could offer the Vikings something in exchange for Kendricks. What would teams offer? Would you expect a day 2 pick in exchange for Kendricks? Is that reasonable? The Vikings are obviously not going to net a 2nd and a 5th like the Bears got for Roquan Smith, so what do you think is reasonable? A fourth?

Release Kendricks

If the Vikings can’t find a trade partner, then they could conceivably cut Kendricks prior to the 2023 season and only incur $1.93 million in dead cap, and save $9.5 million in cap space. I think this is unlikely, but it’s an option.

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Summary

I’m not sure what to expect here, my guess is that we’ll see Kendricks traded this off-season. The Vikings NEED draft picks in order to restock the shelves, especially on defense, and guys like Eric Kendricks hold enough value where the Vikings will be able to acquire those draft picks. I’ll hate to see EK go, as he has been one of my favorite Vikings, but we’d better be prepared for a few of these mini-heartaches this off-season. I think we’re going to see a VERY different Vikings defense next year with a lot of new faces.