Anthony Barr has bad news for the Vikings, which could impact his future with the team
By Josh Hill
If the Minnesota Vikings are looking for some salary cap relief, Anthony Barr isn’t the person to ask for help.
Among the many pressing questions the Minnesota Vikings need to answer this offseason, the one about Anthony Barr’s future looms large.
Barr will be a $15 million crater in the Vikings books this year, unless he and the team can agree to restructure his contract. According to Darren Wolfson from KSTP in Minneapolis, that’s not something Barr is interested in doing.
“I feel confident in saying this, that I hear Anthony Barr is anti-any sort of restructure. He’s got a big [cap] number,” Wolfson said on his podcast. “Could they extend him, is there a way to do that? Maybe. But I am told he is not interested in a restructure.”
This isn’t the first time Barr and the Vikings have had some contractual drama. Back in 2019, Barr looked all but certain to leave Minnesota to sign with the New York Jets when he decided in the 11th hour to return to the Vikings. Things got so far down the line that his deal with the Jets was reported as being agreed upon during the tampering period, but Barr ultimately chose to happily return to Minnesota.
Two years later, Barr owns the fourth-highest salary cap hit on the team behind Kirk Cousins, Danielle Hunter, and Riley Reiff.
Vikings Rumors: Will Minnesota have to move on from Anthony Barr?
A desire to restructure Barr’s deal has less to do with the $15.1 million cap hit this year and likely more to do with his cap hits going up to $15.6 million in 2022 and $18.1 million in 2023. The question becomes whether or not the Vikings might have to trade Barr to make sure they don’t step on any financial land mines in the coming years.
Minnesota’s championship window is not what you’d describe as comfortably open. Head coach Mike Zimmer has heard his name mentioned as being on the hot seat in recent years, and another losing season in 2020 didn’t do much to quell that. Ditto for Kirk Cousins, who is a perfectly fine quarterback but one who has failed to live up to the massive contract he received upon arriving in Minnesota.
There’s a real possibility that when the back half of Barr’s kicks in, the Vikings will be in a rebuilding phase. It’s also possible that the Vikings could be on the last leg of whatever hope they have of winning a Super Bowl with this incarnation of the team, which could mean needing money to sign mercenary free agents. Then again, Barr is a critical part of Zimmer’s defense so there could be justification to keeping him since replacing him might be harder than finding ways to not pay him.
Either way, Barr’s future is certainly in flux but that jives with the entire aura of the Vikings as they try to navigate another rocky offseason.