The Minnesota Vikings roster is clearly in flux after the offseason decisions they’ve made but they could see some more big departures by the NFL Draft.
Despite an impressive regular season, the Minnesota Vikings saw the embarrassment of the playoffs and knew that something had to change. So they’ve been active in making those changes this offseason.
Guys like Eric Kendricks, Adam Thielen and Cameron Dantzler, among others, are now gone, and that’s not including free agents the team lost such as Patrick Peterson, Irv Smith Jr. and several others.
But the changes are likely not done, particularly with an oft-used deadline for potential trades looming in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Whether to create cap space in order to sign the draft class, to reshape the roster with new draftees coming in, or to simply cut ties because a trade never materialized, there are more players who could be gone by the time the draft is over and May 1 rolls around. No, Kirk Cousins probably won’t be one, despite a wild recent rumor.
These three players, however, could be gone by the time the draft ends.
Vikings rumors: 3 cap casualties who could be gone by end of NFL Draft
Ross Blacklock doesn’t have much of a role on the Vikings defense
Early in March, the Vikings made the move to convert nearly $700,000 of former second-round pick Ross Blacklock’s salary into a playing time incentive. Now, his cap hit sits at $1.01 million for the 2023 season. But all of that would be saved if he were to be released.
It seems like that could be a likely outcome when it’s all said and done.
Blacklock wasn’t a Minnesota draft pick. In fact, he was acquired via trade from the Texans, the team that did draft him No. 40 overall out of TCU in 2020, ahead of cutdown day prior to last season with only a pick swap in the sixth and seventh rounds.
In his lone season with the Vikings, Blacklock was hardly impressive and, frankly, rarely saw the field as he played just 139 snaps and graded out horribly when he was on the field, an unfortunate theme from the start of his career in Houston too.
Now, with Minnesota adding the likes of Dean Lowry and Jonathan Bullard, this defense is getting a facelift and it doesn’t seem like Blacklock makes sense to survive that when it’s all said and done, especially if the franchise can save his entire 2023 salary by letting him loose.
Za’Darius Smith wants out from the Vikings, and it could be granted soon
It’s honestly kind of wild that Za’Darius Smith is still on the Vikings roster at this point.
The pass-rusher who came to Minnesota after a stint with the rival Packers has performed well (as expected) but he requested a trade or his release from the franchise in early March and continued to voice his displeasure soon after on social media, making his departure seem imminent.
But again, that has yet to happen. That doesn’t mean something won’t, though, and Minnesota has signaled already that they are planning to move on in some capacity when one of their big free agent signings was former first-round pick Marcus Davenport to a one-year, $13 million contract this offseason.
The Vikings would love to find a trade partner for Smith and, depending on how the early parts of the draft play out, that might end up happening. If a team misses out on a pass-rusher they were hoping would fall to them and they don’t like the board, they could swap a late Day 2 or Day 3 pick for Smith, which would save Minnesota north of $12 million against the cap while incurring only $3.33 million in dead cap.
Even if that doesn’t happen, though, Smith still could be a cap casualty as designating him for a post-June 1 cut would save $8.77 million with a $6.7 million dead cap hit. For a team that has been working tirelessly to improve their cap situation and with a player who wants out, it’s really only a matter of when and how Za’Darius Smith leaves the Vikings.
Dalvin Cook seems as good as gone from the Vikings, whether by trade or by cut
In an offseason when it seems that many teams like the Dallas Cowboys with Ezekiel Elliott and potentially the Tennessee Titans with Derrick Henry are looking to get out of big cap hits for running backs, it seems like Dalvin Cook is going to be on the move.
There have been rumblings about the Vikings potentially trading their running back for weeks now, which have only been fueled by re-signing Alexander Mattison and the coaching staff gassing up Ty Chandler as a legitimate option. When you then look at Cook’s $14.1 million cap hit for the 2023 season, it becomes even more obvious why Minnesota is eyeing this move.
There could potentially be some trade interest for Cook, but not if Minnesota isn’t willing to eat at least some of his salary in a potential deal. But given that trading the back would result in $11 million in cap savings post-June 1, that would be something that the franchise could still be interested in.
If no trade partner is found, though, this situation seems headed for a result where Cook is no longer on the Vikings. As a post-June 1 cut, the Vikings would still save $9 million against the cap with a dead cap hit of only $5.1 million. That would be a substantial help in, once again, getting the team out of a bad spot with the salary cap.
Cook has been a stalwart for the Minnesota offense but, as the roster starts to get turned over, it doesn’t behoove the franchise to be paying a running back what they were, which will ultimately lead to his departure in the coming weeks.