Top predicted cap casualties: Who Vikings might cut to free up space in free agency

The Minnesota Vikings were one of the biggest (and most entertaining) surprises of the 2024 NFL campaign, going 14-3 in the regular season.

Those 14 victories, of course, were only good enough for a second-place finish in the NFC North, as Kevin O'Connell & Co. lost a winner-take-all battle in Week 18 against the Detroit Lions, who took both the division and the No. 1 seed in the conference at 15-2.

As such, the fifth-seeded Vikings were forced to go on the road for the Wild Card Round and suffered a humiliating 27-9 defeat to the NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams.

Minnesota is now set for an interesting offseason that will see players who took 45% of the team's snaps on offense and defense hit the open market as unrestricted free agents. That's easily the highest percentage in the NFL, by the way.

The good news is that GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has plenty of money to spend — Spotrac estimates roughly $61.534 million — to keep some of these key contributors wearing purple and gold while perhaps also bolstering the roster with some outside help.

The Vikings could create even more salary cap space by restructuring a few contracts and could also take things further by cutting several players. In regards to the latter, these five are seemingly the prime candidates.

*You'll see below that we've included figures for both pre-June 1 and post-June 1 cuts. When a player is released or designated to be released after June 1, any remaining dead cap money on the contract can be split between the current year and the year after. Dead cap money directly associated with the current year plus all future guaranteed salary remains as current-year dead cap, while the remaining future year dead cap is allocated to the following season.

Josh Oliver, TE

• 2025 Cap Hit: $9,424,000
• 2025 Dead Cap (Before June 1): $4,272,000
• 2025 Savings (Before June 1): $5,152,000
• 2025 Dead Cap (After June 1): $1,424,000; 2026 Dead Cap: $2,848,000
• 2025 Savings (After June 1): $8,000,000

Tight end Josh Oliver, who's currently set to suit up for the final season of the three-year, $21 million deal he signed in 2023, is seen by many as the most likely high-salary candidate to get cut by the Vikings.

While Oliver is easily one of the best blocking tight ends in the league, paying $9.424 million for a player who only took 49.4% of the team's offensive snaps and caught just 22 passes for 258 yards isn't very cost-effective.

Sure, the Vikings will take a decent-sized dead cap hit here, but at the very least, they can save $5.152 million.

Garrett Bradbury, C

• 2025 Cap Hit: $6,064,000
• 2025 Dead Cap(Before June 1): $2,442,000
• 2025 Savings (Before June 1): $3,622,000
• 2025 Dead Cap (After June 1): $814,000; 2026 Dead Cap: $1,628,000
• 2025 Savings (After June 1): $5,250,000

It's no secret that the interior offensive line was one of the most significant weaknesses for Minnesota this past season, and that weakness was on full display in the Wild Card Round, as the Rams racked up nine sacks on Sam Darnold.

Center Garrett Bradbury may not be the weakest link of that unit as a whole, but he's certainly not its strongest, either. And that's not what you want from a first-round pick after six seasons.

To his credit, Bradbury is a solid run blocker. But the same can't be said about his pass blocking. And as Minnesota is more of a passing team, which will continue to be the case whether Darnold or J.J. McCarthy is under center, he's just become too much of a liability.

Ed Ingram, G

• 2025 Cap Hit: $3,385,542
• 2025 Dead Cap (Before June 1): $385,542
• 2025 Savings (Before June 1): $3,000,000
• 2025 Dead Cap (After June 1): $385,542; 2026 Dead Cap: $0
• 2025 Savings (After June 1): $3,000,000

Sticking with the offensive line, we come to right guard Ed Ingram, who lost his starting job to Dalton Risner ahead of the Vikings' Week 10 matchup with the Indianapolis Colts and didn't play a single offensive snap the rest of the year.

With Ingram having a dead cap hit of only $385,542, this is an easy call.

C.J. Ham, FB

• 2025 Cap Hit: $3,416,667
• 2025 Dead Cap (Before June 1): $766,667
• 2025 Savings (Before June 1): $2,650,000
• 2025 Dead Cap (After June 1): $766,667; 2026 Dead Cap: $0
• 2025 Savings (After June 1): $2,650,000

While C.J. Ham is technically listed as a fullback, he isn't used often by the Vikings in that capacity and took just 23.46% of their offensive snaps during the 2024 regular season.

Ham is used quite a bit on special teams, taking 62.67% of such snaps. But is a guy who made four total tackles really worth $3.416 million? Probably not.

Brian Asamoah, LB

• 2025 Cap Hit: $1,745,816
• 2025 Dead Cap (Before June 1): $292,609
• 2025 Savings (Before June 1): $1,453,207
• 2025 Dead Cap (After June 1): $292,609; 2026 Dead Cap: $0
• 2025 Savings (After June 1): $1,453,207

Like many members of Minnesota's 2022 draft class, third-round pick Brian Asamoah just didn't pan out.

Listed as a linebacker, Asamoah took only 33 defensive snaps this past season. Like Ham, he was a big part of the special teams unit, taking 71.33% of the snaps.

He's got the lowest cap hit of any player on this list at just over $1.745 million, but he could still easily get kicked to the curb, especially with his dead cap hit being less than $300,000, which the Vikings could easily absorb at this point.