Minnesota Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley has a lot of interesting decisions on his plate in trying to build up the infrastructure of the roster. The two biggest ones currently are wide receiver Jordan Addison and right tackle Brian O’Neill.

Negotiating contracts isn’t the easiest thing to do in the world, especially with a multitude of factors at play. Both parties need to come to an agreement, and with new contract extensions happening regularly, that makes it a little more difficult.

To get some outside perspective on the discussion, I spoke with fellow A to Z Sports writer Kyle Crabbs for a mock negotiation.

Minnesota Vikings have difficult conversations ahead regarding Jordan Addison

If I’m new Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley and EVP of Football Operations Rob Brzezinski, I’m swearing the Green Bay Packers up and down for their Christian Watson contract from earlier this offseason. It probably does set a logical floor to the conversation that’s north of $23M annual average for Addison after that’s where Watson and Green Bay landed on a four-year extension this summer. The case to hedge lower for Addison and “protecting the franchise” against risk sits in his notable off-field pattern. But Watson comes with his own fair share of risk due to durability concerns, so Addison’s camp is going to have fair game to put the conversation at and above that number.

Building our offer is going to revolve around annual average salary as a percentage of the cap. This figure can give us era-adjusted valuations amid a rapidly rising salary cap and a frantic explosion of wide receiver salaries. Names we’re willing to invoke in the conversation alongside Addison as some of his comparable peers:

• Detroit’s Jameson Williams
• Philadelphia’s DeVonta Smith
• Watson

The annual average salary as a percentage of salary cap for those three players is 9.55%, 9.79%, and 7.64%. If the Addison camp makes the mistake of referencing the Tee Higgins camp, we’ll gladly take the historical precedent set with that deal. It gave Higgins an artificially high annual average salary on the surface, but only $40.9M in practical guarantees and $30M guaranteed at signing out of a possible $115 million total. Williams got $66.5M in practical guarantees on a deal that averaged more than $2M less per season.

We’re going to push as hard as possible to hold him to an annual average salary as a percentage of cap at or below 9%, which, against a $301.2M salary cap, would be $27.1M per season. If Addison wants more than that, it’s going to come with an exceptionally short runway of guaranteed at signing money. But going above 9% AAV as a percentage of cap, with where things stand with Addison right now, is going to be a tough pill to swallow because he doesn’t come without some risk and we don’t know what our long-term economic situation at quarterback looks like, either.

Jordan Addison’s extension feels relatively set

Hearing that from Crabbs helps solidify my projection from May: three years, $82.5 million, with $34 million fully guaranteed.

Year	Base Salary	Prorated Signing Bonus	Per Game Roster Bonus	Workout Bonus	Guaranteed Salary	Cap Number
2026	$1,215,000	$4,746,679	$0	$0	$1,125,000	$5,961,679
2027	$10,507,510	$3,000,000	$750,000	$100,000	$11,357,150	$14,357,510
2028	$22,000,000	$3,000,000	$750,000	$100,000	$22,850,000	$25,850,000
2029	$25,000,000	$3,000,000	$750,000	$100,000	$15,647,510	$28,850,000
2030	$26,000,000	$3,000,000	$750,000	$100,000	$0	$29,850,000
2031	Void	$0	Void	Void	Void	$0
2032	Void	$0	Void	Void	Void	$0
2033	Void	$0	Void	Void	Void	$0
Total	$84,632,510	$16,749,679	$3,000,000	$400,000	$50,979,660	$104,869,189

That number is slightly over the 9% threshold that Crabbs mentioned, but it makes sense to go that direction. Addison getting this much would be a major investment and also projecting him to take the next step forward.

It’s not crazy to think about Addison taking the next step and elevating to a bona fide WR1. If he does that, $27.5 million would end up being a steal by the time he actually enters the extension in the 2028 season.

Will the Vikings make the move? Time will tell, but there are a lot of interesting elements to the conversation.