Minnesota Vikings restructure key offensive player to create salary cap space, and it’s not happening how you think
The Minnesota Vikings will have T.J. Hockenson on the roster next season.
The Minnesota Vikings needed to make a significant amount of moves to get under the salary cap. Heading into the weekend, they either performed a restructure, or reports surfaced they would be cutting players.
- Restructured WR Justin Jefferson: $17 million in approximate savings
- Restructured LT Christian Darrisaw: $9.9 in approximate savings
- Restructured CB Byron Murphy Jr.: $11.2 in approximate savings
- Cutting DT Javon Hargrave: $10,497,500, an extra $4 million if traded
- Cutting DT Jonathan Allen: $6.5 million, an extra $8 million if traded
- Cutting RB Aaron Jones: $7.75 million, extra $2 million if traded
- C Ryan Kelly retired: $8,347,647 in savings
Minnesota Vikings perform restructure of T.J. Hockenson’s contract
Earlier on Saturday, I wrote about how tight end T.J. Hockenson taking a paycut could help both the team and player. Hours later, reports surfaced that Hockenson and the team agreed to a restructured contract that would save $5 million in salary cap space.
Here is where things get interesting. The Vikings saving $5 million in salary cap space is a big deal, and they are now likely to be around $30 million under the salary cap going into free agency. However, the wording of the reporting is key here.
Usually with a simple restructure, it’s framed as the team restructured the contract of a player, since they don’t have to agree to anything. They just get their money faster. Look at how NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero framed the restructures of both Jefferson and Darrisaw on Friday.
There isn’t anything saying that Jefferson or Darrisaw agreed to it, because they don’t have to. That’s why the reporting of Hockenson’s “restructure” is so interesting. It’s way more likely that it’s just a paycut rather than converting base salary to a signing bonus.
In my earlier piece, I believed that a paycut of about $6 million would accomplish Hockenson maximizing his cash flow, as a team wouldn’t be likely to pay him more than that on the free agent market.
The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling believes that to be the case as well.
Hockenson taking a pay cut is the best-case scenario for both sides, as the Vikings can’t afford to take a big hit at tight end, while Hockenson still makes a lot of money that he wouldn’t be making if he left the team.
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