Vikings release of Adam Thielen could end up giving them a positive benefit thanks to smart structuring
Releasing Adam Thielen with a non-injury settlement designation could lead to a salary cap benefit.
The Minnesota Vikings surprised the world on Monday morning when they released veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen.
The move wasn’t one that the Vikings would have seen coming after trading for him right before the beginning of the season. They gave up fourth and fifth-round picks in exchange for Thielen and fifth and seventh-round picks. It was viewed as a hefty price for the 35-year old receiver, especially with the contract that he was coming to Minnesota with.
Now, both sides eventually agreed on a restructured contract, and that restructuring could end up helping the Vikings.
Vikings could benefit from the release of Adam Thielen
Normally, a team wouldn’t end up getting anything positive out of cutting a player with a $4 million cap hit before per-game roster bonuses, with a $1 million signing bonus and $3 million in base salary fully guaranteed.
When the NFL released the transaction wire, it wasn’t just a normal release, the Vikings released him with a non-injury settlement. What does that mean? Well, the Vikings could end up getting a reprieve on the salary cap.
The majority of settlements you’ll see are injury-related, where a player gets hurt in the preseason and the team agrees to pay them for a certain number of weeks until the injury is healed. At that point, the player isn’t allowed to sign with a team until that amount of time has elapsed.
With a non-injury settlement, it can mean several different things, including potential offset language that will allow the Vikings to recoup salary cap space. With five games to go, that number would be close to $1 million, and that will go a long way toward fixing the salary cap next year.
This might result in a quick resolution, like a team claiming his contract, or the settlement process could take weeks to finalize. However it works out, doing right by Thielen could give the Vikings a benefit.
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