Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has multiple cap casualty candidates to keep salary cap in great health

The Minnesota Vikings are well into their offseason mode trying to improve on their roster going into 2025. It's not going to be easy to duplicate the regular season success where the Vikings went 14-3 and dominated some really good teams in the process. There will be a lot of new faces on the 2025 […]

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Minnesota Vikings center Garrett Bradbury (56) protects his quarterback during a play against the Detroit Lions defense at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024.
David Rodriguez Munoz / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Minnesota Vikings are well into their offseason mode trying to improve on their roster going into 2025.

It's not going to be easy to duplicate the regular season success where the Vikings went 14-3 and dominated some really good teams in the process. There will be a lot of new faces on the 2025 squad, especially with approximately $70 million in cap space. 

The Vikings can get even more cap space by restructuring some contracts and releasing players to shed some cap space. Because general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has done a great job fixing the salary cap, there aren't many cut candidates, and, ironically enough, they all specialize in blocking.

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Minnesota Vikings cap casualty candidates

The interesting thing here is the interior offensive line. We don't know how Adofo-Mensah will try and improve the unit and he raised more questions about that during his season-ending press conference.

"I think having studied it, I would agree with what he said. What I would say is though, I think a lot of times everybody hears that and thinks the answer is kind of simple. And the answer can come from different ways. It can come from a different player. It could come from a player year over year improving. It could come from how we do things from a pass protection standpoint. Those two games revealed some issues in there that were tougher to overcome. How do you overcome them? And that's what's beautiful about football. It's this complex sport. If you want to run the football, there's a lot of ways to do it. You could maybe get better at receiver and make them play you a certain way. We’ll approach this off-season trying to fix the team with that creativity, that mindset in place. We'll collaborate with Kevin, but yeah, we want to be in a place where we're still playing football. And to win these last games, any potential places where teams can attack, you've got to be ready for, not just from your starting lineup, but from your two deep. And so we want to set ourselves up to be in that position and going from there."

We really don't know how that issue will be addressed. That type of ambiguity raises a lot of questions, which is one of the reasons that all three opening day starters on the interior ended up on the list.

RG Ed Ingram

  • 2025 Cap Hit: $3,710,541
  • Cap Savings: $3,325,000
  • Dead Cap: $385, 541

The Vikings selected Ingram at 59th overall in the 2022 NFL Draft, the second of their two second-round picks in that draft. Due to the state of the roster at the time and his performance in the preseason, Ingram started in week one of his rookie season and continued to start every game he was on the active roster until week 11 of the 2024 season. 

At that point, Dalton Risner replaced him and he didn't play another offensive snap. Will Ingram improve enough for the Vikings to give him another year on the roster and potentially earn a starting job? That's yet to be seen right now, but it's more likely now with how poorly the interior played at the end of the year without Ingram than it would have been if he didn't play. Cutting him during final cuts before that $3.325 million gets fully guaranteed would be the likely situation.

FB C.J. Ham

  • 2025 Cap Hit: $3,416,668
  • Cap Savings: $2,650,000
  • Dead Cap: $766,668

Ham is one of the more interesting players when it comes to the salary cap. The Vikings don't use him much as a fullback, but he's a great special teams player and a captain as well. Does all of that warrant a large cap hit?

The Vikings believed it was this past offseason when they gave him a two-year extension. However, the guaranteed money has expired on his contract, making him expendable if the Vikings so choose.

TE Josh Oliver

  • 2025 Cap Hit: $9,424,000
  • Cap Savings: $5,152,000
  • Dead Cap: $4,272,000

This is a very interesting one. Oliver was the first signing the Vikings made in the 2023 free-agency period. It felt like an odd one, but Adofo-Mensah saw the tight end market as inefficient, as number two wide receivers were getting upward of $16 million in the free agency market.

Oliver hasn't done a lot in terms of catching passes, but he's been a reliable target when asked to be. His real value is blocking, as the Vikings can often trust him to be an extra tackle on the field. Oliver would more likely be an extension candidate to lower his cap hit than a cut candidate, but it's possible.

LG Blake Brandel

  • 2025 Cap Hit: $3,916,666
  • Cap Savings: $2,583,332
  • Dead Cap: $1,,333,334

Brandel is a very interesting one. He signed a three-year, $9.5 million contract last offseason with the prevailing thought was he would be a backup for the Vikings. Surprising everyone, Brandel was the starter going into training camp and he played really well. That is, until Christian Darrisaw got injured.

Brandel struggled without Darrisaw next to him, as Cam Robinson struggled in allowing rushers to beat him to the inside constantly. Even if the Vikings don't want to have Brandel be a starter next season, he's a very quality player to have on your team as a backup who can play four positions.

C Garrett Bradbury

  • 2025 Cap Hit: $6,064,000
  • Cap Savings: $3,622,000
  • Dead Cap: $2,442,000

This one will create some controversy, but it's not going to be because Bradbury is good. He struggled this year when pass blocking, but was still solid as a run blocker. In totality, Bradbury is a solid player, especially when you consider his contract.

Bradbury signed a three-year, $15.75 million contract ahead of the 2023 season and he's played solid football. Bradbury is never going to be the elite player that the Vikings thought they were getting when they took him in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He struggled as a pass protector against anyone with power and that hasn't stopped through six seasons.

Honestly, the Vikings shouldn't make a change at center. They probably won't find a better option and Bradbury is much better with better guards next to him. Move on from him once you know you'll have a better option in tow. Until then, he's a solid value at his cap hit.

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