National Football League

Vikings look to reset the cap ahead of 2022 season

Published Mar. 12, 2022 4:18 p.m. ET

The Minnesota Vikings are pressing the reset button with the arrival of new coach Kevin O’Connell.

After consecutive losing seasons in the lowly NFC North, NFL insider Jason LaCanfora reported that the Vikings hope to offload many of their bigger contracts this offseason — Minnesota currently sits $15 million over the cap.

And it’s hard to find a burlier contract than that of four-year quarterback Kirk Cousins, who LaCanfora reports might leave Minneapolis in the coming months.

Cousins inflicts a mammoth $45 million cap hit for the 2022 season, the third-highest of any NFL quarterback, and it’s difficult to justify his inclusion in that elite crop of quarterbacks.

The veteran gunslinger totaled well over 4,000 yards in 2021 but suffered from inaccuracy and finished with a pedestrian 52.3 quarterback rating, good for 15th in the league.

Minnesota has used the franchise tag to retain Cousins over the last two years, and the 33-year-old appears steadfast on his lofty salary.

Cousins dashed the Vikings’ dreams of a payout last week, with insider Chad Graff revealing the QB "isn’t going to offer any sort of hometown discount," and Cousins left the Commanders after a similar dispute in 2018.

With Minnesota tracking increasingly toward a rebuilding year in 2022, LaCanfora warns that many of the team’s highest earners also could be castaways this off-season.

Dalvin Cook is the highest-profile among LaCanfora’s rumored departures — Cook finished second with 1,557 rushing yards in 2020, leading the Vikings' offense to fourth in offensive efficiency before an injury-riddled, setback season last year.

Star receiver Adam Thielen, linebacker Eric Kendricks and defensive tackle Michael Pierce combine with Cousins and Cook to comprise five of the seven biggest cap hits on the Minnesota books, and all are rumored to leave U.S. Bank Stadium. Thielen has evolved into one of the NFL's best number two receivers, hauling in more than 1,600 yards and 25 touchdowns the last two seasons behind Justin Jefferson. Kendricks qualified for PFF's Mid-Season All-Pro team in 2021 and Pierce grades as one of the Vikings' best players with a PFF grade just under 80 on 2021.

The Vikings look set to lose a glut of talented, franchise players this offseason, and first-year GM Kwesi Adodo-Mensah's stated goal of a playoff team in 2022 may need some re-evaluation.