Vikings will need to clear salary cap space to sign rookies

Minnesota currently has $1.682 million in salary cap space, according to NFLPA data, and would need about $2.78 million, in total, to sign its draft class. That means the Vikings need to clear about $1.1 million in space before they can get their entire draft class signed (though in reality, the Vikings will likely need more than that for a couple reasons we’ll get into later).

So it’s reasonable to assume the Vikings will be looking to clear around $3-5 million in cap space, through various means, between now and the start of the regular season. Speculation this week has centered on tight end Kyle Rudolph, with several reports over the weekend that the Vikings had received trade inquiries about the 29-year-old (as well as cornerbacks Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes). Rudolph told the Star Tribune on Friday night it was “awesome” the team had drafted Smith, and the Vikings have said both players can have a role in their 2019 offense, due to the differences in their games.

A move affecting Rudolph’s status might be among the more obvious possibilities for the Vikings, but it’s certainly not the only one. In any case, the team has some financial rearranging to do to sign its draft class, as General Manager Rick Spielman alluded to last week.
“Once Rob gets out of cap jail he’ll come out and figure it out,” Spielman deadpanned. “We have a plan. Like I said, we’ve planned this process all the way out. This is not something that we’re just shooting at the hip. There’s a method and there’s a plan in place from a budgetary standpoint from what we need to do and how we need to get there.”

http://www.startribune.com/vikings-will-need-to-clear-salary-cap-space-to-sign-rookies/509328481/