With the Minnesota Vikings roster and their salary cap situation in question, here are three players possibly not worth committing to long term.
With the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl taking place in the NFL in the upcoming weeks, the offseason and looking forward to the upcoming 2020 campaign are underway for the Minnesota Vikings and other teams around the league.
Although they will have a total of eight players taking part in the Pro Bowl this weekend, the Vikings will be one of the 28 teams that will be watching the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers battle in the Super Bowl from home in a few weeks following their exit in the second round of the postseason a couple of weeks ago.
Minnesota ended up reaching the playoffs this season after failing to do so the year prior, obtaining the sixth seed and the second Wild Card spot in the NFC.
The Vikings were able to make it out of the Wild Card Round of the postseason following an upset victory over the New Orleans Saints on the road, only to fall in the Division Round of the playoffs to the top-seeded 49ers in Santa Clara.
Minnesota wrapped up the 2019 campaign by tallying a regular-season record of 10-6, recording double-digit victories for the first time since the 2017 campaign when it finished the year at 13-3 while making it as far as the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Along with grabbing 10 wins on the year, the Vikings finished in second place in the NFC North standings behind only the Green Bay Packers (13-3 overall), while sitting ahead of the Chicago Bears (8-8) and Detroit Lions (3-12-1) within the division.
On Tuesday, the NFL announced that a total of eight Minnesota players will end up taking part in the annual Pro Bowl game this weekend prior to the Super Bowl the following week. That list will include Vikings fullback C.J. Ham, quarterback Kirk Cousins, linebacker Eric Kendricks, defensive end Everson Griffen, cornerback Xavier Rhodes defensive end Danielle Hunter, safety Harrison Smith and running back Dalvin Cook.
Although there will be eight Vikings players that will take the field one more time this season, Minnesota’s front office is starting to prepare for the 2020 campaign, looking ahead to how it can improve the team moving into the upcoming season.
The offseason will be full of decisions within both the player personnel and the coaching staff for the Vikings, and they will have some big decisions to make before the new year can begin.
With those big decisions to take place throughout the offseason, let’s take a look at three players that Minnesota could consider not committing to long term either in the 2020 season or beyond.