Going into the offseason, the Minnesota Vikings knew they had a lot of different things to take care of to set themselves up for the future. The 2025 season is going to look significantly different than 2024 due to the amount of free agents that the Vikings have

Before the beginning of free agency, the Vikings could be looking at securing some of their own free agents. It starts with quarterback Sam Darnold, cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., and safety Camryn Bynum. However, it’s Darnold that is going to be the biggest catalyst.

Void years could hinder Vikings from bringing back Sam Darnold

The Vikings have a really interesting element with their free agency class. They have some big contracts that will void on February 17th.

• CB Stephon Gilmore
• RB Aaron Jones
• QB Sam Darnold
• CB Byron Murphy Jr.

When those contracts void, the prorated money on the salary cap will immediately accelerate to the 2025 salary cap, something that could be a hindrance for the Vikings in bringing back players.

Another intriguing element to this discussion is that the base salary on the void years will impact how much the Vikings can offer those players on a deal before the beginning of the new league year. Eric Eager, who is now with the Carolina Panthers, wrote an article for Sumer Sports about the cap that void years have in terms of extensions, something that was present with Kirk Cousins last year.

Some of the prorated bonuses ($6.25 million in 2023, 2024, and 2025) were left over from the 2022 extension of Cousins, while the remaining $4 million per year was from the 2023 restructure. All that void year money ($28.5 million) is set to count against Minnesota’s cap in 2024 unless Cousins were to sign another extension to stay in Minnesota, in which case they would simply tack onto a new deal’s cap hits in their respective years.

But there is a catch. Those base salaries in 2024-2027, which are effectively dummy numbers that will never be paid, set a cap for a possible future extension. Per the CBA, a player cannot sign a new deal that includes a raise within a year of signing another deal. Cousins’ new deal is, on paper, a 5-year, $200-million deal ($40 million APY), with a $20 million signing bonus (and $180 million in paragraph 5 base salaries), a mark that cannot be exceeded should he sign a deal to remain in Minnesota before the 2024 league year. Given the current market for starting-caliber quarterbacks in the NFL, this would seem to imply that Cousins is going to take a below-market deal or test the market in 2024. 

This is a huge deal, especially when it comes to giving players an extension. Darnold’s void year is worth $30 million in base salary per Over The Cap, which gives him a two-year, $40 million contract that wsa signed at the beginning of free agency in 2024. Giving him a contract of $20 million/year after the year that he had just isn’t plausible and it will make him more likely to sign with another team.

However, if they wait until the new league year begins, they can sign him to whatever contract they want. The same goes for Jones and Gilmore, who have $10 million salary on their void years, meaning they will also be limited in how much they offer in a contract. It is worth mentioning that I have yet to find anything that says the Vikings cannot franchise tag those players.

There are ways to maneuver around this, but it complicates the process in which the Vikings can re-sign their players if they even want to.