When I first began working for the Vikings, March was a relatively quiet month. The Combine had wrapped up, Pro Days were beginning, and draft prep was the focus. But there was no free agency or salary cap yet, and contract signings generally occurred in July before training camp.
Things certainly changed for me and other GMs/team execs in the 1990s with free agency and the cap entering the NFL world.
Next Monday begins the official free-agent negotiating period, with signings able to be formalized as of next Wednesday.
Former Vikings GM Identifies 3 Things to Watch as Free Agency Opens
Here are the things I’ll be watching over the next few weeks that should be top priority for the 2026 Vikings:
1. Cap Restructures
While new player signings are of more interest to Vikings fans, first on the agenda is for the team to clear about $70 million of salary cap room to first get under the cap (they’re approximately $44 million over as of March 3) and then have enough room to sign their own and outside free agents or acquire key players via trade.
The Dallas Cowboys just restructured the contracts of Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, and Tyler Smith to clear $66 million in cap space. Look for the Vikings to similarly convert base salary into signing bonus on several players, thereby restructuring their deals and starting with Justin Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw to clear about $25 million between them.
The Vikings have said they will release or trade (which is unlikely) Aaron Jones and Javon Hargrave, which will save $18.65 million in cap space. I think Ryan Kelly will also be released due to his concussion issues, which will save $8.35 million. That would put them about $9-10 million under the cap at the start of the new league year on Wednesday.
To then do significant business in free agency, I see the team negotiating several more restructures from a group that could include Will Fries, Andrew Van Ginkel and Jonathan Allen (reworking those three deals could save about $24 million) along with Brian O’Neill’s current $23.1 million cap hit for 2026 can be reduced via an extension as he enters the last year of his contract.
T.J. Hockenson’s contract could also be restructured, but I don’t see him being released as some have suggested (he needs to be better utilized by McCarthy or a new QB).
Voila! After these moves, the Vikings will have the cap room needed to perhaps re-sign their top free agents — WR Jalen Nailor and LB Eric Wilson along with punter/holder Ryan Wright — and add new talented players via free agency or trades along with utilizing the 2026 draft on April 23-25 as an essential vehicle to add immediate help via a starter or two and improving the roster with more quality depth players who have been missing from recent drafts.
2. The QB Spot
The new veteran QB: With the Cardinals informing two-time Pro Bowler Kyler Murray he’ll be released unless traded (very unlikely at his salary), that adds another intriguing possibility to the available list of vet QBs.
I still see Kirk Cousins as the most likely addition, but Murray could be a cheaper acquisition if he does a Russell Wilson-type deal (from when Wilson was cut by Denver and signed with Pittsburgh for the league veteran minimum of $1.21 million in 2024, as the Broncos paid him the guaranteed $37.8 million on his previous contract).
For Murray, he has $36.8 million guaranteed from the Cardinals for 2026, so the Vikings could get him for less than it would likely cost for Cousins, who has $12.1 million guaranteed for this year from Atlanta, and the Vikings would likely have to pony up a lot more for him. They may be willing to do it for a player like Cousins, who knows their system well and may be a better fit in the QB room with McCarthy than Murray if McCarthy wins the starting job. Murray also has a more extensive injury history than Cousins.
Daniel Jones was hit with the transition tag by the Colts, which comes with a one-year tender for 37.833 million, so he’s a lot more costly than Murray or Cousins, and the Colts can match another team’s offer.
Other QB options include Malik Willis, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Jimmy Garoppolo, Russell Wilson, and Marcus Mariota as free agents, and Mac Jones, Anthony Richardson, and Derek Carr on the trade market. Tua Tagovailoa could also hit the open market with $54 million guaranteed by Miami, so he is another option on a Wilson-type minimum salary deal, but his injury history is a big concern.
3. Tyler Linderbaum
Will the Vikings make a strong push to sign the top free agent center?
I think they definitely should make a big effort to sign him. The Ravens did not put the $25.8 million franchise tag or $23.4 million transition tag on their three-time Pro Bowl center.
The league’s highest-paid center is Kansas City’s Creed Humphrey at $18 million per year, and the Chiefs’ Trey Smith is the highest-paid guard ($23.5 million per year). Linderbaum is rumored to be seeking $25 million per year. With a sizable signing bonus, his first-year cap number could come in at around $7 million, and he would bring a proven, soon-to-be 26-year-old to anchor the O-line.
He was Baltimore’s first-round pick in 2022, who the Vikings could’ve selected if they hadn’t made the mistake of trading so far down from No. 12 to No. 32 in that draft (Linderbaum was picked at No. 25).
Linderbaum is an Iowa native who played for the Hawkeyes. Seems like a nice story with a homecoming of sorts if he were to sign with the Vikings close to his home state.
But the Vikings will be competing with the Ravens, who want him back, and likely the Giants (where Lindenbaum’s former coach, John Harbaugh, now resides), Chargers, and the Bears, who surely have joined the list of highly interested teams after their Pro Bowl center, Drew Dalman, surprisingly retired this week at only 27 years old. And Chicago is one hour closer than the Twin Cities by car from Lindenbaum’s hometown of Solon.
Other target areas in free agency for the Vikings should include cornerback, where they need a new third corner after Jeff Okudah didn’t pan out and safety, whether Harrison Smith returns or not (and I’m on record as saying he should keep playing after a strong finish last season, and I’m not sold on Josh Metellus or Theo Jackson as starters).
The draft is sure to be a source of additions in the secondary and possibly at center if the Vikings don’t land a quality free agent. And with Jones’ expected departure, the Vikings need to find a quality running back in the draft or free agency, and that back should be explosive and a dual threat as a runner and receiver to pair with Jordan Mason.
Around the NFL observations heading into free agency
1. On the Dalman retirement: if the Bears don’t land one of the top free agent centers and Dalman doesn’t reconsider, his unexpected departure could have a similar effect as Frank Ragnow’s retirement in Detroit last year, which significantly weakened the Lions’ offensive line.
2. There were a few surprises among franchise and transition tag decisions. The Colts saved about $6 million by placing the transition tag on Jones instead of the franchise tag, and I think they’ll keep him as he comes off his late-season torn Achilles.
The team probably wants to see one more season of high production while staying healthy before they commit to a long-term deal in the $50 million-per-year range, but the Colts are tight against the cap and may do the long-term deal to lower Jones’ cap hit. That may enable them to re-sign their top serious receiving threat, Alec Pierce.
It seems like a mistake that the Seahawks passed on franchising Kenneth Walker III, their Super Bowl MVP running back, at the relatively affordable cost of $14.3 million (or putting the transition tag on at $11.3 million), especially with No. 2 back Zach Charbonnet coming off a torn ACL sustained in the divisional playoff round.
Other players hit with the franchise tag were Cowboys WR George Pickens, Jets RB Breece Hall, and Falcons TE Kyle Pitts. All those moves were logical, and the Pickens move may hurt the Vikings’ efforts to re-sign Nailor as he moves up in the wide receiver free agent pecking order.
The Bengals did not tag Trey Hendrickson and will be a prime target for any team looking for a pass rusher, even at 31 years old, as he comes off a down season with only four sacks due to a pelvis/hip injury. He did lead the NFL in sacks with 17.5 in 2024.
3. In another surprise pre-free agency move, Kansas City traded two-time All-Pro corner Trent McDuffie to the Rams. Kansas City got a good return in the trade as they will receive four picks from L.A.—a first-rounder (No. 29) plus fifth and sixth-round picks this year and a third-rounder in 2027. But I like the move for the Rams, who get a top corner, and they needed corner help.
We’ll see if the Chiefs try hard to retain their other starting corner, who is headed to free agency—Jaylen Watson. He would come cheaper than McDuffie on a second contract, but the Chiefs obviously prefer not to invest in top corners, as they traded L’Jarius Sneed to Tennessee in 2024 rather than paying him big money, and now McDuffie is gone.
McDuffie is due to earn $13.6 million on his fifth-year option as a 2022 first-round pick (another star player the Vikings could’ve picked in that draft) but the Rams most likely will give him a lucrative extension after trading so many picks for him and since McDuffie is happy to be back in his hometown, he’ll almost certainly agree to a new deal.
