{"id":84775,"date":"2024-01-25T07:13:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T07:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=84775"},"modified":"2024-01-25T07:13:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T07:13:46","slug":"vikings-predicted-to-part-with-6-time-pro-bowler-if-he-declines-pay-cut-kieu-linh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/vikings-predicted-to-part-with-6-time-pro-bowler-if-he-declines-pay-cut-kieu-linh\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings Predicted to Part With 6-Time Pro Bowler if He Declines Pay Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0stars are either headed to the market or face the chopping block with free agency less than two months away.<\/p>\n

\"Kwesi<\/p>\n

One such player is safety\u00a0Harrison Smith, who turns 35 years old in February. The 12-year NFL veteran and\u00a0six-time Pro Bowler\u00a0reworked his deal to remain with Minnesota in 2023, and\u00a0Alec Lewis of The Athletic\u00a0contended Tuesday, January 29, that Smith will likely need to do so again to avoid an offseason cut.<\/p>\n

Even if Smith returns for his 13th\u00a0NFL\u00a0season, don\u2019t expect him to be playing on his projected cap hit of around\u00a0$19.2 million. That number would be the fifth largest among safeties in 2024. Even though defensive coordinator\u00a0Brian Flores\u00a0raved about Smith\u2019s presence at the end of the season, that cap hit does not align with Smith\u2019s production.<\/p>\n

Last offseason, Smith accepted a significant pay cut to remain in Minnesota. A similar approach makes sense in the event Smith seeks another season, and that could save the Vikings upwards of $10 million [in] cap space for 2024.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Harrison Smith Among Vikings\u2019 Most Likely Salary Cap Casualties<\/h2>\n

\"Harrison<\/h2>\n

Smith still has two years remaining on a\u00a0$64 million extension, which makes him a favorable cut candidate for the Vikings if he isn\u2019t willing to take less money in 2024.\u00a0Such was the premise of a January 16 article from Bleacher Report, which named Smith the franchise\u2019s most likely cap casualty.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if Smith decides to keep playing, the Vikings may look to get younger and cheaper at the position,\u201d\u00a0BR\u2019s Scouting Department wrote. \u201cIf Smith wants to keep playing for Minnesota, a contract restructuring may be necessary. Releasing Smith outright would save $11.4 million off the salary cap, while releasing him with a post-June 1 designation would save\u00a0$15.3 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minnesota currently has more than\u00a0$29 million\u00a0in salary cap space, which isn\u2019t an insignificant amount. However, increasing that figure by more than 50% by cutting Smith \u2014 who is about to be closer to age 40 than age 30 \u2014 would be a boon for a franchise that must soon navigate the impending free agency of its starting QB (Kirk Cousins) and top edge-rusher (Danielle Hunter).<\/p>\n

Vikings Face Devastating Financial Hits if They Don\u2019t Extend Kirk Cousins, Danielle Hunter<\/h2>\n

\"Kirk<\/h2>\n

If the Vikings allow both Cousins\u2019 and Hunter\u2019s contracts to void, the team will incur a projected $43.4 million combined cap hit in 2024 \u2014\u00a0$28.5 million\u00a0from Cousins and\u00a0$14.9 million from Hunter.<\/p>\n

Extending either Cousins or Hunter would erase that man\u2019s devastating dead cap hit, allowing the Vikings to avoid financial handcuffs without the benefit of keeping the player(s) costing the franchise that money. A new contract for either player, or both, will be far more feasible if Minnesota has the extra $15 million it can pocket by cutting ties with Smith this summer.<\/p>\n

Another out for the Vikings is if Smith simply decides to retire. Doing so would mean leaving a lot of money on the table, but the safety recently indicated that outcome might be a possibility as he battles the rigors of a long NFL career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to have the ability to play and not have a desire to play,\u201d\u00a0Smith told Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune\u00a0on January 8. \u201cWhatever that gives you, I\u2019m not trying to be ominous or anything. Right now my shoulder hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several\u00a0Minnesota Vikings\u00a0stars are either headed to the market or face the chopping block with free agency less than two months away. One such player is safety\u00a0Harrison Smith,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}