5 moves Vikings must make to clear salary cap space in 2026 NFL offseason

The Minnesota Vikings took a big step back in 2025. They finished 9-8 and missed the playoffs just one year after going 14-3 and almost capturing the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Now the Vikings should feel a sense of urgency to make some moves to improve the roster this offseason.

Unfortunately, that could be difficult if the team is on a tight budget.

The Vikings are currently in a tricky situation with their salary cap. Minnesota is $43.21 million over the 2026 salary cap heading into the offseason.

That leaves the Vikings with a lot of work to do just to become compliant with the salary cap. They would need to go even further to create enough budget to add new players this offseason.

But if Minnesota makes the right series of moves, they can free up plenty of cap space. In fact, there’s a path to Minnesota shedding almost $62 million in cap space pretty quickly to start the new league year.

Which roster moves would the Vikings need to make to save that much money?

Below we will explore five roster moves the Vikings need to make this offseason to clear up salary cap space.

Vikings should trade Brian O’Neill for whatever they can get

Let’s start with arguably the most controversial move on this list.

I have the Vikings trading away right tackle Brian O’Neill. Obviously, the main objective here is to create salary cap space. This move would certainly do that.

Trading O’Neill would save $19.41 million of salary cap space for the Vikings. He is on the final year of his current contract, so there are no implications for future seasons.

This would be a tough move by Minnesota because O’Neill is a great right tackle. He is an excellent run blocker and holds up well in pass protection. In fact, PFF has the 2025 season as O’Neill’s best in his entire career.

Personally, I think keeping O’Neill only makes sense if Minnesota thinks they can make a deep playoff run in 2026. No offense, but that seems incredibly unlikely after how the Vikings looked last season.

It is interesting to consider what Minnesota could get back in a trade for O’Neill considering his mixture of age, contract, and elite play.

The Vikings should be happy getting a draft pick or two, plus the salary cap savings, for O’Neill.

Minnesota can free up cap space by restructure Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw contracts

The Vikings should also explore restructuring a few contracts to free up salary cap space in 2026.

How exactly does that work?

NFL teams routinely save salary cap space by converting a portion of a player’s salary into a signing bonus. One reason why this tactic is popular is because, according to the CBA, teams can do this immediately without consulting a player.

In the end, a player still receives the same amount of money either way. But restructuring allows a team to shuffle around when those dollars get paid out. And more importantly, how it is calculated for salary cap purposes.

When an NFL player receives a signing bonus, it is spread out evenly over the remaining years of the contract. So if a player signs a four-year contract that includes a $20 million signing bonus, that bonus will only count $5 million against the salary cap in each season.

Now, back to the Vikings.

I picked Jefferson and Darrisaw because both players are on long-term contracts. Also because I just cannot see the Vikings parting with either player.

Using the method described above, the Vikings could create almost $20 million in cap space by doing a complete restructure of Jefferson’s deal. For our purposes, let’s make that have that restructure create $18.4 million in 2026.

Darrisaw’s base salary is not too large in 2026, so restructuring is less effective with his contract. But the Vikings could still save an additional $8 million in cap space using the same method.

Ryan Kelly, Aaron Jones could end up being cap casualties 

There’s also the most straightforward method of all, cutting players.

Minnesota could get by without these two offensive veterans. They could also save a lot of cap space by cutting both of them.

Both players are in the final year of their current contracts and nearing the end of their professional careers. In my eyes, that makes them the perfect cut candidates.

The Vikings could survive without Jones because they already have Jordan Mason on the roster. The 27-year-old back gave Minnesota some incredible consistency on offense in 2025. He earned the right to more touches next season.

If the Vikings do not want Mason as a bell cow back, they can always add a youngster in the late rounds of the draft.

Plus, Minnesota can save $7.75 million by cutting Jones.

Meanwhile, Kelly played his first season in Minnesota in 2025 after spending his career in Indianapolis. Kelly only played in eight games but he played at an elite level.

The elephant in the room with Kelly is his recent spat of concussions during the 2025 season. Kelly suffered a whopping three concussions during the 2025 season, ending the season on injured reserve. That series of injuries would put any player’s career in doubt.

Minnesota could save $8.38 million by releasing Kelly. Meanwhile, the Vikings could still get some cap relief if Kelly retires by not having to pay his $7.89 million base salary.

Either way, I expect that Kelly has played his last snap with the Vikings.

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