Yesterday, we took a look at how the Vikings are spending their money on offense. Today, we will hit the defensive side of the ball and special teams.
While the Vikings are among the league's biggest spenders on offense, they rank in the middle of the pack in defensive spending at $64.5 million. That is about $15 million less than what they are shelling out on offense, according to OverTheCap.com, a great resource for all NFL salary cap research.
One reason the Vikings aren't paying a premium on defensive players is that they have a number of quality young starters who are still on their rookie deals. That list includes safety Harrison Smith, defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and linebacker Anthony Barr.
Only one Vikings defender, defensive end Everson Griffen at $8.2 million, is among the team's seven biggest cap hits for this upcoming season.
Of course, this could potentially change soon with second contracts for those young players looming, starting with Smith potentially this summer. But in 2015, the Vikings could have a top-10 defense at a reasonable cost.
Defensive line ($27.72 million, 10th in the NFL): The Vikings invested in Griffen last offseason and he rewarded them with a dozen sacks and solid play against the run. Meanwhile, veteran defensive end Brian Robison, who recorded just 4.5 sacks in 2014, has a big hit at $5.65 million. Floyd should be a bargain at a $2.2 million against the cap and nose tackle Linval Joseph has a cap hit of $4.6 million, so that's pretty good value on the interior.
Linebackers ($13.59 million, 23rd): They freed up more than $3 million in cap space by restructuring Chad Greenway's deal (again). He now has a hit of $5.58 million. Beyond Greenway, they have a bunch of youngsters on rookie deals, including Barr, Gerald Hodges and now Eric Kendricks.
Cornerbacks ($18.66 million, 10th): The Vikings have cheap, young corners in Xavier Rhodes and 2015 top pick Trae Waynes. But their positional spending is inflated a little bit by veterans Captain Munnerlyn and Terence Newman. Munnerlyn has a $4.3 million cap hit, which is a little high for a third corner. Newman has a cap hit of $2.5 million, though only $750,000 of that is guaranteed if he somehow doesn't make the 53-man roster. Still, I was surprised to see that the Vikings were ranked this high at this position given that they aren't paying big bucks to any one corner.
