The deck outside the second floor of the Vikings' sprawling new team headquarters in Eagan has become something of a retreat for the team's front office. It's where Vikings executives can step outside on a summer night, with a beverage in hand from a nearby refrigerator, watch the sunset over the trees to the west of the practice fields and unwind after a long day.
Recently, it's also doubled as something of a command center for perhaps the NFL's most ambitious roster-building effort.
The five-year, $72 million deal wide receiver Stefon Diggs signed on Tuesday will go into effect next year, making him the ninth player on the 2019 Vikings with a contract that carries a yearly average over $10 million in each of its first three seasons.
Though things can change quickly in the NFL, no other team in the league is currently scheduled to have more than eight such contracts in 2019.
Of the Vikings' nine big contracts, eight have been signed since March 2017. Six of them — the deals given to Everson Griffen, Linval Joseph, Xavier Rhodes, Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter and now Diggs — have been part of the team's bold plan to secure a raft of core players scheduled to hit free agency after the 2018 season.
"I think [Vice President of Football Operations] Rob [Brzezinski] does an unbelievable job in the way he structures these contracts," General Manager Rick Spielman said. "I think it rewards the player, but it's also ideal on how we want our contracts structured. Any time you go into a negotiation, to me, it's not, 'Well, we beat you, or you beat us.' You go in with an attitude of, 'Listen, your guy deserves the money he's going to get, but we need some things, too.' I mean, we don't want to lose these players, but we have some parameters we need to work in."
After Diggs' deal, the question will inevitably shift to whether the Vikings can do one more deal before next March, and if they put Brzezinski's nimble salary cap management skills to work, it's likely they can.
The question could hinge more on which player on their roster they believe is worth paying.