The Minnesota Vikings have a little more than a week to clear out a whole lot of cap space so that they can be compliant with the NFL’s salary cap by the start of the new league year on 11 March. It sounds like they’ve made a couple of decisions towards getting there, and those decisions involve the contracts of a pair of veterans.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the Vikings have informed running back Aaron Jones and defensive lineman Javon Hargrave that they will be released at the start of the league year if the team can’t find a trading partner for either of them.
Per Schefter’s information, releasing Hargrave will save the Vikings $10.9 million against the salary cap, while Jones’ release will save them $7.75 million.
Jones has spent the last two seasons with the Vikings after playing his first seven seasons in Green Bay. He signed a one-year deal with the team ahead of the 2024 season, and then signed a two-year, $20 million extension this past offseason. He ran for a career-high 1,138 yards for the Vikings in 2024, but injuries limited him to just 12 games this past season, and he ran for just 548 yards and scored just two touchdowns. He also turned 31 this past December and is now likely at the stage of his career where he’s better off as part of a platoon situation rather than being a featured-type back.
Hargrave signed a two-year, $30 million deal with the Vikings just about a year ago, coming off a season where he was limited to just three games with the San Francisco 49ers after a triceps injury. He played in 16 games for the Vikings this season with 15 starts, and collected 3.5 sacks along with 52 tackles. There were rumors going around earlier this week that the Vikings were looking for a trading partner for Hargrave, but I’m guessing that there isn’t a lot of desire for teams to take on his contract at this point, so a release seems to be the most likely scenario.
This is a decent start for the Vikings as far as getting compliant with the salary cap, but in the words of one noted American philosopher, they’ve still got a long way to go and a short time to get there. As the team continues to make their moves, we will bring the news of them to you here.
