Vikings fans looking for clarity on whether Dalvin Cook and Za’Darius Smith might still find a fit on the 2023 roster didn’t get any from general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell on Thursday.
No real surprise there. Minnesota started the offseason with salary cap issues and only five picks in the April 27-29 NFL Draft, which was still the case on Thursday when the top of the Vikings’ food chain addressed reporters for the team’s official pre-draft access.
Both Cook (shoulder) and Smith (knee) played through injuries last season, both earned guaranteed roster bonuses last month, and both know the Vikings spent serious money this offseason on players to take their roles in 2023. And despite the fact both players are signed for next season and owed guaranteed money, the team appears to be in some sort of negotiation mode with each.
“We’re in ongoing communication with him and his representatives,” Adofo-Mensah said of Smith, on the books next season for $9.45 million with a $15.5 million cap hit.
Cook is on the books for $10.4 million, with a cap hit of $14.1 million, yet when asked if he expects Cook to be on the roster this season, the GM said, “Again, conversations are always ongoing with him.”
But if the Vikings weren’t tipping their hand on Thursday, from the outside it doesn’t appear to be much of a hand.
On March 15, the Vikings extended No. 2 running back Alexander Mattison for two years at $7 million, $6.35 million of which is guaranteed. On March 13, the Vikings added rush end Marcus Davenport with a one-year, $13 million that included a $8.5 million signing bonus.
In each case, it’s big money for a backup. And while keeping Smith and Cook would make the team deeper for next season, it would, as currently composed, keep the Vikings’ available salary cap space at a tiny $1.45 million, according to cap analysis site overthecap.com.
The ideal situation for the Vikings would be to find trade partners for Smith and Cook, presumably for low-end draft picks, to take over their salaries and cap space. But expensive veterans bothered by injuries the previous season are a hard sell.
Smith, 30, was bothered by a knee bruise late last season, and his sack numbers dipped to a half-sack in the final seven games. Cook, 28, had surgery to repair a labrum on Feb. 14 and finished 2022 with career lows in yards per carry (4.4) and carries per game (15.5).
Asked if he would have signed Mattiston to a contract extension, Adofo-Mensah paused briefly before answering.
“You know, I think in theory they could exist (together), of course,” he said. “Different styles of backs. You talk about the systems we’re trying to play, they’re different styles of backs and we think they could be complementary together.”
The Vikings dumped and moved a lot of money to get under the NFL’s 2023 salary cap of $224.8 million by the March 15 deadline. The team renegotiated some contracts to eliminate cap hits this season — dropping quarterback Kirk Cousins’ hit by $16 million — and released popular veterans Adam Thielen and Eric Kendricks.
The Vikings can still gain space by releasing Cook and Smith but would owe them guaranteed portions of their salaries and still be charged a portion on the salary cap (i.e. “dead money”). That would be $8.2 million on a $14.1 cap hit for Cook, according to spotrac.com.
In any case, it appears unlikely that either player will be at TCO Performance Center on Monday when voluntary workouts start.
“It’s voluntary,” Adofo-Mensah said. “So, that’s not something we’re necessarily concerned with.”
