Vikings First Day Dealings

The Minnesota Vikings kicked off the first day of the NFL's "legal" tampering portion of free agency trying to boost their very limited cap room.

The Vikings started the day by declining to pick up the option on safety Andrew Sendejo. The resulting $5.5 million cap savings more than doubled their available cap room. It was a move that had to be made but it was a tough move to make. Sendejo had been with the Vikings since 2011 and a starter since 2013. While never the most talented player on the field his effort was never in doubt. Every year it seemed that the team tried to replace him but every year he started. And made an impact.

The next move was releasing right guard Mike Remmers. That freed up an additional $4.55 million. Remmers was a solid starter at right tackle in 2017. Things didn't go so well when he was moved to right guard in 2018. The entire offensive line struggled last season. That has to change. Unfortunately, Remmers was part of that change.

The Vikings used a portion of the cap savings to place restricted free agent tenders on safety Anthony Harris and tackle Rashod Hill. Harris received a second-round tender at $3.095 million. Hill received an original round-tender is at $2.025. Both have the option to sign the tenders and the 31 other teams still have the option to pursue each player. The Vikings can match any offer given to either player. If they don't match, they'd receiver second-round compensation for Harris and no compensation for Hill.

Those moves left the Vikings with $9.87 million in cap space.

As this is the awkwardly named "legal" tampering period, teams can talk with the representatives of soon-to-be-available free agents but they can't agree to deals with those free agents. That doesn't stop anyone from agreeing to deals. The Vikings were one of the teams. According to numerous sources, defensive tackle Shamar Stephen agreed to a three-year deal with the Vikings. It's a return to Minnesota for Stephen. He was a seventh-round pick of the Vikings out of Connecticut in the 2014 NFL Draft. He started in 20 of the 52 games in which he appeared for the Vikings from 2014-17. He started all 16 games in 2016. About this time last year he left in free agency for the Seattle Seahawks. Now, it appears that he'll be returning to the place where his pro football career began. Stephen's three-year deal is reportedly for $12.45 million that includes $5 million in the first year.

So, now the Vikings have somewhat less than $9.87 million in cap space. Considering the contracts tossed out on the first day of tampering that won't buy much at all.