Vikings' Creative Salary Cap Move for Hekker

0:00It's March 28th. Welcome in. This is NFL News Today, where football meets AI. The Minnesota Vikings have faced a tough salary cap crunch all off-season, starting more than $46 million over the limit. They made several roster cuts to get compliant, but still said with just 63 players and only $4,800,000 in. Caproom. Looking ahead, the team expects a boost of about $13,300,000 after June 1st, thanks to the post-June 1, designations on a releases for players like Jonathan Allen and Harrison Smith. To add talent without burning cash, the Vikings got creative with new punter Johnny Hecker. They signed him to a one-year deal using the veteran's salary benefit, which lets teams pay vets at a lower cap hit. This means Hecker's contract has a cash value of $1,487,500, including a $1,3 million. $1,000 base and a $187,500 signing bonus, but his cap charge stays at just $1,300,000.

1:04It's a clever way to build depth while staying flexible, and it positions them better as they head into the summer workouts.