Vikings extend Theilen

[PacificNorseWest]

Good for Thielen and I'm good with it. A lot of teams that remain competitive every year are great at "manuevering" around the salary cap and also re-upping contracts before the player hits free agency.

The Vikings have a good mix of vets and young players...Most of this regime, however, is tied to how the Vikings do the next two seasons. Cousins, Zimmer, Spielman...If they fail, these young pieces are an attractive part of the Vikings for the next HC and QB (cause obviously not having a franchise guy since Culpepper, they'll yet again be in pursuit of their next Favre signing).

Granted, I want this team and this regime to succeed.

[CharVike]

Good for Thielen and I'm good with it. A lot of teams that remain competitive every year are great at "manuevering" around the salary cap and also re-upping contracts before the player hits free agency.

The Vikings have a good mix of vets and young players...Most of this regime, however, is tied to how the Vikings do the next two seasons. Cousins, Zimmer, Spielman...If they fail, these young pieces are an attractive part of the Vikings for the next HC and QB (cause obviously not having a franchise guy since Culpepper, they'll yet again be in pursuit of their next Favre signing).

Granted, I want this team and this regime to succeed.

Please don't call Culpepper a franchise QB. One great season when he had two HOF WRs. The rest of the time he was a bum. Had no idea what the defense was doing. That's not franchise in my book. Plus he is brain dead. "Heading into his senior year, Daunte’s GPA fell below 2.0." That was in High School. How is that possible. A complete idiot. I don't think he could learn the plays. Had no idea what was called. That's not franchise.

[jackal]

He earned it ...that's for sure

[PurpleMustReign]

I see. Do bonuses count against the cap? Why wouldn't a team just pay their players bonuses?

Yes, bonuses and incentives count against the cap, same as base salary.

However, those bonuses can be spread out over several years, reducing the cap hit on any one year. So for example, $10 million in bonus money can be spread out over 5 years, resulting in a $2 million per season cap hit. Typical bonus categories are signing bonus (almost always the biggest), roster bonus (basically for making the 53-man), workout bonus, and miscellaneous incentive bonuses based on a number of performance parameters.

I'm not sure how Thielen's contract is set up. Specifics as they pertain to the cap haven't been released, at least not that I can find. I wrote what I did because that's what Ian Rapoport said on TV, and it's also been reported on ESPN.

Before Thielen signed his extension, the wide receiver was on the books with an $8.1 million cap hit for 2019. It's possible that his number remains close to that, even with the extension, but it could be lowered, allowing the Vikings the flexibility to make other offseason moves and pay their draft class later this month.

As you can see, it's not very specific. My guess is that any cap savings would likely be pretty minimal. The good news here is that the Vikings took care of Thielen without blowing through their available cap space.

OH OK. Maybe he had some bonuses due this year then.