Vikings Message Board.Com

Vikings signed WR Adam Thielen to a four-year, $64 million extension.

Thielen had two years remaining on his contract, but this was expected to get done after playing last season at a $2.85 million salary. It's a deserved raise for Thielen, who had eight straight 100-yard games to open 2018 and is coming off career highs. Thielen's $16 million AAV places him just behind Brandin Cooks as the sixth-highest paid wideout in the league. The new deal keeps Thielen signed through 2024.

Vikings now signed through at least 2021: Adam Thielen, Stefon Diggs, Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, Linval Joseph, Harrison Smith, Riley Reiff, Shamar Stephen, Mike Hughes. Excellent foundation.

Thielen's cap hit in 2019 is $8.1 million. I'd expect that number to drop quite a bit with the extension, allowing the Vikings to be able to fit his new deal under the cap without issue. He had 2 years left on his old deal, so the extension should keep him under contract thru '24

I remember talking to a very, very smart NFL person right before the Giants signed OBJ to his extension and he said “the Giants don’t need to sign him ...have you ever heard of a kid named Adam Thielen? Go find talent”

More teams need to take a page out of the Vikings’ front office playbook. Extend your good/star players with a year or two left on their deals. That philosophy has been hugely important in that team getting its core locked up.

One would expect that #Vikings cap wizard Rob Brzezinski has very creatively figured out a way to get Adam Thielen's future deal on the books without hampering salary-cap room for this season.

Well deserved for Thielen! This should help our cap situation as well. This team is built for long term success. We have a lot of our core locked up for a while now. Continue to draft and sign well and keep on this trend Spielman!

I have a... Thielen that Adam's gonna be a career Viking. $64 million for his services is downright criminal considering his talent. I'll happily take it.

Blah, I wanted to post this. Ricky boy finally got around to paying the best Viking on the entire team. Now that Barr (god what a waste)
And Griff (an ever bigger waste) are signed. He could be the best Viking WR since Moss. Now if theres a certain tall, speedy and smart WR (I know the one I really want, more then any Defensive player we have a shot at) that Rick could draft. I would be so happy. Assuming our Oline ever gets fixed and Kirk has a few second to throw a long ball. Im actually happy today.

PurpleKoolaid wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 5:00 pm Now if theres a certain tall, speedy and smart WR (I know the one I really want, more then any Defensive player we have a shot at) that Rick could draft. I would be so happy.

And who would that be?

Good for him, and awesome for the team that he got this extension before he was forced to sit out to get a fair deal.

fiestavike wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 5:42 pm

PurpleKoolaid wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 5:00 pm Now if theres a certain tall, speedy and smart WR (I know the one I really want, more then any Defensive player we have a shot at) that Rick could draft. I would be so happy.

And who would that be?

Dont wanna jinx it, I love the guy.

Obviously I'm a big AT fan, so I'm super happy about this. And I'm happy for him.

From what NFL Network says, the structure also frees up a bit of cap space for this year. Win-win.

All those people that argued with me that we wouldn't need to extend Thielen this year

Seriously though, happy for him, all his hard work has paid off and I'm glad he'll be in purple for years to come.

I was thrilled when I saw it scroll across the screen on NFL Network. A.T. is the kind of player and more importantly, the kind of quality human being that ya wish ya had a whole team of . Awesome news

Hard work does pay off...Congratulations to AT

J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:04 pm Obviously I'm a big AT fan, so I'm super happy about this. And I'm happy for him.

From what NFL Network says, the structure also frees up a bit of cap space for this year. Win-win.

What was he supposed to make this year? I don't understand how it could save us money.

PurpleMustReign wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:08 am

J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 10:04 pm Obviously I'm a big AT fan, so I'm super happy about this. And I'm happy for him.

From what NFL Network says, the structure also frees up a bit of cap space for this year. Win-win.

What was he supposed to make this year? I don't understand how it could save us money.

There’s a lot that goes into it that we don’t have a clue about. But basically they are lowering his base salary this year so it saves us money. The rest of what he makes this year are incentives/bonuses. For example the eagles just restructured Ertz. They turned over $7 million of his base salary into a bonus which saved them over $5 million in cap space (basically what we should have done with Rudy). Thielen will be the same thing. He could literally have a base of $1 million but $10+ million in bonuses

Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:41 am

PurpleMustReign wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:08 am

What was he supposed to make this year? I don't understand how it could save us money.

There’s a lot that goes into it that we don’t have a clue about. But basically they are lowering his base salary this year so it saves us money. The rest of what he makes this year are incentives/bonuses. For example the eagles just restructured Ertz. They turned over $7 million of his base salary into a bonus which saved them over $5 million in cap space (basically what we should have done with Rudy). Thielen will be the same thing. He could literally have a base of $1 million but $10+ million in bonuses

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

PurpleMustReign wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:42 pm

Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:41 am

There’s a lot that goes into it that we don’t have a clue about. But basically they are lowering his base salary this year so it saves us money. The rest of what he makes this year are incentives/bonuses. For example the eagles just restructured Ertz. They turned over $7 million of his base salary into a bonus which saved them over $5 million in cap space (basically what we should have done with Rudy). Thielen will be the same thing. He could literally have a base of $1 million but $10+ million in bonuses

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.

ESPN.com wrote: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.

Peter Schrager
@PSchrags
The Vikings amicably re-do and re-write Adam Thielen's deal. Did what's right after the two seasons he just had. The Minnesota front office brain trust of Spielman/Brzeziniski/Paton have made a good practice of worthy extensions and new deals before players sniff free agency.
5:16 PM · Apr 12, 2019 · Twitter Web Client

Got a point here