Coronavirus adds to March nightmares pre-free agency for NFL GMs such as Vikings’ Spielman
By Jeff Diamond, former Vikings GM who co-hosted Monday Night Purple and Purple Sunday Postgame this past season on News Talk 830 WCCO
It’s going to be a bumpy ride for Vikings GM Rick Spielman and his staff over the next several weeks as they head into the new NFL league year and free agency that begin next Wednesday while worrying about the coronavirus along with the rest of the world.
This time of year brings me nightmares as it was my least favorite time on the NFL calendar. Just as Spielman is dealing with now, I often had to release, trade or negotiate pay cuts with veteran players who still were starters or contributors in order to free up salary cap room to aid in my attempts to re-sign our pending free agents along with other teams’ quality players hitting the open market.
I can certainly empathize with Spielman as he sits with about $1.4 million in salary cap room and prepares to either cut, trade or finalize pay cuts with starting players who did not play to the level of their eight figure salaries such as Xavier Rhodes, Linval Joseph and Riley Reiff. The Vikings need the cap space to tender their restricted free agents--C.J. Ham and Eric Wilson--and try to re-sign key free agents-to be such as Anthony Harris (or perhaps franchise tag him), Trae Waynes, Mackensie Alexander, Everson Griffin, Stephen Weatherly, Dan Bailey and Britton Colquitt.
Spielman is considering lucrative extensions for top players in Kirk Cousins (that could free up cap space) and Dalvin Cook along with wanting to sign some outside free agents to replace lost players. The team needs additional cap room to sign the upcoming draft class that now consists of 10 new players arriving April 23-25 after the Vikings received three compensatory draft picks for free agents lost last year. Spielman and team Executive VP/capologist Rob Brzezinski also may be looking to restructure contracts of a few highly paid vets besides Cousins to free up cap space as they did last year with Kyle Rudolph. And Spielman and Brzezinski are awaiting word on the results of the new CBA vote by the players that ends Saturday and will impact their salary cap planning with potential raises in minimum salaries and free agent tenders.
Spielman has the added burden of dealing with the effects of the coronavirus that is wrecking havoc around the world and has significantly impacted the sports world with so many games and events being cancelled, suspended or played with no fans in attendance. For NFL GMs, they have numerous college Pro Days to attend this month and are telling their scouts to drive to the Pro Day sites whenever possible.
But a GM such as Spielman doesn’t have time in his busy schedule for driving trips unless they’re very close by so he’ll have to fly to colleges with lots of pro prospects such as Alabama, LSU, Clemson, Oklahoma and Ohio State and hope his flights aren’t cancelled and that he and his staff can avoid the virus. Meanwhile, his scouts need to cover colleges that may only have one or two good prospects so nobody slips through the cracks.
In regard to salary cap difficulties, I often was in this predicament as a GM having to create cap room with the new league year fast approaching. We always were tight against the salary cap due to our quality teams and mature payrolls in Minnesota and Tennessee and the NFL salary cap increases were minimal in the 1990s and early 2000s, especially compared to the $10 million increases the past several years. It created very tough conversations for me to have with players and agents.
One of my roughest experiences came in 1995 when I released running back Terry Allen due to cap constraints and wound up in a special master grievance hearing. I checked the box on his waiver form indicating a salary cap release rather than due to lack of skill and then Allen and the NFLPA claimed we didn’t need the cap room when we released him.
Robert Smith, our No. 1 pick two years earlier, was emerging as the starting running back over Allen who had two thousand yard rushing seasons with us and we couldn’t afford both of them. I remember how uncomfortable it was to face Allen and his wife in the hearing that the team won because I had documentation to prove we needed to free up the cap room with his release.
It was difficult when I told players and their agents that we had to cut the player’s salary or release him if he was no longer projected to start or his performance had slipped yet we still wanted him on the team. I always offered incentives that would allow him to regain the lost salary if he played more than expected or hit high performance incentives.
The smarter players took my offer, knowing it was almost always better than they would receive if they were cut and signed elsewhere that would require them to learn a new system making it tougher to hit incentives. But on many occasions players would ask to be released rather than take a pay cut as they didn’t want to face potential ridicule from their teammates in the locker room.
So I feel your pain this week, Rick Spielman, with everything you have to navigate as you begin in earnest to build the 2020 Vikings roster amidst a pandemic.
Around the NFL Observations:
1.Coronavirus: Along with travel plans being disrupted for Pro Days and trying to arrange for college players’ pre-draft workouts at team facilities in April, there are issues surrounding the planning for the actual draft. The NFL Office may be forced to cancel the public portion of the draft in Las Vegas. There are estimates that 600,000 people would be in Vegas for the draft hoopla and if things don’t improve significantly by mid-April, it will be sad to see another big event likely cancelled. The draft will go on because teams make picks from their home facilities but first round players would miss out on an exciting time when they’re introduced onstage and the economic impact would be substantial on Las Vegas and the people who will miss out on the income from working the public draft events.
The NFL is of course hoping the situation improves dramatically by the time the 2020 season begins with summer training camps open to the public and leading into preseason games in August and regular season games in September.
2. Vikings compensatory picks: Spielman received good news this week when the league awarded three compensatory picks to Minnesota in the upcoming draft which will help the team replenish for any players lost in free agency. The Vikings will have an extra third round pick and two more seventh round selections after losing Sheldon Richardson, Nick Easton, Tom Compton and Trevor Siemian in free agency last year.
“You don’t want to lose your guys, but the reality is you can’t keep everybody,” Spielman told Vikings.com. “If you’re going to lose a guy, the comp system they came up with gives you an opportunity to potentially replace that guy. Or you can use that pick to move up in the draft.”
Spielman’s statement perhaps gives a hint of his expectation to gain a third round pick in the 2021 draft if the Vikings lose Harris as a premium free agent (likely similar salary-wise to the $12.33 million per year deal Richardson received from Cleveland last year).
Plus if the Vikings lose several other free agents from last year’s team that they can’t afford, they could pick up several more compensatory picks next year. This is a roster building strategy Bill Belichick and the Patriots regularly utilize as they lead the league with four compensatory picks in the April draft including two third rounders.
3. Chiefs’ cap challenges: As far as current salary cap issues, the Vikings are not alone. Consider the Super Bowl champion Chiefs who now have $13.7 million in cap room but need additional funds quickly as they are planning to franchise star defensive tackle Chris Jones (at a $15.5 million tender for 2020) by the deadline coming up on Monday.
Chiefs GM Brett Veach and Coach Andy Reid also know they have to extend superstar QB Patrick Mahomes in the coming months and that will add an estimated $10 million to this year’s cap as part of his projected $40 million plus per year extension.
The first cap casualty for K.C. will likely be wide receiver Sammy Watkins who had an excellent postseason (14 catches, 288 yards, 1 TD) but mediocre regular season (52 receptions, 673 yards, 3 TDs). He also has been injury prone during his career, missing eight games over his two seasons in Kansas City. The Chiefs can save $14 million against their cap by cutting or trading Watkins or they can negotiate a pay cut with him and build incentives into the deal if he has a great year.
But I expect Watkins to be released considering they have four time Pro Bowl receiver Tyreek Hill along with last year’s second rounder Mecole Hardman (6 TD catches last season).
Jeff Diamond was the NFL Executive of the Year in 1998 after the Vikings' 15-1 season. He also is former president of the Tennessee Titans. He does sports/business consulting, media and speaking work including corporate and college speaking on Negotiation, Management, Leadership and Sports Business--contact him at diamondj4@comcast.net
