Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
One Minnesota Vikings storyline that surprisingly cropped up at the NFL combine last week might as well have been pulled right out of the Minnesota Twins offseason handbook.
After spending more money on football talent one year ago than nearly any other organization in the NFL led to a playoffless 9-8 season, the Wilf family has closed the cash account previously used to rework contracts and fix roster mistakes through most of their two decade run as Vikings owners.
And for an NFL franchise that entered the offseason $40 million over the salary cap — with less than one week remaining until the start of the new league year on March 11 — that’s a pretty big problem.
Minnesota Vikings restructuring Justin Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw
Over the past couple weeks, new/old top executive Rob Brzezinski has informed veterans Aaron Jones, Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen that they will be released. Meanwhile, the Vikings are also shopping starting EDGE rusher Jonathan Greenard and trying to rework the TE T.J. Hockenson‘s contract.
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
But there are a couple of players on the roster where the Wilfs are still happy to re-open the checkbook for. And on Friday, we found out that their shortlist (unsurprisingly) includes WR Justin Jefferson and LT Christian Darrisaw.
According to Ben Goessling (Star Tribune), the Minnesota Vikings are restructuring the contracts of both 26-year-old superstars, two moves that have the ability to save them over $27 million against next year’s cap.
The Vikings, who need to clear more than $40 million to get under the NFL salary cap by March 11, took a step toward that goal with two of the simplest moves they could make.
They restructured the contracts of wide receiver Justin Jefferson and left tackle Christian Darrisaw, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, converting a portion of both players’ base salaries to signing bonuses that would hit the cap in future years. The Vikings could defer up to $18 million in such a move with Jefferson and as much as $9.24 million with Darrisaw.
Ben Goessling – Star Tribune
However, they are unlikely to take advantage of all the savings available to them with either Jefferson or Darrisaw’s reworked contracts. Remember, any guaranteed money has to hit the cap eventually. These restructures just kick some of it down the road.
However, given how exponentially the NFL salary cap continues to go up, any dollars Rob pushes to the future is essentially saving $1.00 now to spend $0.75, possibly even $0.50 down the road.
Vikings stars looking to bounce back after contract restructures
Last year, Justin Jefferson rolled with the QB punches as best as could have been expected, given how badly he wants to win games and set every single receiving record in the NFL history books.
Nonetheless, he fought his way to yet another 1,000 yard season (on 84 receptions) — making the former OPOY a perfect 6/6 hitting that yearly WR milestone. However, Jefferson managed to catch just TWO touchdowns in 2025, a career-low.
What a segment this morning on @GetUpESPN 👀
SCOTT: JJ McCarthy worst QB ever, wants MN to land M. Willis –> SCHRAGER: That’s NOT happening –> TANNENBAUM: Murray should pay MN to acquire him
ALL agree that Vikings have a Super Bowl roster and MUST get Justin Jefferson a real… pic.twitter.com/DnHEKbyh7X
— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 20, 2026
With a bit more cash in his pocket off this restructure, Christian Darrisaw has a lot to prove in 2026, after being in and out of action last season, due to continued recovery from a torn ACL he suffered and had repaired during the 2024 season.
The Minnesota Vikings still have a litany of other roster moves they could make to help get them under the salary cap before March 11, but given how tight the Wilfs are holding their pocketbook this offseason so far, we’ll see which of those levers they actually pull.
Mentioned in this article: Christian Darrisaw Contract Restructure Justin Jefferson NFL Offseason
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