After years as rival players in the NFC East, Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave were thrilled to team up on the Minnesota Vikings.

“I’m super excited,” Allen said after signing a three-year, $51 million contract with the Vikings last offseason. “You know what [Hargrave] can do rushing the passer from the inside. Can take on double teams, play the run. I’m hoping to boost his game, and vice versa. I think we can do great things.”

Hargrave signed a two-year, $30 million deal with Minnesota, partially because he believed in Flores’ system.

“I just know [Flores] brings a lot of success on defense,” Hargrave said. “He’s got so many things he do that helps everybody out on the defense.”

A year later, the Vikings cut both Allen and Hargrave as they undo most of their moves from last season. They were part of flawed roster construction. Part of the issue was that J.J. McCarthy wasn’t ready to start. Part of it was that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah used an expensive free-agent class to cover for his draft misses.

Instead of franchise-tagging or extending Sam Darnold, the Vikings let him walk and tried to build around McCarthy and his rookie contract. They chose handling McCarthy with clean hands over optionality.

Darnold’s franchise tag would have cost them $40 million. Instead, the Vikings invested in the trenches in response to the Los Angeles Rams eliminating them in the playoffs by exploiting their porous interior offensive line.

The Vikings signed Ryan Kelly and Will Fries and drafted Donovan Jackson to fill out their center and guard positions. They also added Allen and Hargrave on the other side of the ball to generate interior pressure.

“I know we all look at sacks,” Allen said. “But when you can provide interior pressure, and you have guys like Andrew Van Ginkel and [Jonathan Greenard] on the outside, it makes everybody’s life easier just getting the quarterback off his spot, force some throws high, force him to miss his target.”

There were many issues with Minnesota’s plan. Chief among them was that McCarthy needed more time to develop after missing his rookie season with a torn meniscus. However, Kelly was a veteran who had suffered multiple concussions, and Allen and Hargrave couldn’t defend the run.

Kelly suffered three more concussions last year and announced his retirement. Meanwhile, the Vikings cut Allen and Hargrave because they didn’t fit Flores’ system.

Pro Football Focus gave Allen (64.9) and Hargrave (70) positive marks in the pass rush. However, they struggled against the run. PFF gave Allen a 45.4 grade, and Hargrave a 57.3. Brian Flores generates pressure by disguising blitzes, but he needs linemen who can defend against the run. Otherwise, opposing teams will hand the ball off to negate the blitz.

The Vikings spent an NFL-high $348 million in free agency to build a competitive team around McCarthy. Therefore, they entered this season $40 million over the cap and had to make cuts or restructure contracts in the offseason. However, they cut Allen and Hargrave while restructuring most other players’ contracts.

The Vikings have cleared ~$80m in 2026 cap

~$18m from Jefferson restructure
~$11.3m from Murphy restructure
~$10.9m from Hargrave release
~$10m from Kelly retirement
~$9.2m from Darrisaw restructure
~$7.8m from Jones release
~$6.5m from Allen release
~$5m from Hock restructure

— vikesinsider (@vikesinsider) March 8, 2026

Teams can restructure contracts by paying out some of the guaranteed money as a signing bonus. In an extreme example, the Vikings paid out nearly half of the last year of Kirk Cousins’ contract as a signing bonus. It allowed them to get under the cap, but created over $28 million of dead cap space last season.

The NFL designed the cap to encourage owners to pay players without ruining competitive balance. Therefore, teams can pay out guaranteed money directly to players or extend them, moving cap hits into later years – even into “void years” beyond when the contract expires.

Minnesota guaranteed Allen $23.255 million at signing, and guaranteed Hargrave $19 million. Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks guaranteed Sam Darnold $37.5 million at signing, $15 million if he’s on the roster this year, and $10 million next season.

Darnold won the Super Bowl last year and will be in Seattle for the foreseeable future. Hargrave expressed displeasure with Brian Flores’ system on his way out, and he and Allen will be playing elsewhere. The lesson for the Vikings should be to always give themselves options – especially at the game’s most important position – because there are no guarantees in the NFL, except for the contracts the players sign.