Vikings Release Charlie Johnson

Veteran guard Charlie Johnson has started 61 of 64 potential regular season games for the Vikings over the past four years, but it appears he won’t be back for the 2015 season. The Vikings announced today (via Twitter) that they’ve terminated Johnson’s contract, which had been set to expire a year from now.

Johnson had no dead bonus money left on his deal, so by avoiding paying his $2.45MM base salary and $50K workout bonus for the 2015 season, the Vikings will wipe his entire $2.5MM cap number from their books. Johnson, meanwhile, will have the opportunity to go out and try to find work immediately, without having to pass through waivers or wait until next month’s free agent period.

Of course, it remains to be seen what sort of market there will be for Johnson. Despite his extensive experience (115 career starts), the 31-year-old received a negative grade from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) in each of his four years in Minnesota, including a -12.1 mark in 2014.

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