Vikings Haven’t Spoken With Nick Easton
Four teams have reached out to free agent guard Nick Easton. The Vikings — Easton’s first NFL team — are not among them, according to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press (on Twitter). 
[RELATED: Four Teams Interested In Easton]
The Saints released Easton in mid-February in a cost-cutting move. And, although Easton has never been a world-beater, he appeared to be a logical fit for Minnesota. Vikings guard Dakota Dozier struggled and Pat Elflein couldn’t stay healthy. Even with solid performances from Ezra Cleveland, the interior line left much to be desired.
Now, Dozier is set for free agency, and they may or may not want back for another year. Meanwhile, Riley Reiff‘s contract could leave them searching for a new tackle. The veteran has a $5MM roster bonus due on March 19th. If they release him before that date, they can save a total of $11.75MM with just $2.2MM in dead money.
All in all, the Vikings’ O-Line is in flux. But, as of this writing, they’re not interested in solidifying that group with Easton. Other teams have reached out to Easton, however, including the incumbent Saints.
Browns Lead NFL In Salary Cap Carryover
Earlier today, the NFL Players Association announced (via Twitter) the salary cap carryover amounts for all 32 NFL teams for the 2021 season. Effectively, teams are able to rollover their unused cap from the previous season. So, when the 2021 salary cap numbers become official, they can be added to each team’s carryover amount to determine that individual club’s official cap for 2021.
This follows news from earlier today that the NFL has raised its salary cap floor to $180MM for 2021. This total could clue us in to the salary cap maximum, which could end up landing north of $190MM. The salary cap was $198.2MM for the 2020 campaign.
As the NFLPA detailed, the league will rollover $315.1MM from the 2020 season, an average of $9.8MM per team. The Browns lead the league with a whopping $30.4MM, and they’re the only team in the top-five to make the playoffs. The NFC East ($68.8MM) and AFC East ($65.3MM) are the two divisions will the largest carryover amounts.
The full list is below:
- Cleveland Browns: $30.4MM
- New York Jets: $26.7MM
- Dallas Cowboys: $25.4MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars: $23.5MM
- Philadelphia Eagles: $22.8MM
- New England Patriots: $19.6MM
- Denver Broncos: $17.8MM
- Washington Football Team: $15.8MM
- Miami Dolphins: $15.2MM
- Detroit Lions: $12.8MM
- Cincinnati Bengals: $10.8MM
- Houston Texans: $9.2MM
- Indianapolis Colts: $8.3MM
- Los Angeles Chargers: $8.1MM
- Chicago Bears: $7MM
- Los Angeles Rams: $5.7MM
- Kansas City Chiefs: $5.1MM
- Arizona Cardinals: $5MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers: $5MM
- New York Giants: $4.8MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $4.6MM
- Minnesota Vikings: $4.5MM
- Carolina Panthers: $4.3MM
- New Orleans Saints: $4.1MM
- Buffalo Bills: $3.8MM
- Green Bay Packers: $3.7MM
- Las Vegas Raiders: $3.6MM
- Tennessee Titans: $2.3MM
- San Francisco 49ers: $1.9MM
- Atlanta Falcons: $1.8MM
- Seattle Seahawks: $956K
- Baltimore Ravens: $587K
Vikings Give Riley Reiff $1MM Bonus
The Vikings renegotiated Riley Reiff’s contract to furnish him with a $1MM signing bonus, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). The left tackle would have reached a $1MM playtime incentive had he played in the final game of the year, but he had to sit out while on the COVID-19 list. 
Reiff didn’t miss a snap up until his absence and would have comfortably reached the required ~94% snap threshold had he played in Week 17. Next, the Vikings will have to make a decision on Reiff’s future in Minnesota. The tackle has a $5MM roster bonus due on March 19th. If they release him previous to that date, they can save a total of $11.75MM between his roster bonus, workout bonus, and $6.55MM base salary. On the books, they’d be left with just $2.2MM in dead money, the sum of his prorated bonus.
Reiff has started in 58 games across four years with the Vikings. The 32-year-old was a rumored cap casualty last year, but they ultimately chose to stick with his veteran experience rather than thrusting second-round pick Ezra Cleveland into the starting lineup.
Vikings To Hire Ex-Alabama Assistant
- The Vikings will add an assistant from the top college football program, hiring ex-Alabama cornerbacks coach Karl Allen to be their defensive backs coach, Pete Thamel of Yahoo.com tweets. Coaching a number of NFL-bound prospects, as Alabama staffers generally do, Allen spent three seasons with the Crimson Tide.
Vikings To Hire Paul Guenther
The Vikings are set to hire Paul Guenther as a senior defensive assistant (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero). After being fired as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator, Guenther now has a job lined up for the 2021 season.
Guenther worked for Mike Zimmer in Cincinnati for six years, then took over his role as DC when Zimmer moved on to the Vikings in 2014. He’s held high-profile jobs ever since, though his reputation took a hit as the Raiders’ defense sagged in 2020.
The Raiders gave Guenther the heave-ho after an ugly Sunday night loss to the Colts. The 44-27 defeat saw the Raiders surrender 456 total yards, including 212 yards on the ground. It was the team’s second straight game with 200+ rushing yards surrendered. They were also in the league’s cellar for sacks and allowed 28.4 points per game under Guenther’s guidance.
Gus Bradley has since assumed Guenther’s old job in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Guenther will get reacquainted with his winter wardrobe in Minnesota.
Vikings Sign K Greg Joseph
The kicking game was an issue for the Vikings this season, and they’re getting out ahead of the matter by bringing in a veteran early. Minnesota is signing kicker Greg Joseph, his agent Brent Tessler announced on Twitter.
Since Joseph finished the season on the Buccaneers’ practice squad and not active roster, he doesn’t have to wait until March to sign like everybody else. Undrafted out of Florida Atlantic in 2018, he originally signed with the Dolphins. After getting cut by Miami he signed with the Browns, and spent the last 14 weeks of the 2018 season as Cleveland’s kicker. In those 14 games he went 17 of 20 on field goal attempts and 25 of 29 on extra points.
He lost the job the following training camp, spent some time on the Panthers’ practice squad, and then was signed by the Titans late in the year. He was their kicker for the final couple of regular season games as well as their playoff run to the AFC Championship Game.
He didn’t appear in a game for Tampa this year, but earned a Super Bowl ring nonetheless. The Vikings had Dan Bailey as their kicker this past season, and he was a disaster at times. He had a few meltdown games, including one against none other than the Bucs where he missed four kicks. Minnesota opted not to cut him during the season, but it was a foregone conclusion that he’d face some competition in 2021.
The Vikings guaranteed a portion of Joseph’s salary, while Bailey has $1.8MM that becomes fully guaranteed on March 19th, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweets. As such, it wouldn’t be surprising if Bailey doesn’t even make it to camp and gets cut loose in the next couple of weeks here.
Vikings Promote Klint Kubiak To OC
The Vikings are set to promote Klint Kubiak to the role of offensive coordinator (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). He’ll take over for his father, Gary Kubiak, who retired in early January.
Kubiak, 33, joined Minnesota along with his dad in 2019. There was talk of him possibly leaving town last year when the Browns hired ex-Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski, but he stayed put. Now, he has his very first OC job as the Vikings look to bounce back from their 7-9 season.
With Kubiak ascending to OC, the Vikings will install Andrew Janocko as their QBs coach (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Meanwhile, Rapoport notes that Giants wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert also impressed during the interview process. Tolbert didn’t get the job this time, but he’ll likely be in the mix for other OC opportunities in the next cycle.
Even though the Vikings’ 2020 season was a letdown, the offense was still strong, ranking top 5 in yards and first downs. Kubiak will have plenty of talent to work with, including running back Dalvin Cook, who is fresh off of a 1,500+-yard/16 touchdown campaign, and promising young receiver Justin Jefferson.
Kirk Cousins, Mike Zimmer Discuss QB’s Future
The quarterbacks carousel is already spinning, but it sounds like one name may not be involved in the trade chatter. During an appearance on NFL Network, Vikings head coach offered some rare praise for quarterback Kirk Cousins.
“Kirk’s our guy,” Zimmer said (via NFL.com’s Kevin Patra). “You know, he had a terrific year this year. We were fourth in the league on offense. We have to get better on defense — we had a lot of injuries and young guys — that’s my job to get it fixed.”
As Patra notes, Zimmer has traditionally been “vague and cantankerous” when discussing his franchise signal-caller, so this is an interesting pivot. While Cousins hasn’t been roped into trade rumors by any reputable sources, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com threw some fuel on the fire when he examined the intricacies of a hypothetical Cousins trade earlier this week.
As Florio writes, if the Vikings were to move on from Cousins, they’d presumably be eyeing one of the few potential upgrades at the position. Alternatively, the organization could look to move on from the $56MM remaining on his deal, including a $35MM base salary for 2022 that becomes fully guaranteed in mid-March. After signing a two-year extension last offseason, the two sides could work on a new deal to save the organization same cash. For what it’s worth, Cousins recently told Florio that he’d be open to sticking around Minnesota beyond 2022.
“Honestly, I just signed the extension last offseason and it really doesn’t kick in ’til this coming year,” Cousins said. “It’s a two-year deal. Those two years begin with 2021. . . . I think it’s more about going out there next season and the year after that and playing at a high enough level that would justify being able to do another deal beyond that. That’s really where my focus is. As I said earlier, would like to be a Viking for the remainder of my career. I’ve got to play well enough to make that happen.”
While Minnesota struggled a bit in 2020, it wasn’t because of a lack of production from their quarterback position, as Cousins tossed a career-high 35 touchdowns.
Vikings To Interview Tyke Tolbert For OC
The Vikings will interview Giants wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert for their offensive coordinator vacancy (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). Tolbert worked closely with recently-retired coordinator Gary Kubiak in Denver, so Tolbert could help the Vikings keep the same system in place.
Tolbert was on Kubiak’s staff during the Broncos’ run to Super Bowl 50. He impressed during his time in Denver, and Kubiak has long lobbied for Tolbert to get his big break.
“He’s an amazing coach, a great person, handles personalities extremely well [and] gets the most out of his players,” Kubiak said in 2016 (via the Broncos’ team website). “So I think that would be an exceptional thought. He’s a heck of a football coach.”
The Vikings were a disappointment on the whole, but that was mostly on the defense. Offensively, the Vikings saw Dalvin Cook rush for 1,557 yards and 16 touchdowns while rookie wide receiver Justin Jefferson showed serious promise. In terms of talent, Tolbert would have tons to work with.
Coaching Notes: Pack, Rathman, McCardell
The Packers are making a change on special teams. They are firing ST coordinator Shawn Mennenga, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). A longtime college coach, Mennenga had previously served as Browns assistant ST coach before joining Matt LaFleur‘s staff in 2019. The Packers are expected to promote assistant ST coach Maurice Drayton to replace Mennenga, Pelissero tweets. At least one other team was interested in Drayton for such a role, according to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Drayton was in contention for this job two years ago.
Here is the latest out of Green Bay and from around the league:
- Mike Pettine may not be locked in as Packers defensive coordinator next season. The veteran DC opted not to sign an extension last year, and Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com notes his contract is up. The Packers invested heavily in their pass rush and used three first-round picks on defenders from 2018-19 but dropped from 15th in defensive DVOA in 2019 to 17th this past season. Pettine is a holdover from Mike McCarthy‘s staff, having arrived in 2018.
- Colts running backs coach Tom Rathman announced his retirement Thursday. The Colts hired Rathman in 2017, after his eight-year tenure as 49ers running backs coach ended. Rathman attempted to retire in 2019 and ’20, but the Colts successfully lobbied him to stay on, per The Athletic’s Stephen Holder (on Twitter). A decorated fullback who won two Super Bowls with the 49ers, Rathman coached running backs from 1997-2020. Sixteen of those years came in San Francisco.
- Staying with the Colts, they are hiring former Jaguars QBs coach Scott Milanovich to replace Marcus Brady in that position, Joel Erickson of the Indianapolis Star tweets. Milanovich was Jacksonville’s QBs coach from 2017-19. Otherwise, he has spent his career in the CFL, having coached the Toronto Argonauts and, in 2020, the Edmonton Eskimos. The Colts promoted Brady to OC last week.
- Longtime NFL wideout Keenan McCardell will resurface in Minnesota. The Vikings are hiring McCardell as receivers coach, per Gene Frenette of the Florida Times-Union (on Twitter). A longtime Jaguars pass catcher who broke into the coaching ranks in 2010, McCardell served as Jacksonville’s receivers coach from 2017-20 under Doug Marrone.
- Ex-Colts DC Ted Monachino will be the Falcons‘ outside linebackers coach under Arthur Smith next season. Monachino, Indy’s DC from 2016-17, spent the past two years with the Bears. The Falcons also hired Jon Hoke to coach defensive backs. The older brother of Maryland HC Brady Hoke, Jon was the Terrapins’ defensive coordinator from 2019-20 but has coached NFL DBs for several seasons.