Salary Cap Numbers For All 32 Teams
On Wednesday, we learned that the 2017 salary cap will be set at roughly $167MM. However, every team’s number will be different depending on how much money each team elects to rollover from the previous season.
Courtesy of the NFLPA, we now have the total cap numbers for all 32 clubs. Here they are, listed by division and in descending order:
AFC East
- Dolphins – $175.36MM
- Patriots – $171.29
- Bills – $169.84MM
- Jets – $167.37MM
AFC North
- Browns – $217.12MM
- Bengals – $173.58MM
- Steelers – $170.27MM
- Ravens – $169.55MM
AFC South
- Jaguars – $206.31
- Titans – $191.05MM
- Colts – $173.61MM
- Texans – $171.94MM
AFC West
- Raiders – $175MM
- Broncos – $174.24MM
- Chiefs – $172MM
- Chargers – $167.11MM
NFC East
- Redskins – $182.06MM
- Eagles – $174.93MM
- Cowboys – $169.4MM
- Giants – $168.8MM
NFC North
- Bears – $175.1MM
- Packers – $174.98MM
- Lions – $171.73MM
- Vikings – $167.4MM
NFC South
- Panthers – $180.21MM
- Saints – $172.75MM
- Buccaneers – $172.33MM
- Falcons – $167.93MM
NFC West
- 49ers – $205.71MM
- Cardinals – $171.4MM
- Seahawks – $169.07MM
- Rams – $167.3MM
Vikings Stuck With Sharrif Floyd For 2017?
The Vikings, in theory, have a big decision to make when it comes to Sharrif Floyd. By March 9th, Minnesota must decide whether to keep Floyd at a base salary of $6.8MM or release him, per the terms of his fifth-year rookie contract option. However, the option is guaranteed for injury and Floyd has still not fully recovered from his left knee injury, according to Matt Vensel of the Star Tribune. 
[RELATED: Vikings Interested In Latavius Murray]
Floyd, 26 in May, went down in the Vikings’ 2016 season opener and never returned to action. Since joining the team as a first-round pick in 2013, he has appeared in 44 games with 24 starts, missing two games in 2014, three games in 2015, and just about every game in 2016. The Vikings would probably like to get out of their obligation to Floyd, but recent comments by GM Rick Spielman indicated that the team has accepted the inevitable: he probably won’t get the greenlight from doctors and the Vikings will remain on the hook for his salary.
It remains to be seen when/if Floyd will be cleared for football activities.
Vikings Interested In Latavius Murray
Now that Adrian Peterson‘s Vikings tenure could be over, the club is in dire need of a solution at running back. With that in mind, the Vikings have been showing interest in impending free agent Latavius Murray, reports Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com. The 27-year-old Murray, whom the Raiders won’t stop from hitting free agency, has averaged a so-so 4.0 yards per carry in each of the past two seasons, but that’s significantly better than the paltry 3.2 team mean the Vikes put up in 2016 en route to a last-place NFL ranking. Murray also found the end zone 12 times last year, whereas Minnesota’s contingent of backs only combined for nine scores.
Vikings Decline Adrian Peterson’s Option
The Vikings announced that they are declining Adrian Peterson‘s option for the coming season. The move has been long expected. 
Peterson’s option was worth $18MM for the 2017 season and there was no chance of the Vikings picking that up. Now that this formality is out of the way, the Vikings will work to re-sign Peterson on a cheaper deal. However, the veteran will probably first explore his options and determine his value.
Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter) hears that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones would pursue Peterson if he is available. Still, AP might prefer to explore teams that are in need of a true No. 1 RB. Whether Dallas is in the cards remains to be seen, but Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears that his strong preference will be to play alongside an established quarterback.
In 2016, Peterson suffered an unfortunate meniscus injury in Week 2 and racked up a meager 72 yards on 37 carries. In the year before that, however, he exploded for 1,485 rushing yards and eleven touchdowns. Even with questions about his age and injury concerns, Peterson remains an intriguing option for teams in need of rushing help.
Four Teams Interested In OT Russell Okung
A number of clubs have already expressed interest in pending free agent tackle Russell Okung, including the Giants, Jets, Chargers, and Vikings, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Top 2017 Free Agents By Position — Offense]
The Broncos last week declined a $1MM option bonus that would have locked in an additional four years, $48MM, and $20.5MM in guarantees for Okung. Okung notably negotiated his Denver contract without the assistance of an agent, and the deal — which contained no guaranteed money at the outset — was widely panned. It’s unclear if Okung plans to broker his next pact by himself or enlist some sort of representation.
Okung, whom PFR rated as the third-best offensive tackle available on the open market, isn’t an elite blindside protector, but he’s a capable option that would represent an upgrade for the teams listed by La Canfora. The Jets and Vikings essentially have no left tackle at the moment, and the internal options they could respectively re-sign (Ben Ijalana, Matt Kalil) are unimpressive. The Giants, meanwhile, are trying to improve upon third-year pro Ereck Flowers, while the Chargers want to find a better left tackle than King Dunlap.
Although he turned in his first career 16-game season, Okung graded as just the No. 38 tackle in the NFL last year, according to Pro Football Focus. Okung, 29, drew a dreadful 55.0 score for his pass blocking, though his 79.7 run blocking grade was the 21st best showing in the league in 2016.
Captain Munnerlyn Wants To Play For Contender
Pending free agent Captain Munnerlyn would prefer to return to the Vikings, but he’s also prepared to move on if the right offer comes along, as he explained to SiriusXM NFL Radio earlier this week. “I’ve got to put myself in the position to try to get that Super Bowl trophy,” Munnerlyn said. “I’m an older guy. I’m going on year nine, so I definitely want to win. So I’m definitely going to look at the roster, the coaches, to see where I can take my talent and plug it in and try to help those guys get to the playoffs and make that Super Bowl run.” PFR recently ranked Munnerlyn, who plays exclusively in the slot, as the 12th-best cornerback on the free agent market.
Vikings Have Confidence In Treadwell
- 2016 first-round pick Laquon Treadwell had an underwhelming rookie campaign, but Vikings general manager Rick Spielman is confident that the wideout can still be a productive player. “Laquon came in, and he had some durability issues through OTAs, and had some things on and off during camp,” Spielman told Brian Murphy of The Pioneer Press. “I know that he is maybe the hardest-working kid I’ve ever seen. He is so determined to be a good player, and he has the skill set to do it. But we were never able to get him on track. He is going to be a good player with us. I do believe that in my heart.” Treadwell finished his first season with one reception for 15 yards.
[SOURCE LINK]
Vikings Notes: Peterson, Newman, Verner
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman hasn’t yet spoken with Adrian Peterson‘s agent regarding the running back’s future, but that will change at next week’s combine, tweets Jason Cole of Bleacher Report. Peterson is due a $6MM roster bonus March 11, two days after the market opens, and Spielman said Thursday that the seven-time Pro Bowler’s fate will become known prior to free agency. Spielman will also meet with the agent for cornerback Terence Newman next week, relays Cole. Newman is coming off his age-38 season, in which he totaled 38 tackles and an interception across 15 appearances (nine starts), and is on track to hit free agency. The 2016 campaign was Newman’s second in Minnesota, which re-upped him to a $3MM pact last March.
More on the Vikings and two other NFC franchises:
- Although they had interest in Alterraun Verner when he was on the open market in 2015, the Vikings have not reached out to the cornerback’s reps at this point, per Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (Twitter link). Verner became a free agent when the Buccaneers released him Thursday.
Vikes Notes: AP, QBs, Kalil, Floyd, Greenway
Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has a $6MM roster bonus due March 11, two days after the market opens, but general manager Rick Spielman told reporters Thursday that the rusher’s future “will get addressed here before free agency starts” (via Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune). Spielman hasn’t yet spoken to Peterson or his representative, but it’s fair to suggest that the Vikings likely won’t exercise the seven-time Pro Bowler’s option. Even if they don’t, though, Spielman indicated he’s amenable to bringing back the soon-to-be 32-year-old Peterson at a lesser cost in 2017. “If we don’t exercise that option, we always will keep the door open on all of our players,” Spielman said.
Regardless of whether Peterson returns next season as Minnesota’s No. 1 back, it has “got to run the football better,” head coach Mike Zimmer told Lindsey Young of the team’s website. The Vikings finished dead last in rushing (1,205) and yards per carry (3.2) last season, and barely having Peterson available didn’t help. While Peterson posted a microscopic 1.9 YPC, he did it over just 37 carries, having missed most of the year because of a torn meniscus.
More from Spielman:
- Sam Bradford will start under center next season for the Vikings, but the quarterback position is “in flux” beyond that, according to Spielman. The Vikings have another starting-caliber signal-caller, Teddy Bridgewater, though he missed the 2016 campaign and might not play next season on account of the devastating knee injury he suffered last August. Spielman responded to that by trading the club’s first-round pick in this year’s draft (and a fourth in 2018) to the Eagles for Bradford, and the executive maintains that he “would do that over in a millisecond to get Sam Bradford on our football team with the circumstances we were dealing with.” Bradford is “just right now in the prime of his career,” Spielman opined, and is due to hit free agency next winter. Although the Vikings only went 7-8 with Bradford (8-8 overall), the 29-year-old fared respectably atop an ultra-conversative passing offense, having set the single-season completion percentage record (71.6) and posted 20 touchdowns against five interceptions.
- Like Bradford, Bridgewater could also become a free agent next offseason if the Vikings don’t control him via his fifth-year option, which they’ll have to exercise or decline by May. In updating Bridgewater’s recovery, Spielman said: “He’s in the process of working through his motion. I know he’s doing specific things in rehab to get him back to being functional. When he’s going to be ready for football, dropping back and things like that — I think that’s still to be determined.”
- Elsewhere on offense, the Vikings could lose longtime No. 1 left tackle Matt Kalil to free agency. Spielman, though, seemed to imply interest in re-signing the 27-year-old. “We have a plan in place on everything,” he stated. “But I also know I have a pretty good history of trying to keep our own guys as well.” Kalil missed all but two games last year because of a hip injury, and he hasn’t lived up to expectations since going fourth overall in the 2012 draft. However, he racked up 16 starts in each of his four seasons prior to 2016 and now stands as one of the most accomplished pending free agent tackles in a weak class.
- Defensively, Spielman noted that tackle Sharrif Floyd, a potential cap casualty, is “under contract.” Like Peterson and Kalil, Floyd barely took the field last season (one appearance). But “he’s a pretty good player” when healthy, offered Spielman, who added that the team’s defense missed Floyd last season. Floyd sounds safe based on those comments, then, but Spielman could cut him by March 9 and get out of the 25-year-old’s entire $6.75MM-plus cap hit for 2017. As with Floyd, linebacker Chad Greenway‘s fate for next season will become known by the first day of the league year. Greenway, 34, will decide by then whether to retire. The pending free agent revealed last month that he’d only continue his career as a Viking, with whom he has spent all 10 of his seasons.
Vikings Made "Strong Push" For K'Waun Williams
- The Vikings made a “strong push” for free agent cornerback K’Waun Williams, according to Ben Goessling of ESPN.com, but ultimately lost out to the 49ers. Williams, 25, didn’t play in 2016 while dealing with an ankle injury, but would have given Minnesota another slot option given that Captain Munnerlyn is a free agent. Per Goessling, Williams’ relationship with San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan and defensive backs coach Jeff Hafley heavily factored into his decision to head to the Bay Area.