Vikings: 3 cap casualties that could alter 2021 NFL Draft plans
By Darral Nail
Anthony Barr, Linebacker
It is said that where there is smoke there is fire, and the narrative surrounding veteran Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr is practically ablaze at the moment. While the team appears to favor the idea of either trading Barr or restructuring his contract, the possibility of an outright release is not out of the question.
The third longest-tenured Viking on the current roster, Barr also represents the team’s third-highest salary cap number heading into the 2021 season at $15 million, an almost otherworldly amount for a linebacker in today’s game.
While the value proposition behind moving or restructuring Barr’s current deal is greater than that of an outright release, the team could steer clear of the reported $7.1 million of his 2021 salary that is set to become guaranteed on March 19th if they were to cut the veteran linebacker before that date.
Though a key, versatile player and an unquestioned leader of the team’s defensive unit, Barr is now 7 seasons into his career at a physically demanding position. Add to the equation the injury that caused him to miss most of the 2020 season, and it is perhaps fair to question if the 4-time Pro Bowler’s career trajectory is nearing a tipping point.
If Minnesota chooses to release Barr they would incur a dead-money hit in the vicinity of $7.5 million. However, the team would save roughly the same amount towards the coming year’s cap and could get younger and cheaper at the position by turning their eye toward the off-ball linebacker prospects in the 2021 NFL draft.
Though a seamless replacement for Barr by way of an incoming rookie is highly unlikely, the team could perhaps forge something of a reasonable facsimile at pick 20 in form of Tulsa’s Zaven Collins. Conversely, with a bevy of selections in the middle rounds of next month’s proceedings, the Vikes could turn their focus to more ascending, developmental-type options at the position in the draft’s later rounds. Prospects within this category include Georgia’s Monty Rice, Michigan’s Cameron McGrone, and a pair of Ohio State Buckeyes in Baron Browning and Pete Werner.
If Vikings brass chooses to lean into a less personal, more pragmatic roster management approach, then Barr might not be the only perennial Pro Bowl defender to exit stage left in Minnesota.