Adam Thielen’s Pre-June 1 Release Creates $13.55 Million in Dead Money For Vikings

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The Vikings are choosing to eat the cap hit now rather than spread it across two years.

The Vikings releasing Adam Thielen on Friday has not been designated as a post-June 1 release, according to the Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling.

Minnesota had the option to do so, which would’ve spread the dead money associated with releasing Thielen between this year and 2024. Instead, the Vikings are biting the bullet by eating just north of $13.5 million in dead money this year, although they do create roughly $6.4 million in usable cap space with Thielen gone.

This specific decision speaks volumes. If the singular goal was to put the absolute best team possible on the field in 2023, designating Thielen’s release as post-June 1 would’ve made sense. That would’ve doubled the available cap space for this year created by his release. Instead of $13.5 million in dead money this year, it would’ve been half this year and half next year.

What this says is the Vikings, although they’ll obviously still attempt to contend, are viewing 2023 as a bit of a reset year that will set up a healthy cap situation in 2024. By releasing Eric Kendricks and now Thielen — with more moves on expensive, beloved veterans likely to come — the team is signaling the end of an era. GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, in his second offseason, is putting his stamp on this roster and moving on from some core Mike Zimmer/Rick Spielman-era holdovers.

While the Vikings remain roughly $9 million over the 2023 cap at the moment, they’re close to $120 million in 2024 cap space.

There are still plenty of big decisions to come for Adofo-Mensah and company this month, but releasing Thielen and taking on all of his dead cap hit this year says a lot about the front office’s plans.

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