The Minnesota Vikings dropped a bombshell on Friday night when they traded star edge rusher Za’Darius Smith to the Cleveland Browns.
Smith had just finished a season where he collected 10 sacks and ranked fifth in the NFL with 80 quarterback pressures but was reportedly looking for an increase on his $1.5 million base salary for next season.
To the untrained eye, a player with Smith’s production could have commanded more on the trade market. But when the deal was announced, the Vikings got a 2024 and 2025 fifth-round pick in return and had to give up a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick in the process.
So why couldn’t the Vikings get more for Smith? And how does getting rid of a star edge rusher help a defense that ranked 31st in passing yards allowed last season? It starts with a history lesson.
Let’s go back two years ago when Smith was still in Green Bay. Entering his late 20s, Smith wanted a similar raise from Packers after collecting 26 sacks in his first two seasons after signing as a free agent. The Packers didn’t want to pay up, so Smith played hardball, appearing in just one game before landing on injured reserve with a back injury.
After returning for a playoff loss against the San Francisco 49ers, Smith still wanted to get paid, so the Packers released him which eventually led him to the Vikings.
As we mentioned before, that worked out well for Minnesota especially due to the structure of his contract. With a $1.5 million base salary, Smith was paid the remainder of his money with active gameday bonuses. The strategy helped keep his cap number low and gave the Vikings another impact edge rusher. But when Smith produced, a similar situation took place to the one that played out in Green Bay.
At that point, the Vikings had several options. They could increase Smith’s base salary but that would limit their ability to add to the team in the weeks leading up to training camp. They could release Smith, but that would run the risk of having him land with another division rival such as the Chicago Bears.
Or they could have traded Smith, but teams knew that a departure was imminent thanks to a tweet, which limited the types of offers the Vikings were getting. An added wrinkle was that teams had to renegotiate Smith’s contract in addition to giving up picks from a highly-touted 2024 draft class.
Ultimately, the Vikings found their suitor in the Browns, who were looking to upgrade a defense that ranked 27th in sacks a year ago. Vikings fans could have looked at the Browns as an easy target, but two Day 3 picks don’t seem to benefit the Vikings – until you look deeper.
The Vikings would have loved to bring Smith back but it wasn’t possible thanks to his salary demands. With Minnesota pressed against the cap, it didn’t make sense to pay a player who was outstanding over the first eight weeks but tailed off after suffering a knee injury.
A player like Smith is great at a low cap number but once that number increases, it’s a major problem for a team looking to maintain flexibility for the 2024 offseason. It’s an even bigger problem for a team that has to hand out lucrative contract extensions to Justin Jefferson, T.J. Hockenson and Christian Darrisaw in the next calendar year.
By trading Smith, the Vikings opened up $12.1 million in cap space, which brings their current cap space to $13.2 million according to Over The Cap’s salary cap calculator. It also increases its cap room in 2024 to $45.2 million, which is when the money on the Hockenson and Jefferson deals is expected to kick in.
The decision also helps the Vikings in the present as they need to decide what to do with Danielle Hunter’s contract. Hunter currently is in a similar situation to Smith in that he would like an increase on his base salary of $4.9 million, but at age 28, a raise is an easier pill to swallow.
The Vikings also bought insurance in case they couldn’t work things out with Smith by signing Marcus Davenport to a one-year, $13 million deal. Like Smith’s deal, Davenport carries a $1.5 million salary for next season but carries bonuses when he’s active on game days.
At age 27, Davenport – who had just 0.5 sacks with the New Orleans Saints last season – is a fair reclamation project who could thrive in a new role as a stand-up edge rusher with the Vikings.
If not, the Vikings have some depth in Patrick Jones II (4.0 sacks last season), D.J. Wonnum (4.0 sacks last season) and intriguing UDFA Andre Carter II.
The Vikings will have to piece things together, but they could wind up being fine which makes a pair of fifth-round picks and a ton of cap space a fair haul for an aging pass-rusher.
