With free agency starting in three days, the Vikings apparently are clearing some cap space in the hopes of making a move or two.
Jeremy Fowler of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that the team will release guard Steve Hutchinson and guard Anthony Herrera.
Cutting Hutchinson, who was entering the final season of a seven-year, $49 million contract, avoids his base salary of $6.95 million. Herrera’s release clears another $2.65 million unpaid salary.
That equates to $9.6 million in cap space.
They may need to spend some of that money on a guard or two. Hutchinson started on the left side, and Herrera started on the right side.
Hutchinson was swiped from the Seahawks via a poison-pill offer when Mike Holmgren was the coach in Seattle and Brad Childress was the coach in Minnesota. They both now work for the Browns, and we’d be surprised if Hutchinson doesn’t end up there, too.