Word over the weekend was that the Vikings and quarterback Kirk Cousins were not close to an agreement about a contract extension, so the team has gone another route to lower his cap number for the 2023 season.
Ian Rapoport if NFL Media reports that the team has converted a chunk of Cousins’ compensation into a signing bonus. According to multiple reports, the result is $16 million cap space for the coming season, which is the final one on Cousins’ contract. The remaining hit pushed into the two void years that are tacked onto his deal.
Cousins had a base salary of $10 million and a roster bonus of $20 million before the conversion.
In addition to creating cap space, the restructuring could lower Cousins’ salary for the 2023 season and make it easier for another team to absorb his contract in a trade. There’s no sign at present that the Vikings are considering anything other than getting compliant with the salary cap, however.
UPDATE 1:53 p.m. ET: Albert Breer of SI.com reports that Cousins’ salary is unchanged and that the restructure only involves converting the roster bonus. Two more void years have been added to the contract to further spread out the cap hit.