The Minnesota Vikings’ losing streak is at three and their playoff hopes are on life support entering the final weekend of the regular season.
That means Sunday’s game in Detroit likely will mark the final time several players on the roster will be wearing a Vikings uniform.undefined
Here’s a look at five players who are candidates to move on. (All five are currently playing, so a guy on injured reserve, such as Kirk Cousins, isn’t included in this mix.)
Harrison Smith
Many Vikings fans won’t like this, but the reality is Harrison Smith might not be back in 2024 and there’s a chance he could call it quits.
If this is Smith’s last game, he will depart as one of the greatest safeties in Vikings’ history and with a chance to one day be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Smith was selected by former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman in 2012 — a year in which Minnesota had the third pick in the first round. Spielman dropped one spot in a trade with Cleveland and took left tackle Matt Kalil. Kalil’s fantastic rookie season was followed by injury issues and his time in Minnesota ended after the 2016 season.
Hours after taking Kalil, Spielman got the Vikings back into the first round by sending second- and fourth-round picks to the Baltimore Ravens for the 29th selection. The Vikings badly needed a safety and Smith proved to be a perfect solution.
The Notre Dame product has been named to six Pro Bowls and was voted first-team All Pro by the Associated Press in 2017 as the Vikings went 13-3 and advanced to the NFC championship game. Smith has 34 interceptions in 175 career games, including 174 starts.
He will turn 35 on Feb. 2 and is set to count $19.2 million against the Vikings’ salary cap next season. Smith took a substantial pay cut to return in 2023, in part because he wanted to play in new coordinator Brian Flores’ scheme.
Smith’s best game of the season came in the Vikings’ victory at Carolina in Week 4, as he turned back the clock and recorded three sacks and 14 tackles.
While Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell would welcome Smith’s return, the veteran has started to slow and might decide it’s time to move on. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be long before he goes into the Vikings’ Ring of Honor.
Danielle Hunter
The Vikings definitely want to bring back Danielle Hunter, but it might not be up to them. One of the NFL’s best pass rushers, Hunter will enter Sunday’s game fifth in the league with 15.5 sacks and almost certainly will get a big payday before his 30th birthday on Oct. 29.
Will that come in Minnesota?
That’s the unknown given Hunter is set to hit free agency in March and the Vikings have several big decisions to make on contracts. Quarterback Kirk Cousins also will be a free agent and wide receiver Justin Jefferson is certain to get a huge multiyear deal before training camp.
Hunter missed all of 2020 and a portion of 2021 because of injuries, but had 10.5 sacks in 17 games in 2022 for a bad Vikings defense and has excelled playing in Flores’ much-improved defense this season.
The Vikings have reworked Hunter’s current contract more than once to keep him happy — the latest time ended his training camp hold-in last summer — but he’s now free to explore his value on the open market.
Hunter is making $17 million this season, putting him 14th among edge rushers when it comes to average annual value of his contract, and his agent is certain to be looking for a deal to put his client in the top 10 or top five at his position.
Don’t expect the Hunter camp to agree to a team-friendly deal, in part because they know just how big of loss it would be for the Vikings, if Hunter departs.
K.J. Osborn
K.J. Osborn was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 draft by the Vikings to serve as a return man, but that didn’t go as expected. Osborn, to his credit, proved to be resilient.
Osborn, a wide receiver in college, made just about every play in training camp in 2021 and showed he belonged in that mix.
He caught 50 passes for 655 yards and seven touchdowns in his second season, and continued that momentum in Kevin O’Connell’s first year as coach in 2022. He had 60 receptions for 650 yards and five touchdowns, becoming one of Kirk Cousins’ most-trusted targets.
But the Vikings’ decision to draft Jordan Addison in the first round last spring has cost Osborn targets, and likely will cause him to look for a new team when he becomes a free agent in March.
Osborn has 46 catches for 531 yards and three touchdowns entering Sunday’s game, but also has a career-high five drops. He had four combined in 2021 and ’22.
It’s unlikely the 26-year-old is going to get a big contract elsewhere, but he certainly could get a bigger role.
Jordan Hicks
Veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks didn’t leave much of an impression in his first season with the Vikings, despite starting all 17 games for one-and-done defensive coordinator Ed Donatell.
There was a collective shrug when it was reported that Hicks had agreed to take a pay cut to return to the Vikings in 2023, but with Flores running the defense, Hicks’ value quickly became apparent.
The 31-year-old was one of the leaders of a much-improved unit, and the Vikings went 1-3 during the time he missed because of a compartment syndrome injury he suffered to his leg in Week 10. (Do yourself a favor and don’t look it up.)
Hicks carried a $5 million salary-cap figure this season and the Vikings might be interested in bringing him back. But undrafted rookie free agent Ivan Pace Jr. made a big impression at linebacker and the Vikings might want to continue to get younger at the position.
Hicks’ responsibilities include wearing the green dot on his helmet to communicate defensive calls from Flores, but Pace took on that roll while Hicks was out.
Hicks’ departure could be a way for the Vikings to save money.
Lewis Cine
Odds are Lewis Cine will return to the Vikings next season, but it won’t be a shocker if the team decides to move on from the 2022 first-round pick. Cine was selected with the 32nd and final pick of the opening round after general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made a trade with the Detroit Lions to move back from 12th selection.
Adofo-Mensah wanted to acquire more picks, but he also thought he was getting a quality safety in Cine. That hasn’t proven to be the case. The 24-year-old has played in only six games this season and has been in for a total of eight snaps on defense. All of those came in the Vikings’ blowout loss against Green Bay last Sunday.
How bad has it been?
The Vikings use multiple safeties on defense, but Cine has failed to rise up the depth chart. Some of the 10 games he has missed have been because of injury but he also has been a consistent healthy inactive.
Cine played in only three games as a rookie after suffering a compound fracture of his left leg in Week 4 against the Saints. He arrived for the Vikings’ offseason workouts saying he was recovered but he didn’t impress Flores.
The Vikings can’t be happy with seeing Adofo-Mensah’s first-ever opening round pick be a frequent inactive, and what’s even worse is that the Ravens took standout safety Kyle Hamilton of Notre Dame with the 14th pick in the first round of the 2022 draft.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com.
