Vikings Restructure Kirk Cousins’ Contract to Create Cap Space

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PHOTO: ANTHONY SOUFFLE - STAR TRIBUNE

The Minnesota Vikings have restructured Kirk Cousins’ contract to create $16 million in additional cap space for the upcoming 2023-24 season. They didn’t need Kirk’s signature to do it, though. Instead, Kwesi did a cap conversion on his current deal, pushing money into 2024-25 and 2025-26, using void years.

This is not a contract extension. In fact, it’s the latest sign of the opposite. The Vikings could still extend Cousins eventually but it’s highly unlikely they do it this offseason.

I expect the Vikings to draft a quarterback in the upcoming draft, in the hopes of moving on from Cousins when his deal expires after 2023-24. Kirk’s future in purple could depend on whether or not his coach and GM can hit on and develop and young QB over the next 10-12 months.

How void years work

Teams can tack void years onto contracts however they see fit and they can use as many years as they want to. Doing so takes a chunk of a player’s salary cap number and moves it to future years, when he is no longer under contract with that team.

But when the contract officially voids, all of that dead money counts against the next season’s salary cap. In Cousins’ case, his contract is set to void after the 2023 season. If the Vikings do not extend him, according to people who understand NFL contract structures much better than I do, he’d count for $28.5 million against the 2024 salary cap.

Luke Braun (Locked On Vikings) explains how void years work with a great “counting beans” visual in this video below.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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