An Early Look at 2025 Free Agency Options for Vikings

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A lot of football is left in the 2024 season, but with the bye week recently concluded, this is an early look at the Vikings’ 2025 free-agency options.  

An Early Look at 2025 Free Agency Options for Vikings

For the first time in a while, the Vikings won’t go into the offseason with a salary cap headache. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has set the Vikings up for a big offseason next year, with the Vikings looking set to have around $76 million in cap space — per Over The Cap. The Vikings got Justin Jefferson, Christian Darrisaw, and Harrison Phillips signed up this year, and most of the players they’d want sealed for the long term. Camryn Bynum is the only player left who should be due a long extension.

Decisions will be made on the likes of Sam Darnold, Aaron Jones, Stephon Gillmore, Byron Murphy, Shaq Griffin, and others, but the Vikings should have plenty of cap space for some big moves. This week, Pro Football Focus released its early top 50 list of pending free agents, and several names on there should interest the Vikings. It’s a particularly good year to be looking for a guard, an area of the team the Vikings need drastic improvement.

Trey Smith (G) Kansas City

Trey Smith was highly rated going into the 2021 draft but fell to the Chiefs in the sixth round due to past medical issues. With 55 games, plus lots of playoff experience and two Super Bowl rings, there have been no injury problems for Smith.

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His rookie contract finishes at the end of this season, and after three solid campaigns, he has started this one as the fifth-highest-ranked guard with a grade of 80.7. Playing at this level, he should command a contract of $20+ million annually. If the Chiefs are willing to let Smith hit the open market, then Adofo-Mensah should be on the phone immediately.

D.J. Reed (CB) New York Jets

The Vikings have just seen firsthand how good DJ Reed is as he went toe-to-toe with Justin Jefferson. His 90.8 coverage grade from PFF is the highest among CBs in the league. He is a genuine lockdown corner. Reed will get a huge contract, and the Jets have the cap space available to give him one. It would be a surprise if the Jets let him hit free agency.

If the two sides can’t agree on a deal, I expect the franchise tag to be used. Along with Sauce Gardner, the Jets have the best CB tandem in the league, and both are still young. They won’t want to break that up.

Charvarius Ward (CB) San Francisco

It’s not been a great start to the season for Charvarius Ward, and a knee injury kept him out of the 49ers’ most recent game. A second-team All-Pro last season in his seventh season, he has put enough on tape to be confident he will continue to play at a high level.