Vikings Rumors: The Harrison Smith Deadline, Milton Williams, Darnold’s Subsequent Group

Harrison Smith. © Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports activities.

VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle every week. All of the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for overview. At the moment is the February sixteenth version.

Vikings Rumors: The Harrison Smith Deadline, Milton Williams, Darnold’s Subsequent Group

Bear in mind — rumors are rumors. What you learn on weekends in these items is what the world is speaking about pertaining to the Vikings, not essentially objects that can come to fruition.

Right here’s the second batch of the week. Yesterday’s will be learn right here.

Rumor: Minnesota has till March 14th for a Harrison Smith verdict on retirement or a return.

Derick Hingle-USA TODAY Sports activities.

Due to Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, Vikings followers have some readability on Smith’s offseason. Goessling printed an article this week detailing a deadline of types for Smith’s 2025 resolution. Minnesota principally has till March 14th to decide on a path for Smith if he hasn’t retired by then.

Goessling wrote, “Smith, 36, has a league minimum base salary of $1.255 million for 2025. But here’s where it gets tricky to bring him back: If he’s on the roster by the third day of the 2025 league year, his $25 million base salary for 2026 is fully guaranteed.”

Smith performed fairly nicely in 2024, his thirteenth within the NFL, and most need him again for one remaining hurrah.

“In other words, there’s a deadline for the Vikings to either restructure his contract or for the team and Smith to make a final decision about whether he’ll be back for a 14th season in Minnesota,” Goessling added.

NFL free company kicks off March tenth, a Monday, with “legal tampering,” so a choice will probably be so as by the tip of that week. 

Rumor: Milton Williams, a defensive deal with from the Philadelphia Eagles, may realistically be a part of the Vikings by way of free company.

Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Photographs

Williams may very well be a wise free-agent match for the Vikings, says The thirty third Group.

Marcus Mosher from that web site sized up NFL free brokers who will seize mega contracts, and based on him, the Vikings are a possible suitor for Williams.

“It’s going to be fascinating to see who earns more on the open market between Odighizuwa and Milton Williams. Odighizuwa has more experience and more starts, but Williams is the better overall athlete and is only 25. You can also make a case that he is an ascending player and will only get better with more snaps. His postseason performance will certainly help him out, as he was fantastic in the final two games of the season,” Mosher defined.

Minnesota has about $60 million to spend in free company as of mid-February, its most in years. The quantity may climb greater, too, if common supervisor Kwesi Adofo-Mensah restructures current gamers’ contracts.

Mosher added, “Williams has just 19 career starts and has never played more than 501 snaps in a single season. Still, it’s hard to blame him, considering that he’s played behind the likes of Jalen Carter, Fletcher Cox, and Jordan Davis for much of his rookie contract. Still, he’s got the type of athleticism that is hard to find and should be paid handsomely this offseason.”

He then listed the Vikings, Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers as attainable touchdown spots.

Vikings would adore this transaction.

Rumor: All indicators level to the Las Vegas Raiders as Sam Darnold’s subsequent crew.

Brad Rempel-Imagn Photographs.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter stated on NFL Reside final weekend: “One team that I would watch with Sam Darnold moving forward would be the Las Vegas Raiders. I think at some point in time, they’re likely to have some interest in trying to bring Sam Darnold to Las Vegas. We’ll see if they can make that happen.”

Schefter doesn’t usually shoot from the hip with free company theories, that means he possible has intel to recommend Darnold to Las Vegas.

Everybody retains saying the identical factor about Darnold’s free company: the Raiders.

Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the College of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his every day YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The present options visitors, evaluation, and opinion on all issues associated to the purple crew, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates again to 1996. Listed responsible pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doorways (the band). He follows the NBA as carefully because the NFL. 

All statistics offered by Professional Soccer Reference / Stathead; all contractual info offered by OverTheCap.com.