Vikings Part Ways With $14 Million Star Based on NFL Draft

Vikings Part Ways With $14 Million Star Based on NFL Draft

The Minnesota Vikings should have one of the best rosters in the NFL in 2025, even despite J.J. McCarthy as the likely starting quarterback offering significant uncertainty on the heels of a 14-win campaign.

 

Minnesota spent relatively big in free agency, making acquisitions like offensive guard Will Fries ($88 million over five years) and defensive tackle Jonathan Allen ($51 million over three years). The Vikings also paid superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson a total of $140 million over four years in June 2024, which made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history at the time.

 

The organization was able to make those moves in large part because McCarthy, who plays the game’s most expensive position, is on a rookie contract that pays him a total of just $22 million over the first four years and affords the Vikings a salary-controlled team option for a fifth season in 2028.

But after an expensive offseason, Minnesota’s front office must already turn its attention toward players who will command large contracts in the next couple of years to come, as no team can pay every star at every position in perpetuity. With that as the relevant context, Trevor Squire of Heavy and Athlon suggested on Monday, May 5, that Jordan Addison is a potential trade candidate.

 

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Squire’s assertion that Addison could eventually find himself expendable is at least mildly shocking considering Addison’s age, draft value and history of production over his short time in the NFL to this point.

Addison, 23 years old, has caught 133 passes for 1,786 receiving yards and 19 TDs over his first two seasons (32 games played, 29 starts). Plus, as a former first-rounder (No. 23 overall), the Vikings hold the same fifth-year club option on Addison’s $14 million rookie contract as they do on the deal McCarthy signed one draft later.

That said, Addison has also been part of a couple of incidents since joining the team, in which he has displayed poor judgement. Addison plead guilty to a misdemeanor speeding charge in Minnesota ahead of his rookie campaign for traveling 140 mph in a 55 mph zone, per Pro Football Talk. The court decided to drop a charge of reckless driving as part of the plea, and Addison paid a $686 penalty.