How much should an NFL offensive line cost? The Vikings’ investment has been aggressive in recent years.
All of LT1 Christian Darrisaw, RG1 Will Fries, and RT1 Brian O’Neill are working on beefy deals. LG1 Donovan Jackson isn’t particularly pricey, but he’s working under a 1st-Round contract. With Jackson, the cap charge is far from free but far from backbreaking. There’s then the center position that’s undergoing a competition among cheaper options. Do the tally and the Minnesota Vikings see their front five get slotted into the fourth spot.
The Vikings’ Investment Along OL Gets Placed at 4th
Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap offers the word. On matters of the NFL’s finances, Fitzgerald is a terrific resource.
His piece is titled “Offensive Line Investments for 2026.” Fitzgerald establishes some of the groundwork: “I decided to do the valuations a bit differently here. For any player who was on a non drafted contract I used their standard APY to calculate their average salary value.”
Further: “For a draft pick I used their projected value based on the Fitzgerald-Spielberger draft chart and the position they play. While this may not be as accurate for the production of 4th year rookies where we have a better understanding of how good the player is, it does give us a decent way to look at upside that exists with the young players on the roster. I used the top 10 valued players to take into account how much depth a team has rather than just the top 5.”
Working through some of the NFL’s top teams eventually gave way to a mention of the Minnesota Vikings.
“The Broncos are third in the NFL with $94.7 million but they are also old (29.3) and have just one draft pick rank in their top 10 and he projects to bring about $4.5 million of value to the team,” Fitzgerald writes. “Offensive linemen have longer NFL careers than other positions but this feels a bit like waiting for something to be a problem rather than trying to be a bit proactive and having a plan in place before the problem arises. I would assume next year this will be a draft focus. The Vikings rank fourth at $94 million and the Browns fifth at $90.2 million” (emphasis added).
Scrolling down a touch further means seeing a more precise number: $94,140,537.
Keith Carter is entering his first season as the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive line coach. That being said, Carter was in the Twin Cities last year as an assistant, working under Chris Kuper (who was fired and allowed to skedaddle for a job with the Eagles). Carter’s task is to bring the collective fivesome forward in their abilities, going from solid to sizzling.
A sneaky detail to monitor: the effort from the HC and the QB. Seeing the head coach figure out how to stick to a ground attack would help the big boys. Seeing the quarterback figure out how to make quick, decisive throws would help the big boys.
The Vikings are facing plenty of skepticism about the team’s ability to get into the playoffs, much less win the NFC North and/or (gasp) go on a playoff run. Where the Vikings could get a major boost is within the trenches.
For far too long, the Vikings haven’t done tremendously in this area, but the current cluster of talent has been assembled after draining the ATM. No time like the present to see the Vikings become dominant at the line of scrimmage.
The Vikings get going with training camp in a week.
Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.
