Darrisaw Extension A Massive Win For Kwesi
Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
As far as headlines go, “GM Signs Great Young Player To Contract” is about as much of a positive as it gets. It happened to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah earlier this offseason, even as he paid Justin Jefferson more money than any non-quarterback in the league. But who cares? If you’re not doing what you can to keep great young players in the fold, get out of the GM’s chair. Draft, develop, and keep your young players.
But the Minnesota Vikings GM managed to find an even higher level of winning, inking Christian Darrisaw to a four-year contract. The extension will guarantee $77 million and can max out at $113 million. Adofo-Mensah worked swiftly to get his left tackle secured, wrapping up his second contract two seasons before Darrisaw’s rookie deal expires. In doing so, Kwesi also secured a number of advantages.
The extension doesn’t kick in until Darrisaw’s rookie contract is over, so the Vikings get to keep a top player at one of the most important positions on the field for the next six seasons. Darrisaw just turned 25 in June, and the Vikings now have him under contract until he turns 31. That timeline is already a tidy bit of business.
Even better, though, is that it works with the timelines of other players on the team. The Wild are able to pay Jefferson and Darrisaw, in part, because they have a rookie quarterback on the team in J.J. McCarthy. Being able to build a contending team around a quarterback on a cheap rookie deal is a tried-and-true formula for making a Super Bowl run, which makes Darrisaw’s extension good even in the short term.
Locking in Darrisaw through 2029 all but guarantees that Darrisaw’s contract will remain affordable even as McCarthy’s rookie contract expires. If the Vikings exercise the fifth-year option on McCarthy, he’ll have Darrisaw blocking for him (at least) one season into McCarthy’s second contract. If they extend McCarthy without using the fifth-year option, they’ll get two seasons of Darrisaw under the mega-contract a successful McCarthy would earn.
Darrisaw’s new contract will carry an average value of $28.5 million, which would be the highest for a left tackle, were it to kick in this season. It will not kick in this season or next. Darrisaw’s cap number in his fifth season will clock in at $16.04 million, or about 6.1% of the projected $260 million 2025 salary cap, according to OverTheCap. In 2026, the base salary cap is projected to rise to $284 million, which would make Darrisaw account for 10.0% of the cap. In 2027, OTC projects a $314 million cap, which puts Darrisaw’s new freight at just 9.1% of the salary cap.
This comes at a time when Adofo-Mensah has enough salary cap space to make the Vikings’ roster a blank canvas. Minnesota is in line to have nearly $48 million in cap room next year, which is the seventh-most space in the NFL. Kwesi has nothing to worry about when it comes to his quarterback, top wide receiver, and left tackle. The three most important positions on the offensive side of the football are accounted for. That comes out to be an unbelievable amount of money to spend fixing smaller offensive problems, as well as the defensive side of the ball.
The advantages with Darrisaw’s extension are so great, and we haven’t even gotten to how good Darrisaw is to begin with. Pro Football Focus ranked Darrisaw as the fourth-best offensive tackle in the NFL, behind just Trent Williams, Tristan Wirfs, and Penei Sewell. Injuries are the only concern with Darrisaw, but when healthy, he’s as good as it gets. Even last season, Darrisaw was still PFF’s third-best pass-blocker in the NFL.
That’s great news for the Vikings, and particularly for McCarthy. No team likes to see their young quarterbacks constantly hitting the ground, and Darrisaw is as good as anyone at keeping his signal-caller upright. NFL.com noted that Darrisaw has only allowed 11 sacks over the last two seasons. This was with Kirk Cousins helming the offense, who is one of the slower quarterbacks when it comes to getting rid of the football. If McCarthy can improve on Cousins’ average time to throw, Darrisaw’s numbers should shine brighter.
In taking the initiative to lock this deal down early, Kwesi created a virtual no-lose situation for Darrisaw. The price is quite reasonable, the player is great, the positional value is even better, and the term is perfect. As long as Darrisaw is on the field, he’ll be helping the Vikings in their No. 1 organizational goal: Putting their franchise quarterback in the best position to succeed for the foreseeable future.
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