Vikings Eat $1.2 Million in Now-Official Za'Darius Smith Trade
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The Za'Darius Smith trade is now official, as both the Vikings and Browns announced the deal on Tuesday morning.
As a reminder, Minnesota traded Smith, a sixth-round pick in 2025, and a seventh-round pick in 2025 for a fifth-rounder in each of the next two drafts. If that feels like a modest return, here's why.
The key thing for the Vikings is that they cleared significant cap space in the move. A trade without any money being retained would've created roughly $12.2 million in cap space with $3.3 million in dead money. It was reported that the Vikings were taking on a bit of money to facilitate the deal, and we now have the details. According to ESPN's Field Yates, the Vikings are eating slightly less than $1.2 million in signing bonus in the trade.
What that means is that, barring any additional details, the Vikings created roughly $11 million in cap space by trading Smith. Not only will that be enough to finish signing the team's draft class, it'll leave some room for possible additional moves this offseason. The Vikings can also clear further cap space by trading or releasing Dalvin Cook, though that situation remains in limbo.
Also per Yates, Smith's cap charge for the Browns this season is just over $3 million but his upside in cash is nearly $13 million. It seems like a trade that worked out for the Vikings, the Browns, and Smith himself. He'll pair with Myles Garrett on a team that plans on contending in the AFC, while the Vikings will move ahead with Danielle Hunter and Marcus Davenport as the starting edge rushers on Brian Flores' defense.
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