{"id":516615,"date":"2026-03-03T19:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/516615\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T19:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T19:45:11","slug":"sources-vikings-mull-trading-olb-greenard-as-cap-issues-swirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/516615\/","title":{"rendered":"Sources: Vikings mull trading OLB Greenard as cap issues swirl"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kevin SeifertMar 4, 2026, 05:30 AM<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Kevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and the NFL at ESPN. Kevin has covered the NFL for over 20 years, joining ESPN in 2008. He was previously a beat reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Washington Times. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings<\/a> are open to trading outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard<\/a> as they work through a salary cap deficit that could have a wide-ranging impact on their roster, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Greenard, 28, is one of the team’s top defensive players and has two seasons remaining on the four-year deal he signed in 2024. But the Vikings entered this month roughly $43 million over the NFL’s salary cap. They want to keep Greenard, Schefter reported, but their work to eliminate that cap deficit has led to trade discussions.<\/p>\n

The Vikings want to keep Jonathan Greenard — a top defensive player for the Vikings and has two seasons left on his four-year deal — but the team is roughly $43 million over the salary cap, leading to trade talk, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.\u00a0Photo by Bailey Hillesheim\/Icon Sportswire<\/p>\n

Greenard’s contract calls for a $22.3 million cap number and a $19 million cash salary for 2026, but none of that money is fully guaranteed. If he is still on the roster on the fifth day of the new league year, $4 million of his base salary will become guaranteed. A trade would save them about $12 million in cap space.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

1 Related<\/p>\n

The Vikings have already told two other veterans, running back Aaron Jones<\/a> and defensive lineman Javon Hargrave<\/a>, that they will be released or traded for cap purposes. Their departures would save $18.65 million in cap space.<\/p>\n

Greenard spent the first four years of his career with the Houston Texans<\/a> before signing with the Vikings. He recorded 12.5 sacks and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2024 but was slowed by a shoulder injury that ultimately required season-ending surgery in 2025. Although he managed only three sacks in 12 games last season, his pressure rate of 13.5% ranked No. 7 in the NFL.<\/p>\n

One mitigating factor in Greenard’s possible departure is the development of Dallas Turner<\/a>, a first-round draft pick in 2024 who led the team with eight sacks in 2025, including 6.5 in the final eight games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin SeifertMar 4, 2026, 05:30 AM CloseKevin Seifert is a staff writer who covers the Minnesota Vikings and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-516615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}