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Vikings still could re-sign Patrick Peterson but Anthony Barr likely won’t return

Chris Tomasson, Pioneer Press
·4 min read
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The Vikings still have interest in re-signing cornerback Patrick Peterson, but it appears linebacker Anthony Barr will be moving on.

Peterson and Barr are Minnesota’s top two remaining unsigned free agents. Peterson, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection who joined the Vikings last year on a one-year, $8 million deal, has talked regularly on his weekly podcast about wanting to return. Barr, a four-time Pro Bowl selection who played his first eight seasons with Minnesota, has remained in communication with the Vikings but their salary-cap situation makes it unlikely he will be back.

“He texted me the other day,” Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said Wednesday of Peterson, an 11-year veteran, wanting to return. “Pat Pete’s a great person, a great player in this league for a long time. … You want to make sure you respect a player of his caliber, his expertise in this league, but also the reality of the situation we’re in from a salary-cap standpoint. Again, those conversations are ongoing, and we’re trying to work through those problems.”

It remains to be seen what sort of salary Peterson, 31, might accept. He no longer is a Pro Bowl-type player but still can be a starter and the Vikings are thin at cornerback.

The Vikings might be set at outside linebacker in their new 3-4 scheme if that’s where Danielle Hunter, a defensive end in the previous 4-3 alignment, and Za’Darius Smith, who signed as a free agent Tuesday, play. That greatly limits the chances of Barr, 30, returning and so does his contract situation. Barr played last season for $10 million after agreeing to take a pay cut from $12.9 million, but he carries $10.8 million of dead money on Minnesota’s cap.

“I had a conversation with him the other day,” said Adofo-Mensah, who replaced the fired Rick Spielman on Jan. 26. “That’s going to be a tougher situation to navigate. Never say never. Obviously, there are things salary-cap related with acceleration and things like that that made that kind of a challenging deal.”

Barr also has been dealing with knee issues, which forced him to sit out five games last season. Adofo-Mensah said he couldn’t comment on Barr’s health since he is “not under contract with us.”

Thursday was the first time Adofo-Mensah took questions from the media since free agency began last week. He did provide remarks to the media last Thursday when defensive tackle Harrison Phillips and linebacker Jordan Hicks were introduced as signees and then again on Tuesday when Smith was introduced.

Last Thursday, Adofo-Mensah called quarterback Kirk Cousins’ recent contract extension a “win-win solution” for the player and team. He was asked Wednesday if the Vikings ever considered trading Cousins, who ended up signing a fully guaranteed one-year, $35 million extension and now has two years left on his deal.

“I’ll probably never get up here and talk about calls that are made here or not made here,” he said. “But I will say when I got to this building and I thought about team building with (head coach) Kevin (O’Connell), it’s really just about we have a really good player. … We just talked (at a dinner with Cousins’ agent Mike McCartney) about forming a partnership together. … Having stability at that position. … Getting him to buy in, I really think was a win-win situation. Again, he gave up things to make this partnership work.”

Adofo-Mensah also has had to deal with Hunter’s contract situation, and he said the two had a “great” conversation even while the two-time Pro Bowl selection was on vacation last week in Europe. The Vikings last weekend kept Hunter when an $18 million roster bonus was due and then converted it into a signing bonus, which didn’t require his consent. That lowered Hunter’s 2022 cap number from $25.838 million to $12.338 million, and created $13.5 million of room in order to sign Smith to a three-year, $42 million deal.

Hunter remains under contract for a modest base salary of $4.9 million in 2023 before he can become a free agent. Adofo-Mensah said working out a long-term deal with Hunter is an option.

“We’re excited to have him back,” Adofo-Messah said. “He’s a really good player, so you don’t just move on from great players very easily. … He’s somebody that you always want to consider bringing back under contract.”

For now, Adofo-Mensah said the Vikings will “keep exploring” options in free agency. Cornerback remains a big need but Adofo-Mensah declined to speculate on what might be done to address the position either in free agency or the draft.

As for Peterson, he reiterated on his podcast Tuesday his desire to return. Speaking about perhaps playing with the pass-rushing duo of Hunter and Smith, he said, “How crazy would that be?”

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