The way the cap is calculated-
I don't recall the exact number, I think it's 43? Might be-40? 45? The cumulative amount of the highest 43 contracts. That is a teams cap#.

When the actually go to camp. Somewhere around 90-95 players will be with the team. So 63 on roster now. 6- 8 more in the draft gets them to 70. And they usually add in another 15-25 undrafted free agents. They'll also scour around through the xfl & Canada maybe an arena league player.

At center they have a couple young guys from the last couple drafts, Michael Jurgens, Vershon Lee, Joe Huber. I'd think Brandel would be the fall back with the team hoping Jurgens takes command of the competition. At rb they have the kid Zacier Scott and the former niner back, Jordan Mason.

It's a deep draft for rb's. An "ok" IOL prospect list. Perhaps more top heavy than deep as many of the top projected tackles are considered better fits inside. a decent db draft. The strength is the 26 list appears to be front 7.

I would expect the vikings to grab a player or 2 from all of those groups, as well as a TE? If they can find a guy that they like as TE is one of the weaker position groups this year. Most of the te's seem in the "y" model. The Plodder/Blocker guy. Even some of those aren't much more than a tall fb.

Defensively- flores will find the guys that can contribute. I have less confidence that the vikings can find o-linemen or a TE that will contribute. Only bc it seems to have become a historical issue. The team seems to remain focused more on the athletic pulling players that fit the outside zone scheme the vikings want to run.
I believe that scheme is a bad fit bc of the athletic Defensive front 7's en-vogue league wide that are best when asked to shoot gaps and blow up zone runs behind the LOS.

The '25 vikings managed to escape last place with a week 18 victory over an injury riddled lion team. In the time since, the lost cap space. It's a similar bottom feeder roster as the 25 roster. I wouldn't expect it to improve all that much. Likely, the biggest improvement arrives via subtraction. Ie-kwesi gone, Ryan Kelly gone, McCarthy demoted from "savior" to afterthought. Is Kyler Murray an improvement? It's almost impossible not to be. But keep in mind his size limitation & the fact he hasn't played a full season w/o lost time injury since 2022.

On paper- I see another 3rd/4th place finish. Paper doesn't take a single snap, and the Vikings seem to outperform expectations when predicted to suck.

The best news?
Flores remains the DC & Kyler Murray should be a ton of fun to watch.
Also,I vm hope we get to see Miles Price get reps as wr#3, or a screen pass 3rd down rb.* And Harry Smith return for a final season in more of a situational blitzing role.

I'm drawing a brain fart. Can't remember the name of the midget wr from the late 80/ early 90 era. David? "last name"?
Sigh, memories are getting foggier all the time.
Was it David Palmer maybe? FIIK.

Anyways. Miles Price reminds of that dude. Get him the ball in space. He'll break some long ones.

The 26 Vikings are not a deep playoff run team. But they could be really really fun to watch.