Vikings LB Za'Darius Smith appears to seek release

In a tweet sent on Thursday, Smith appeared to send a farewell message to his teammates, fans and members of the organization. As Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune has noted, Smith sold his house earlier this year amidst the expectation that he would be playing elsewhere in the fall.

Goessling and others report, however, that the Vikings currently have no intention of cutting the 30-year-old. Smith has two years remaining on his contract, a three-year, $42MM pact signed after he was released by the Packers last spring. That made him a free agent for the second time in his career, allowing him to net another lucrative pact on the open market.

Smith previously appeared to have a deal in place with the Ravens, with whom he spent the first four years of his career. After terms seemed to be agreed upon, it was learned that he was moving in another direction, which opened up his intra-divisional move to the Vikings. The former fourth-rounder had a highly productive debut season in Minnesota, racking up 10 sacks, 37 pressures and one forced fumble. Those figures helped earn him a third career Pro Bowl nod.

Smith is due $32.5M over the next two years, but none of his base salaries are guaranteed for 2023 or 2024. That would yield the Vikings cap savings of $12.2M and $20M, respectively, should they release the linebacker. Minnesota is currently almost $16M over the cap and faces increased urgency to make cost-cutting moves with time winding down before the league year boots up.

The time crunch and need to find cap room could force them to release wideout Adam Thielen (or at least restructure his current contract). Developments with both Thielen and Smith could come very soon, as the runway to do the cap math is very short at this juncture.