Currently, veteran Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jonathan Allen is scheduled to have the second-highest 2026 cap hit on the team at $23.9 million.
After an underwhelming performance in 2025 (84th in PFF defensive grade out of 127 qualifying defensive linemen), moving on from Allen this year would be ideal for the Vikings. However, a departure has always felt unlikely since Minnesota would be left with $17.3 million in dead cap if they chose to release him this offseason.
This was at least the general feeling until this week's NFL Scouting Combine.
SKOR North's Thor Nystrom is among those who are at the Scouting Combine this week, and during a recent episode of his "Thor Talks Purple" podcast, he shared on what he's heard about Allen at the event.
"One of the surprising things I've heard is, I thought Jonathan Allen was going to be on the team next year because of [his] contract, [but] I don't know that he will be.
The team is going to look into different stuff. Could they trade him? They're exploring, but it is well within play that they release Jonathan Allen.
...I would've had his odds of being on the team next year, I would've had it pretty high coming into this week, and now I think it's pretty low."
Will the Minnesota Vikings move on from Jonathan Allen this offseason?
As it was mentioned previously, the Vikings would be left with $17.3 million in dead cap if they cut Allen before June 1st. That move would also clear $6.53 million in cap space for Minnesota.
Nystrom mentioned the Vikings could potentially look to trade Allen this offseason, and that would be a much more beneficial move.
If Minnesota is able to find a way to deal the veteran defensive lineman before June 1st, they would create $14.53 million in salary cap space, and the dead cap amount would fall to $9.33 million.
Another possibility would be for the Vikings to release Allen in the near future, but designate him as a post-June 1st cut. This would clear $11.2 million in cap space for Minnesota and leave them with $12.67 million in dead cap.
Still not great, but much better than the $17.3 million in dead cap a pre-June 1st cut would create for the Vikings.
Unless Minnesota can actually find a team that is willing to trade for Allen, a release with a post-June 1st designation seems like the move the Vikings will probably make if they actually do decide to move on from the veteran defender.
Whatever choice Minnesota makes, they need to figure something out soon, as they are still currently more than $43 million over the 2026 salary cap, and they have to be under the cap by the new league year on March 11th.