Adam Thielen is staying put. On Friday, the wide receiver agreed to restructure his deal in order to remain with the Vikings, according to a tweet from his agency. 
The Vikings entered the offseason with one of the worst cap situations in the league and Thielen was viewed as a potential cap casualty. The two-time Pro Bowler was set to carry a $16.8MM cap hit this year. The Vikings could have released him to save $5.7MM against $11.1MM in dead money, or spread that dead money hit over the next two seasons via the post-June 1 designation. Ultimately, the Vikings wanted to keep the wide receiver – they just needed a little bit of cooperation on his part.
Thielen, 32 in August, registered 67 receptions for 726 yards and ten touchdowns in just 13 games last year. While it was a solid showing, it was something of a down year by his standards. Between his 2017 and 2018 Pro Bowl campaigns, Thielen averaged upwards of 1,300 yards per slate.
Thielen’s restructured contract includes $18MM guaranteed with a raise to $14.4MM in 2022 (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). Meanwhile, for salary cap purposes, a void year has been added to the deal.
While Thielen is staying in Minnesota, the same can’t be said for cornerback Mackensie Alexander.
Good to see the MSU Mankato guy sticking in MN!!!!!!!
So what are the cap savings? Surprised that wasn’t mentioned. Would have been $16.8MM, but is now???
8 mil in cap savings. would never have been 16.8. If we cut or traded him the savings would have only been around 4.5 mil cause we would have had a 11.1 mil in dead money.
16.8 was his original cap hit. That’s what OP is saying.
Nick Olson has what is probably a pretty reasonable estimate of the changes here: link to twitter.com