What signing of Stephon Gilmore means for the Minnesota Vikings

Cornerback has been a brutal position for the Minnesota Vikings this year. They lost Khyree Jackson to a tragic car accident at the beginning of July and Mekhi Blackmon to a torn ACL a few weeks later. They needed to fortify the position in a major way and did just that on Sunday morning.

The Vikings signed cornerback Stephon Gilmore to a one-year deal worth up to $10 million and he will fortify the cornerback room in a major way. Outside of bringing in one of the league's best cornerbacks, what else does this mean for the Vikings?

They aren't joking about competing

The Vikings have been serious about trying to compete for the entirety of the Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah era. Yes, they have had to maneuver around a brutal salary cap situation but they never stopped trying to compete.

Over the first two seasons with them in charge, the Vikings are 20-14 and, even with nearly $60 million in dead cap, the Vikings are trying to compete.

Salary cap space isn't an issue

The Vikings needed help at cornerback and had the flexibility to do so. Before the signing, the Vikings had $19,574,438 in cap space per Over The Cap. By my calculation, they had around $12.5 million in effective cap space.

Gilmore's contract structure is currently unknown, especially as the Vikings like to add void years to deals to help ease the current cap hits. If they don't add void years, the Vikings are still in a comfortable spot with the salary cap.

Flexibility

One of the things that the Vikings said when they signed Byron Murphy Jr. to his free agent contract in March is that he could play inside or outside. It's arguably a better situation for the Vikings to be able to slide Murphy inside and let other players hold down the outside.

With the addition of Gilmore, the Vikings now have the ability to do just that. The starters on the outside currently project to Gilmore and Shaquill Griffin with Akayleb Evans as the CB4. Having been a starter for the majority of his first two years, Evans will likely rotate in a decent amount. The room feels a lot better now than it did a week, a month or a year ago.

Is the room finished? Absolutely not. The Vikings will still need to address the room in the offseason, but it's in a good place for 2024.

Reliability

The Vikings cornerback room has been a tough one to project out. They have seen some high-end play but too often it's been marred by inconsistency. Players like Evans and Murphy have shown a lot of flashes but it's far from consistent.

That is what Gilmore brings you. He will elevate the room just by being a consistent presence on the outside for the Vikings. His experience can help mentor the young minds in the room as well, helping to develop the next generation of Vikings cornerbacks.

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