Vikings roster preview: Still without extension, will Camryn Bynum have a big contract year in 2024?

As we head toward a new season, Inside the Vikings is looking at each member of the 53-man roster to recap their 2023-24 season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. Today, we focus on safety Camryn Bynum. Check out our past stories on each member of the offense , the punter competition , kicker Will Reichard , the interior defensive linemen , the edges , inside linebackers and safety Harrison Smith .

The Minnesota Vikings knocked out a couple of big contract extensions with franchise cornerstones this offseason and safety Camryn Bynum could be next.

The 26-year-old is entering the final year of his rookie deal and should be a priority in the coming weeks. However, it’s also possible Bynum is fine playing out his contract and is motivated to have a big year to increase his payday, and talks could linger into the season.

As for what a possible extension could look like, Grant Delpit’s deal with Cleveland back in December (three years, $36 million) and Julian Love’s last month in Seattle (three years, $33 million) seem like strong comparisons for Bynum. They could also opt for a shorter deal to get back to free agency sooner, something similar to Geno Stone’s two-year, $14 million contract in Cincinnati this spring, although that might still be a little low for Bynum.

Not only are those guys all similar ages to Bynum, but also they’ve similar track records and overall grades from Pro Football Focus, although their skillsets obviously differ some.

Last season was Bynum’s second full year as a starter in Minnesota. PFF graded him as the 21st-best safety in the NFL, giving him a 73.2 overall grade, a 56.1 pass-rush grade (66th), a 69.7 coverage grade (30th and a 79.1 run defense grade (16th).

The former fourth-round pick has started every game for the Vikings the past two seasons and produced well. Among all other NFL defensive backs over the last two years, he ranks tied for fourth in fumble recoveries (2), tied for fifth in forced fumbles (3), fifth in tackles (134) and tied for 11th in interceptions (4).

Related: Vikings roster preview: How much does Harrison Smith have left in the tank?

Last year, Bynum played the fourth-most snaps among safeties, including the most coverage snaps. Unlike Harrison Smith, the Vikings don’t often send Bynum after the quarterback. In fact, he had only nine pass-rushing snaps (tied for 53rd-most among safeties) in all of 2023 compared to Smith’s 99. However, he racked up:

• 104 tackles (most among safeties)
• 23 stops — tackles constituting a “failure” for the offense (20th among safeties)
• 3 forced fumbles (tied for third among safeties)

In coverage, he was the second-most targeted safety in the league (78) and gave up the second-most catches (63), trailing only his teammate, Josh Metellus, in both. That reception rate allowed (80.8%) was the 12th-highest among safeties who played at least 300 snaps in 2023. Despite those figures, he still performed pretty well in coverage.

Per PFF, Bynum had the:

• Third-most yards allowed by a safety (554) but the 13th-lowest yards per catch allowed (8.8)
• Fourth-most pass breakups by a safety (6)
• 19th-most interceptions by a safety (2)
• 28th-most touchdowns allowed by a safety (2)
• 45th-highest passer rating allowed by a safety (94.1)
• Fewest penalties against in 2023 (0)

What’s even more impressive is that Bynum had that production while moving around as much as he did. According to PFF, he lined up in the slot on 282 plays (fifth-most among safeties), at corner on 49 snaps (fourth-most among safeties), in the box 186 times (49th-most among safeties) and 42 times along the defensive line (tied with Antoine Winfield Jr. for 21st-most among safeties).

But what was odd about Bynum’s 2023 season, and could be impacting extension talks, is that he really struggled over the final four weeks of the season, whether it was due to injury or something else.

While his season-long missed tackle rate (11%) was only the 55th-highest at his position, half of his 16 missed tackles came over the last four weeks, pushing him from the 13th-best grade all the way down to 38th among safeties.

Of his 63 catches allowed, over a third (22) came in that four-game span, and that was on just 23 targets. To put that into perspective, he was a top-15 safety through 14 weeks and top-25 in coverage specifically, then fell outside the top-50 over the final four weeks — a drastic difference.

Again, it’s unclear if he was maybe banged up a bit and/or the Vikings were trying to do different things defensively around him. Byron Murphy Jr. missed the final three games, but there weren’t any other major absences. However, Bynum’s play still suffered.

Will he bounce back in 2024, especially if he’s not extended before the new season starts? Contract years can bring the best out of players at times, although it can be a distraction for others.

The Vikings started a more significant youth movement this offseason and it seems Bynum is still trying to prove that he’s not only a key part of this team’s present but also its future.