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          Vikings Twitter mailbag: Greenway, Felton, safeties and salary cap

          • Ben Goessling, ESPN Staff WriterJan 30, 2015, 02:00 PM ET
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            • Previously covered Vikings for St. Paul Pioneer Press
            • Also covered Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Wild and Washington Nationals
            • Twin Cities native and University of Minnesota graduate
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          MINNEAPOLIS -- Thanks to all of you who submitted questions for this week's Minnesota Vikings mailbag. You can submit them at any point during the week on Twitter, using the hashtag #VikingsMail.

          @GoesslingESPN: Good afternoon, everyone. Hope you're enjoying Super Bowl week and all its excesses. We'll get started here. Geoff, I think it depends on what kind of a role the Vikings can see Chad Greenway still having in their defense. He's made no secret about the fact he's willing to restructure, and when a guy is that open about his willingness to take a pay cut this far ahead of time, he's probably prepared himself for the idea that it could require significant concessions to return to the Vikings. Greenway has said he's managed his money well, and he's more concerned with playing another year in Minnesota than he is with earning big money somewhere else. If the Vikings offered him, say, $3 million guaranteed for next season, I think he'd take it -- and I don't see that being beyond the realm of possibility. It would still free up more than $5 million of cap space, and Mike Zimmer has talked about Greenway's value as a leader and mentor to a young group of linebackers. Greenway has said he wants to play, and I don't know how keen he'd be on the idea of returning as a seldom-used backup. But I also don't think the Vikings would drop his salary to the point where they'd put him on the shelf. If he's back at $3 million, he's probably getting a chance to play. If there's not a role for him, the Vikings have enough respect for him to let him know that and give him a chance to move on. In the end, if the Vikings still think Greenway can start for them -- and Zimmer said at the end of the season he believed Greenway could -- then he will be back. They'll make the money work.


          @GoesslingESPN: Adam, James Felton can void his contract for 2015, and he's indicated he plans to do that. The Vikings just didn't have a big enough role for him to want to return, and even though he played at a high level when he was on the field, he doesn't fit in the Vikings' offense as well as he used to. We could see this coming last spring, and Adrian Peterson's absence only made Felton more of a miscast piece in the Vikings' offense. What if Peterson returns, you ask? Felton could be a better fit at that point, but it would still require the Vikings to use two-back sets more often than they did last season, and probably line up with Teddy Bridgewater under center. What's more, if Peterson isn't reinstated until April 15, Felton will probably have found a new team by then. As for the fullback situation? There's a reason the team kept Zach Line on its active roster all season despite putting him on the active roster for just one game. He had an impressive preseason in 2013 and looked like a fullback who could contribute in the passing game. The Vikings clearly didn't want to risk exposing him to waivers by trying to get him on the practice squad, and it appears they're grooming him to be their fullback in 2015.


          @GoesslingESPN: Ooh, a nerdy cap question! I'm all over that! Here's the list:

          • Matt Cassel has a $500,000 roster bonus due on the seventh day of the league year.
          • Kyle Rudolph's $4.9 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the league year. He also has a $125,000 roster bonus next year.
          • Brandon Fusco has $2 million of his $2.6 million base salary currently guaranteed against injury, but it becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the league year.
          • Brian Robison has $2 million of his $4.15 million base salary guaranteed if he's on the roster by the third day of the league year. The other $2.15 million is fully guaranteed if he's on the roster by July 1.
          • Captain Munnerlyn currently has $1 million of his $3.45 million base salary guaranteed against injury. It becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the league year.


          @GoesslingESPN: Andrew, I think the way the Vikings handled Robert Blanton at the end of the season tells you they're not completely sold on him as a starter. He didn't start the final two games of the season after returning from a sprained ankle, and even though he stepped in for Andrew Sendejo in Miami, he played just three snaps in the season finale against Chicago. It seemed at times like the Vikings regarded Blanton as the best of their current options, and while he played well at times, he was beaten too often in run support and made a couple big mistakes in coverage. I think they'll try to upgrade the position; I talked about this at length on 1500 ESPN's Purple Podcast the other day. As the game spreads out and teams get more comfortable running the ball out of spread formations, safeties become more and more important. That's especially true for the well-rounded ones who can cover receivers and help against the run. Look at what the Seahawks can do because of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor. There's your blueprint, and if the Vikings get another top-flight guy to play next to Harrison Smith, they'll be in really good shape.


          @GoesslingESPN: A week from today, federal judge David Doty will hear arguments in the NFL Players Association's lawsuit against the NFL on behalf of Peterson. The NFLPA obviously would like a ruling as soon as it can get one, especially if Doty vacates Peterson's suspension and rules he should be reinstated. But Doty can take his time, and I'd be surprised if we hear a resolution to this case within a matter of days. While we're on the subject, one programming note: I see the Peterson questions coming in from all of you, and I understand the intense interest in his future. It's obviously the biggest story of the offseason for the Vikings and one of the biggest in the league. But we've covered many aspects of the Peterson situation on this blog (check here to get a taste of what we've written), and until there are some new developments, I'm going to use this mailbag to devote some time to other topics surrounding the team. Perhaps we'll find out more about Peterson's future during the court date on Friday. If there are any developments related to Peterson's future, we'll certainly cover them in great detail.

          That'll be it for this week's mailbag. Hope you all enjoy the Super Bowl; remember, even if it's a boring game, it's the last taste of football we'll get for six months. Talk to you next week.