Vikings get more time to try to work out a deal with Dalvin Tomlinson

INDIANAPOLIS — With Dalvin Tomlinson's contract set to void last week, the Vikings reached an agreement with the defensive lineman's agent to push the void date back until March 15, providing the team some time to work toward a new deal with Tomlinson.

On Tuesday, General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah made it clear the Vikings want Tomlinson back.

"Look, we love Dalvin," Adofo-Mensah said during his news conference at the NFL scouting combine. "Whenever you have good players in your building and good people, you want to do everything you can to keep them. Obviously, we have a lot of decisions to make, so we're trying to buy ourselves a little more time. If he's listening and he comes back, I'll make sure to get him my shoe plug that he always asks me for. He's a great guy, great player and we love him."

Though Tomlinson missed four games last season because of a calf injury, he posted 2½ sacks and tied his career high with 10 quarterback hits, providing the Vikings with some pass rushing help from his spot in the team's three-down front.

He had signed a two-year, $21 million deal with the team before the 2021 season; the contract included three void years to help the Vikings with the salary cap ramifications of Tomlinson's $12.5 million signing bonus. If he does not sign a new deal by the start of the league year at 3 p.m. on March 15, the final $7.5 million of his signing bonus would hit the cap and Tomlinson would become a free agent. If the Vikings are able to work out a new deal with the 28-year-old, they would only count $2.5 million of Tomlinson's old signing bonus against their 2023 cap, in addition to the cap costs from his new deal.

Some of the Vikings' biggest decisions for the 2023 season will involve fixing a defense that's ranked in the bottom quarter of the league in points allowed each of the last three seasons.

For that task, Adofo-Mensah said, he's glad to have new defensive coordinator Brian Flores' input on personnel.

Flores began his career in the Patriots' scouting department before starting a coaching career that included three years as the Dolphins' head coach. When the Vikings' coaches are sitting in player evaluation meetings, Adofo-Mensah said, he can see Flores revisiting his former career.

"I was joking the other day: he kind of sits back in his chair and puts on his 'Personnel B-Flo [hat].' It's very different," Adofo-Mensah said. "And he's so conversational. It's incredible because ultimately what makes a great scout is the ability to communicate to people very clearly, who have never seen the player, what they do. What it's gonna look like, how they derive their value, and he's really good at that. He's also really open-minded.

"We talk a lot about glass being half full, so when you watch players, it's not just picking apart what they can't do; it's what can they do? How do we hide the stuff that maybe they don't do so well, or even develop it? He is so of that mind. He loves to mold and fit his defense to the personnel and scheme."