With the Super Bowl done, the curtain has officially fallen on the 2013 season and the 2014 offseason is underway for all 32 teams.
One of the first decisions of the offseason will come in Minnesota this week. Ben Goessling of ESPN.com points out that quarterback Matt Cassel has until Friday to decide whether or not to void his contract with the Vikings for the 2014 season. If Cassel does void it, he will become a free agent. If not, the Vikings will have until the seventh day of the new league year in March to either pay Cassel a $500,000 roster bonus or let him go.
Cassel is set to make $3.7 million in total salary next season, which is the same he made in 2013 to back up Christian Ponder. Cassel wound up doing more than that as the quarterbacks shuffled through three different starters, however, and could be in position to start for at least part of next season as well if the Vikings draft a quarterback.
He could have the same opportunity somewhere else and there’s a possibility he could find an even better chance to start, although it might not come with the same salary that he stands to make with the Vikings in 2014. Cassell has a few days to weigh those considerations before letting the Vikings know if they have to do the same.
