December 9th, 2009 
Adam Warwas 
Posted in I saw a question about Antoine Winfield’s “de-escalator” that was included in his contract extension earlier this year. Since there seems to be some confusion, I wanted to take a moment to clear it up.
Winfield signed a contract extension that will help ensure he stays a Vikings until the 2013 season. The “de-escalator” is an unique mechanism contained within Winfield’s contract.
The mechanism is triggered no earlier than the 2011 season. If he is relegated to the nickle job in 2011, then his salary for the following season (roughly $7 million) would be cut in half.
He also has the opportunity to get the second half of that money back if he is promoted back into the starting lineup.
The mechanism was a creative compromise to a crossroads that the Vikings were facing with Winfield. At age 32, the Vikings are now guarded against having an older player, with possibly diminishing skills, on the payroll for much more than he is currently worth.
The mechanism is also positive for Winfield, as when his skills diminish, the Vikings will not be forced to cut him and he, in turn, will not be a 35 year old corner charged with the daunting task of finding employment.
So, to answer the question from the comments section, neither the Vikings nor Winfield will benefit at all from him finishing this season as a nickle back. Once healthy, there is no doubt that he will be placed back into the starting lineup.
The Vikings will, however, have an extra incentive to find another top-notch cornerback fairly soon. They want to have two young and talented guys on the roster prior to 2011 so that they are in a position to take advantage of the clever mechanism.
Knowing that they could save $3.5 million in 2011 by finding another elite cornerback is kind of a built-in incentive to encourage themselves to improve the secondary.
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Hey Adam, have you seen this site?
http://minnesota.footballdiaries.com/
It’s essentially reposting all of Vikings Gab posts. I don’t know if you’re affiliated with it or what, but that don’t seem right …
Yeah, I’m not sure why sites do this, but there are hundreds of them just like this one. AS long as the list the original site with a link (which this one does) then I don’t mind.
Good eye, and thanks!
At what point do the Vikes think about converting Winfield to safety? Great tackler with cover skills and diminishing speed. Too small for strong safety, but sure seems like he could be a pretty good free safety and extend his career as well.
That’s an interesting point, but I don’t think the Vikings want to go that way unless they’re forced to by injury. As the old saying goes, don’t fix something that aint broken… okay, he’s currenttly got a broken foot but you know what I mean.
Agree, looking more ahead to 2011 and forward. Might be able to get by with our current safeties or bring in a veteran for a season or two and use the pick we’d spend on a safety for some other need
I think we need to bring in some safety competition at the very least.
Dear Adam, you are a moron. Tim Tebow being a senior probably makes him more than ‘almost a sure thing to go in the second round of the draft’. Geesh, get your facts straight you hack of a blogger.
Oh Freds, you slay me.
“Mangina” slays me.
Cannot get past that being funny. It’s a problem.
From Professor Clayton at ESPN
‘Bengal have evolved into a relatively conservative, run-dominated offense with Cedric Benson being the workhorse. However, it’s hard to run against the Viking because of Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, so Carson Palmer might be forced to try to win the game through the air. Viking will have to make a major adjustment on defense after losing middle linebacker E.J. Henderson’
Could the adjustment be increased playing time for Jimmy Kennedy after first down? Kennedy has shown much more mobility that Phat Pat. Missing E.J. why not insert the more mobile DT? This could get interesting.
The conversion of Winfield to (free?) Safety would appear unlikely. His contract anticipates a transition to nickel back. Isn’t that a better option allowing him to use his playmaking skill.
This Tebow thing is really driving Freds crazy. So Adam keep Tebow in the first no matter what. Winnfield needs to stay at corner, thats what he’s best at.