INDIANAPOLIS — After spending more money than any team in the NFL last offseason, the Vikings find themselves in a pinch heading into this offseason, more than $40 million over the salary cap with free agency starting March 11.

Only the Dallas Cowboys currently have less cap space than the Vikings.

That will be the first order of business for Rob Brzezinski as the acting general manager of the Vikings. Not that he seems too concerned; there aren’t many people better when it comes to manipulating the cap.

“Our goal is going to be to keep our core in place,” Brzezinski told reporters this week at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “That’s going to involve making some difficult decisions.”

Although the Vikings must confront the reality cutting some players, they also have some other levers they can pull to free up cap space, such as restructuring contracts or negotiating extensions with specific players to lower their cap hits.

Some candidates for restructuring include receiver Justin Jefferson, tackle Christian Darrisaw, edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel and safety Byron Murphy Jr. Candidates for extensions include tackle Brian O’Neill, rush end Jonathan Greenard and linebacker Blake Cashman.

It’s likely the Vikings use both of those options. That alone won’t be enough to get them out of the red and into the black, however, so they will also be forced to say a number of hard goodbyes. Free agency officially begins at 3 p.m. CST on March 11. The draft is set for April 23-25.

Here are some players that could be in danger of being released.

Aaron Jones

Age: 31

Position: Running Back

Analysis: There’s virtually no chance that Jones plays out his current contract given the fact that he carries a $14.5 million cap hit in 2026. The Vikings love everything Jones brings on and off the field; they simply can’t afford to commit that much to him. The decision to release Jones would be create $7.7 million in cap space, enough for the Vikings to stomach the resulting $6.8 million in dead cap space.

Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson celebrates a 31-0 win against the Washington Commanders following an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025 in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)

T.J. Hockenson

Age: 28

Position: Tight End

Analysis: It’s fair to say Hockenson’s recent production hasn’t been enough to justify his $21.3 million cap hit in 2026. If he wants to stick around in his current role, he could try to restructure his contract and agree to take a pay cut. That’s only an option if the Vikings want to keep Hockenson. Simply releasing him would create roughly $8.9 million, but would come with a $12.4 million dead cap hit.

Ryan Kelly

Age: 32

Position: Center

Analysis: There’s a pretty good chance Kelly decides to retire after navigating a series of concussions. If he for some reason decides he wants to keep playing, the Vikings will almost certainly cut him to create roughly $8.3 million in cap space. There isn’t really a drawback in doing so, as his current contract only carries $3.4 million in dead cap.

Javon Hargrave

Age: 33

Position: Defensive Tackle

Analysis: It would be a shock if Hargrave isn’t playing elsewhere this fall given his $21.4 million cap hit in 2026. If the Vikings release him, they would create nearly $11 million in cap space. But If they can find a trade partner, the Vikings would create nearly $15 million in cap space. Will anybody will be willing to acquire Hargrave and his current contract? That remains to be seen. He could still be effective as a rotational pass rusher if he lands in the right situation.

Minnesota Vikings defensive tackle Jonathan Allen (93) lunges after a scrambling Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18) in the fourth quarter of a NFL football game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Jonathan Allen

Age: 31

Position: Defensive Tackle

Analysis: This is much less likely because the cap savings generated by releasing Allen wouldn’t be nearly as substantial. If the Vikings opt for a youth movement in the trenches, however, they could free up roughly $6.5 million in cap space by releasing Allen. But given the current structure of his contract, they would take on roughly a $17.3 million dead cap hit. That’s probably a large enough number to deter the Vikings from going down this path.

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By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

Burger King is testing AI-powered headsets that can recite recipes, alert managers when inventories are low and even track how friendly employees are to customers.

Restaurant Brands International – the Miami-based company that owns Burger King, Popeyes and other brands – said Thursday it’s currently testing the OpenAI-powered headsets in 500 U.S. restaurants.

The system collects data on restaurant operations and shares it via “Patty,” a voice that talks to employees through their headsets. If the drink machine is low on Diet Coke, Patty will tell the store’s manager. If a customer uses a QR code to report a messy bathroom, the manager will be alerted.

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Employees can ask Patty how to make various menu items or tell Patty to remove items from digital menus if they’ve run out of ingredients.

Burger King said it’s also exploring using Patty as a way to improve customer service. The system can track when employees say key words like “welcome,” “please” and “thank you” and share that with managers.

When asked about that capability Thursday by The Associated Press, Burger King said the intent is to use Patty as a coaching tool, not a tracker of individual employees.

“It’s not about scoring individuals or enforcing scripts. It’s about reinforcing great hospitality and giving managers helpful, real-time insights so they can recognize their teams more effectively,” Burger King said in a statement.

Burger King added that the key words are “one of many signals to help managers understand service patterns.”

“We believe hospitality is fundamentally human. The role of this technology is to support our teams so they can stay present with guests,” Burger King said.

Patty is part of a larger app-based BK Assistant platform that will be available to all U.S. restaurants later this year.

Burger King is one of several fast food chains experimenting with artificial intelligence. Yum Brands said last spring it was partnering with Nvidia to develop AI technologies for its brands, which include KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

McDonald’s ended a partnership with IBM in 2024 that was testing automated orders at its drive-thrus. The company is now working with Google on AI systems.

U.S. Olympics figure-skating stars, including gold medal-winners Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin, are coming to St. Paul.

The “Stars on Ice” tour will stop at Grand Casino Arena, formerly the Xcel Energy Center, on May 10. The show was announced last fall but has seen renewed interest following Team USA’s performance at the Milan-Cortina games, during which Liu won the first women’s figure skating gold for an American in more than two decades and many skaters became social media stars.

Standard admission tickets are available via Ticketmaster and range from about $43 to $120 a seat. A “stargazer” pass is also available as an add-on, for $28, which comes with pre-show admission to watch warm-ups and attend a Q&A session with some of the skaters.

Meet-and-greet tickets were previously available but have sold out. Standard admission tickets and stargazer passes remain available as of Thursday afternoon.

The full lineup also includes Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, skaters who alongside Liu gained viral online fame as the “Blade Angels” trio, plus Jason Brown and duos Madison Chock and Evan Bates and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea.

The 2026 tour is scheduled to stop in 27 cities between April 16 and May 31.

Stars on Ice launched in the 1980s and merged in 2008 with competing tour Champions on Ice, which had been founded in the ‘60s by a Minneapolis entrepreneur.

More information is available at starsonice.com.

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Magellan Land Development and Pulte Homes want to build a 108-unit townhome development at the southeast intersection of Manning Avenue and 80th Street North in Stillwater.

Jason Palmby of Magellan submitted an application to city officials for a planned-unit development and preliminary plat to facilitate the development of 108 for-sale townhome units at the 16-acre site.

The Stillwater Planning Commission voted 5-0 Wednesday night to recommend approval of the project after adding a requirement that the developer fund a pedestrian crossing of 80th Street North. The Stillwater City Council is expected to vote on March 17.

Prices at the townhome development, called Brixton, are expected to range from mid-$400,000 to upper-$500,000 depending on the options selected by the buyer, said Jason Zimmerman, the city’s community development director.

Plans for the Brixton townhome development were “tweaked” after neighbors and planning commission members raised questions about the project at the commission’s Jan. 21 meeting, Zimmerman said. “They made some adjustments to provide a larger buffer from the Trellis Wedding venue to the east.”

A different developer, Bloomington-based Timberland Partners, had previously planned to build a 179-unit development, called Sundance Stillwater, on 24 acres in the area, “but they couldn’t make it work financially,” Zimmerman said. “This is now slightly smaller with fewer units.”

Plans call for the Brixton project to include a connection to the trail on Manning Avenue, and more than 50 percent of the site will be preserved as open space, he said. In addition, more than 210 trees will be planted at the site, he said.

Ponding in the development will serve as stormwater storage as well as a supply of water for the lawn-sprinkling system, according to the application. “This type of lawn sprinkling reduces the use of potable water from the city’s water supply.”

Brixton also will use “tree swales” to help manage stormwater runoff, the application states.

Developers expect to break ground this spring, and the first phase of home construction is expected to start later this year, Zimmerman said.

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