Safety is a spot where the retooled Vikings possess both talent and continuity, with Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris back. But the team is still seeking depth.
The Vikings are set to work out Jahleel Addae, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. A longtime Chargers starter, Addae spent last season as a rotational player with the Texans. This will be Addae’s age-30 season. The Texans passed on bringing him back in free agency, instead signing former Chiefs and Browns safety Eric Murray.
Despite Addae starting just three games last season — the fewest since his rookie year — he played 48% of Houston’s snaps. For his career, Addae has started 59 games since becoming a Bolts UDFA success story. Last season, he intercepted a career-high two passes and recorded 45 tackles.
Minnesota has seen extensive turnover in its secondary this year, cutting Xavier Rhodes and seeing three other DBs — Trae Waynes, Mackensie Alexander and Jayron Kearse — defect in free agency. The Vikings may be eyeing an additional veteran presence to work in a secondary that will feature first-round rookie Jeff Gladney and potentially multiple other first-year DBs playing key roles.
At safety, the Vikings’ depth consists of two Day 3 picks — sixth-rounder Josh Metellus and seventh-rounder Brian Cole. The COVID-19-transformed NFL landscape stands to make it difficult for rookies this year, so veterans like Addae may well benefit.
Also a potential replacement for Harris or Safety depth piece when Harris leaves following this season.
He could be a good piece to cover the middle of the field. This will allow Barr to blitz more often on passing downs, as he’s a liability in coverage. As the article mentions, Minnesota lacks experienced depth at the position
Coming from a chargers fan…. good luck with that! He is just absolutely awful and a COMPLETE liability in coverage
I’m very surprised at prognosticators’ apparent lack of knowledge about the Vikings. They finished 10-6 last year and I thought they could have easily won 3 more games. Losing Diggs creates a hole but none of the prognosticators mention that Diggs played without a healthy Thielen much of the season and he will be back in 2020. Rhodes was one of the worst CBs in the league the last couple of years. Waynes was acceptable last year but wasn’t starting until Hughes went down. Alexander did have a good year. I anticipate growing pains at CB but think Hughes, Hill, Gladney and Danzler will, by the end of the season be considered an upgrade. I’ll miss Griffen and wish him well but other teams were hardly knocking down the door trying to get him despite a solid history. Odenigbo looks like an up and coming talent and I think the pass rush will be a key to protecting the DBs. I wonder if they use Barr to blitz more often, as he did in his first 2 years. Cook is a good RB but Mattison is not far behind. I think the biggest loss is Pierce opting out as he would have been an improvement on Joseph who seemed to lose something last year. I also think that Rodgers isn’t as effective under the new coach’s system as he has been in past years so his influence is somewhat diminished. I see the Vikings going anywhere from 12-4 to 10-6.