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Minnesota Vikings News & Rumors

Vikings To Sign S Xavier Woods

March 27th, 2021 at 1:01pm CST by Ben Levine

The Vikings continue to add to their secondary. This time, they’ve added former Cowboys safety Xavier Woods, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (via Twitter). It will be a one-year deal worth $2.25MM.

Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that the deal includes a $1.25MM base salary, a $500K signing bonus, and $500K in incentives, leading to a $1.75MM cap charge. Tomasson adds that the Vikings tried to get Woods on a minimum deal, but when the veteran rejected the offer, the organization made some moves to clear up money.

The 25-year-old had spent his entire career in Dallas, evolving from a little-known sixth-rounder into a consistent starter on defense. Woods started each of his 44 games for the Cowboys over the past three seasons,averaging more than 46 tackles, five passes defended, and more than one interception per season over that span. He also started a pair of playoff games for Dallas during the 2018 season.

Woods started each of his 15 games this past year, appearing in 89 percent of his team’s defensive snaps. However, the safety didn’t endear himself to Cowboys fans when he admitted that he didn’t play “full speed for 70 plays” following an October loss to the Browns, comments that proved to be the beginning of the end for Woods in Dallas.

The Vikings have been busy adding to their secondary this offseason, especially at cornerback. The team has added both Patrick Peterson and Mackensie Alexander to pair with Mike Hughes and 2020 draftees Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler.

NFL Contract Details: Fuller, Ford, Barr, Pats

March 26th, 2021 at 9:32pm CST by Sam Robinson

As free agency’s second wave continues, here are the latest contract details from around the league:

  • 49ers DE Dee Ford: Two years, $24MM. $11.6MM guaranteed, with $4.6MM of that sum due in 2022, David Lombardi and Matt Barrows of The Athletic note (subscription required). Ford’s 2021 guarantees ($7MM) include a $4MM base salary. Ford’s contract also includes a void year (2023).
  • Dolphins WR Will Fuller: One year, $10.63MM. Contract maxes out at $13.63MM, with $3MM available in performance-based incentives, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Fuller will receive a $9.6MM signing bonus and is due a $990K base salary.
  • Vikings LB Anthony Barr: One year, fully guaranteed $9.4MM. $8.4MM signing bonus, $1MM base salary. Barr’s cap number will drop to $6.1MM. Contract includes $3MM in sack-based incentives and features two void years, per the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling (all Twitter links).
  • Patriots T Trent Brown: Fully guaranteed $6.5MM base salary, up to $2MM in per-game roster bonuses, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Contract can climb to $11MM based on the roster bonuses, $1MM for 90% playing time, $1MM for a Pro Bowl nod and $500K in weight incentives. Brown must stay under 380 pounds, Vic Tafur of The Athletic tweets.
  • Bills DE Mario Addison: $4.1MM base salary in 2021, $3.25MM of that is guaranteed, Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic tweets. Addison is also due a $1.9MM roster bonus. His contract will now void after 2021.
  • Colts T Sam Tevi: One year, $2.51MM. $1MM guaranteed, $1.5MM base salary. The deal also includes $1MM in playing-time incentives, Wilson tweets.

Vikings To Bring Back Mackensie Alexander

March 26th, 2021 at 6:49pm CST by Sam Robinson

After a season in Cincinnati, Mackensie Alexander will return to the Twin Cities. The veteran cornerback agreed to terms with the Vikings on Friday night, according to his agent (Twitter link).

Alexander joined Trae Waynes in moving from the Vikings to the Bengals last year but will return to the team that drafted him in the 2016 second round. The Vikings made Alexander an offer during the legal tampering period; 10 days later, the slot corner committed to come back to Minnesota.

It’s a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum, Courtney Cronin of ESPN.com tweets, marking a considerable reduction from Alexander’s 2020 salary.

Although the Clemson product will wear a familiar uniform next season, he will mostly have new teammates in Minnesota’s secondary. Waynes is still under contract with the Bengals, who gave him a long-term deal while agreeing with Alexander on a one-year pact worth $4MM last March, and Xavier Rhodes will return to the Colts. The Vikings still have Mike Hughes, but their cornerback corps now features recent acquisition Patrick Peterson and 2020 draftees Jeff Gladney and Cameron Dantzler.

Following the Vikings’ defense falling to a Mike Zimmer-era low point, their coverage corps will feature more experience in 2021. Alexander, 27, worked as a nickel cog under Zimmer during his first Minnesota stint. Last season, Alexander started a career-high 13 games with the Bengals; Pro Football Focus graded the five-year vet as a middle-of-the-pack cornerback. He will be back in a familiar scheme next season.

Cardinals Trade C Mason Cole To Vikings

March 25th, 2021 at 1:38pm CST by Zachary Links

The Cardinals have traded center Mason Cole to the Vikings, according to Mark Sanchez of ESPN (on Twitter). The news has also been confirmed by NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter links), who adds that Cole may be shifted to one of the guard spots.

In exchange for Cole, the Vikings will send a sixth-round pick to Arizona. It’ll be Minnesota’s compensatory pick at the end of the sixth round — the No. 223 overall choice.

Cole, a Michigan product, has appeared in 46 games with 32 starts for the Cardinals. The 2018 third-rounder was first-string 14 times last year, but the advanced metrics didn’t look fondly upon his work. Cole finished out with a 54.4 overall Pro Football Focus grade, ranking him 31st out of 36 qualified centers. After acquiring Rodney Hudson, the Cardinals were no longer in need of Cole’s services.

Cole is slated to make upwards of $2MM in 2021, the final season of his four-year rookie deal. That’s significantly cheaper than, say, Nick Easton, who doesn’t seem all that interested in a Vikings return.

Vikings To Re-Sign Ameer Abdullah

March 24th, 2021 at 11:33am CST by Zachary Links

The Vikings have agreed to a new deal with Ameer Abdullah (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). Terms of the deal are not yet known,

Abdullah had lots of hype coming out of Nebraska in 2015. The Lions’ second-round pick was reasonably productive as a rookie, averaging 4.2 yards per carry plus added 25 catches for 183 yards. His follow-up season was mostly lost to injury and he was unable to reassert himself in 2017, as he averaged just 3.3 yards per tote. In 2018, he found his way to the rival Vikings as a backup RB.

Abdullah, 28 in June, has only seen 31 carries across two-years-and-change in Minnesota. Still, he’s suited up for every possible game across the last two years with much of his time spent on special teams. He also serves as the Vikes’ main kick returner with a career average of 26.4 yards per attempt. This year, he may see more time behind Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison now that Mike Boone is out of the picture.

Health Issue Holding Up Giants’ Kyle Rudolph Deal

March 23rd, 2021 at 5:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Giants’ contract agreement with longtime Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph is no longer a certainty. An injury issue emerged during Rudolph’s physical, and the sides are determining how to proceed, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets.

Following the physical, the Giants’ medical staff expressed concern about a foot issue, and Giants doctors believe Rudolph will require surgery, according to Garafolo. This could scuttle Rudolph’s two-year Giants accord. The sides previously agreed to terms, but Rudolph has not signed a contract.

This deal does not appear to be dead, however. Rudolph is still in New York and will meet with the Giants tonight, Garafolo tweets. Rather than send Rudolph back to free agency, the Giants may move forward despite the veteran needing to undergo surgery.

Rudolph agreed to a two-year, $12MM Giants pact that can max out at $14MM. However, after they agreed to terms with Rudolph, the Giants have been aggressive in free agency. The team has authorized high-end deals for Kenny Golladay and Adoree’ Jackson. The Giants also already have a No. 1 tight end, with Evan Engram going into a contract year.

A foot injury ended Rudolph’s 2020 season. The Vikings placed him on IR ahead of Week 17, doing so after their longtime tight end had missed the previous three games.

Draft Pick Updates: Vikings, Saints, Raiders, Patriots

March 20th, 2021 at 8:10am CST by Ben Levine

The Vikings are down a draft pick. Per Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (on Twitter), the Vikings have forfeited a seventh-round pick in this year’s draft (No. 242).

“A mistake was made, we take responsibility and we respect the league’s decision and will move forward,” general manager Rick Spielman said in a statement.

Per Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com, the punishment is regarding an infraction from 2019. There was some kind of violation of a practice squad player’s contract, but it’s uncertain who the player was or what the violation was.

Three Vikings executives were also fined $10K each, per Smith.

Some more draft notes from around the NFL:

  • Neither the Saints nor Raiders will lose a draft due to violations of the COVID-19 policies, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com. “They are not forfeiting them,” McCarthy said. “Neither team will lose those picks.” According to the reporter, there were rumblings that New Orleans would lose a seventh-round pick following a “mask-less locker room celebration,” and the Raiders were expected to lose a sixth-rounder due to multiple violations. While the NFL didn’t provide any context on their decision, Florio assumes both organizations appealed their penalties and were successful.
  • When the NFL announced the compensatory picks for the 2021 draft, the Patriots did not have a fifth-round pick. However, a source confirmed to PFT that New England had indeed received a fifth-rounder in the upcoming draft. According to Smith, the NFL “realized a mistake in its calculation of the complex formula for determining compensatory picks,” leading to the extra Patriots selection.
  • Thanks to the aforementioned compensatory-pick audit by the NFL, the Falcons are also moving two slots in the fifth round, according to Smith. Further, while the NFL only allows the addition of 32 compensatory picks each year, they’ve made an exception this time around. Thanks to the additional Patriots draft pick, the Bears normally wouldn’t have received that final compensatory pick; the NFL and NFL Players Association allowed Chicago to ultimately keep that selection.

Vikings Sign CB Patrick Peterson

March 17th, 2021 at 7:37pm CST by Rory Parks

Patrick Peterson is moving on from Arizona. The Vikings have agreed to a one-year, $10MM deal with the decorated cornerback, as Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (via Twitter).

Now 30 (31 in July), Peterson is one of the most accomplished defenders in Cardinals history and is a member of the Hall of Fame’s All-Decade team for the 2010s. He is not, however, the player he once was. He was hit with a six-game PED suspension to start the 2019 campaign, and after Pro Football Focus graded Peterson fifth among corners in 2018, he slipped to 41st in ’19 and 83rd in ’20. Quarterbacks throwing in Peterson’s direction last season collectively completed passes at a 67% clip — nearly 10 points higher than they did in 2018.

But he did pick off three passes in 2020, to go along with eight passes defensed. He has also been tremendously durable throughout his 10-year career, as the only games he has missed were due to the aforementioned suspension.

He joins a young CB room that had been fronted by a trio of recent early-round picks. Unlike Peterson, 2018 first-rounder Mike Hughes has not been able to stay healthy and has only suited up for 24 of a possible 48 regular season games in his pro career, while 2020 first-rounder Jeff Gladney struggled a bit in his rookie campaign. Cameron Dantzler, a third-round choice last year, played reasonably well as a rookie, but the group definitely needed a veteran influence like Peterson, an eight-time Pro Bowler and three-time First Team All-Pro.

Minnesota did have an offer out to Mackensie Alexander, but the Peterson signing could foreclose the possibility of an Alexander-Vikings reunion.

Mike Boone Won’t Re-Sign With Vikings

March 16th, 2021 at 9:53pm CST by Rory Parks

Though the Vikings wanted to keep RB Mike Boone in the fold, it seems they will be unable to do so. Per Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (via Twitter), Boone is prepared to sign elsewhere.

Minnesota non-tendered Boone this afternoon, thereby making him an unrestricted free agent. The club had hoped that it would be able to re-sign the former UDFA to a contract worth less money than an RFA tender, but Boone is seeking greener pastures.

It’s hard to blame him. The Vikings have Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison ahead of Boone on the depth chart, so he would have again been relegated to the team’s RB3 post. He has done well in that role, with a 5.3 YPC average and four TDs over his first three pro seasons, but he has only managed 71 career carries (including just 11 last year).

Per Tomasson, Boone is looking for a team that will give him a chance to be an RB2. He may have to wait until the dust settles on the first wave of free agency, but he should get that opportunity.

Keanu Neal Drawing Significant Interest

March 16th, 2021 at 8:37pm CST by Rory Parks

Free agent safety Keanu Neal is attracting significant attention on the open market. Per veteran NFL reporter Josina Anderson, the Cowboys, Jets, Lions, Vikings, Colts, and Panthers have all expressed interest in the Falcons’ defender (Twitter link).

After seeing his 2018-19 campaigns almost completely wiped out by injury, Neal managed to suit up for 15 games (14 starts) in 2020. He wasn’t brilliant, but he did pick up 100 tackles while grading out as Pro Football Focus’ 33rd-best safety out of 94 qualifiers. The fact that he was able to stay healthy and will only be 26 when the regular season starts is certainly driving the interest in his services.

After all, prior to suffering a torn ACL in the 2018 opener — he also sustained a torn Achilles during the third game of the 2019 season — Neal was establishing himself as one of the better young safeties in the game. He was selected by Atlanta with the No. 17 overall pick in the 2016 draft, and he racked up 106 tackles in 14 starts in his rookie campaign.

He built on that performance in 2017, starting all 16 games and piling up 116 tackles en route to a Pro Bowl nod. He moved with fluidity and demonstrated a nose for the football, as evidenced by his high tackle totals and the eight fumbles that he forced over his first two seasons in the league. Though he did not force any fumbles in 2020, nor was he as strong in coverage as he was before the injury trouble, there is reason to believe that he can return to his previous levels of performance.

Dallas, of course, has long been looking for a long-term solution at safety, while the other clubs Anderson mentions also have clear openings on the back end of their secondaries. The Jets, who recently hit Marcus Maye with the franchise tag, are an interesting fit, as GM Joe Douglas has been said to be opposed to paying big money to safeties. A Maye-Neal tandem would be a talented but expensive pairing, though trading Maye would certainly be a possibility.

One way or another, it does not sound like Neal will be returning to the Falcons, who are also preparing to bid adieu to safety Damontae Kazee and who have already parted ways with DB Ricardo Allen.

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