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Olabisi Johnson

Patriots Host Free Agent Visit

March 18th, 2023 at 12:18pm CST by Ely Allen

Whether bringing them in or watching them walk away, the Patriots have been one of the most active teams this spring in free agency. They saw wide receiver Jakobi Meyers depart and currently still have 11 other players from their 2022 roster on the free agent market. They were able to bring back others who might’ve left like cornerback Jonathan Jones, safety Jabrill Peppers, linebackers Mack Wilson and Raekwon McMillan, defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale, and long snapper Joe Cardona. And they’ve been active bringing in new players like wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, running back James Robinson, linebacker and core special teamer Chris Board, offensive tackles Riley Reiff and Calvin Anderson, and tight end Mike Gesicki.

The team continues to remain active as they hosted a large free agent visit this week, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN. The visit, which resulted in the signing of Board, included former Rams safety Taylor Rapp, former Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, former Dolphins defensive end Trey Flowers, and former Vikings wide receiver Olabisi Johnson.

Flowers is an interesting prospect for New England. The former Patriots fourth-round draft pick priced himself out of New England back in 2019 after three strong seasons that saw him total a combined 21.0 sacks. He signed a free agent deal with the Lions and continued his consistency with a seven-sack season, but his health and production have dropped off in the last three years. Flowers only appeared in four games last season, but if he can get healthy, he can provide a cheaper option as a pass rusher in a familiar system.

The Patriots already have Matt Judon and Josh Uche, who combined for 27.0 sacks in 2022. They also have Deatrich Wise, who totaled 7.5 sacks last season. Wise, though, is set to have an $8.7MM cap hit in 2023, and the Patriots have an out built into his contract that would allow them to release him with only $4.4MM of dead money. The move would free up $4.3MM in cap space this year and $7.2MM of cap space in 2024. A healthy Flowers has the potential to replace Wise’s lost production at a cheaper, more team-friendly rate.

It will be interesting to see how Van Ginkel’s free agency plays out. The fourth-year linebacker out of Wisconsin has had an interesting career in Miami but is coming off a bit of a down year. Despite starting several games in 2020 and 2021, Van Ginkel’s usage last year was much like that of Board’s, playing mostly on special teams and coming off the bench a bit on defense. If that’s where Van Ginkel’s future on the field is, the Patriots already filled that role with Board. Regardless, Van Ginkel shouldn’t have trouble finding a landing spot. According to Jordan Schultz of the Score, shortly after his visit to New England, Van Ginkel flew to Las Vegas for a visit with the Raiders, who have five linebackers from their 2022 roster in free agency and have only brought in one free agent linebacker.

With the retirement of long-time safety Devin McCourty, Rapp is another viable prospect. The former second-round pick out of Washington had some injury trouble early in his career but only missed one game in the past two years. Following a year where he reeled in four interceptions, Rapp had arguably the best season of his career, ranking as the 13th-best safety in the league, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). He’s a strong run defender, having begun his career as a strong safety for the Rams, but excels in coverage, as well. He’ll likely have other suitors, but I imagine he’s a top option to replace McCourty in New England.

The Patriots essentially went one-for-one after replacing Meyers with Smith-Schuster, but the team is also losing Nelson Agholor to free agency. Johnson would be an extremely cost-efficient option towards that end. If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard Bisi’s name in a while, it’s because he has missed each of the past two seasons with two separate ACL tears. Over his first two years in the league, though, Johnson was able to catch 45 passes for 483 yards and three touchdowns. He won’t win any WR1 battles anytime soon, but coming off two separate season-ending injuries, Johnson would be cost-effective and have decent upside.

There’s plenty that will continue to develop over the next few weeks, but the Patriots continue to be one of the more active teams in free agency this offseason. What do you think about any of these players joining New England? Who do you think they should sign? Let us know in the comments below.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/29/22

August 29th, 2022 at 4:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

Teams have until 3pm Tuesday to slash their rosters from 80 to 53 players. Here are the Monday moves teams are making en route to doing so. The list will be updated throughout the day.

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Los Angeles Chargers

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

New York Jets

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

Vikings WR Olabisi Johnson Suffers Torn ACL

August 28th, 2022 at 2:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

For the second consecutive year, Olabisi Johnson has suffered a season-ending knee injury. The Vikings wideout tore his ACL, as confirmed (on Twitter) by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. 

The injury occurred during Minnesota’s preseason finale, and affects the other knee than the one which caused him to miss the 2021 campaign. That comes as small consolation given the fact that the 25-year-old will have to begin the recovery process over again, after putting together an impressive training camp.

A seventh-round pick in 2019, Johnson started six games as a rookie. With a statline of 31/294/3, he showed plenty of potential, raising expectations for his second season. He remained healthy in 2020, but saw a drop in production. Nevertheless, last season’s injury was a major blow to his development, especially in the context of this latest one. The Colorado State alum will now head towards free agency at the end of his rookie contract having missed two full campaigns by the time it expires.

The Vikings will still have one of the league’s most dangerous WR duos in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen, of course; K.J. Osborn represents an intriguing third option at the position as well. Still, head coach Kevin O’Connell‘s impressions of Johnson will make his absence a notable one for the team’s offense.

Along with Johnson, defensive tackle T.Y. McGill suffered an injury last night. Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tweets that the 29-year-old has a right ankle sprain, and will miss one or two weeks.

Vikings Place RB Alexander Mattison On Reserve/COVID-19 List

December 13th, 2021 at 5:22pm CST by Ben Levine

The Vikings made a handful of roster moves today, and it sounds like they’re preparing to be without Alexander Mattison for next Monday’s game against the Bears. The team announced that they’ve placed their backup running back on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The team has claimed veteran Wayne Gallman off waivers to fill the roster spot.

Mattison has had a career season for the Vikings, thanks mostly to three productive starts where he filled in for starter Dalvin Cook. In 13 games this season, Mattison has collected 615 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns on 140 touches. He had more than 100 yards from scrimmage after starting Minnesota’s Week 13 loss, but he returned to a backup role last Thursday with Cook back in the lineup.

Gallman is an experienced option to turn to if Mattison misses time. The veteran finished 2020 with a career-high 682 rushing yards, and after getting signed (and cut) by the 49ers, he caught on with the Falcons in September. He proceeded to see time in six games for Atlanta this season, collecting 125 yards from scrimmage on 29 touches.The 27-year-old was cut by the Falcons on Saturday.

The Vikings made some additional moves, including placing wideout Dan Chisena on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The team also placed linebacker Ryan Connelly on injured reserve. The 26-year-old has seen time in 12 games this season, collecting three tackles. The Vikings also made a procedural move, activating Olabisi Johnson from the reserve/COVID-19 list. The wideout still remains on injured reserve.

Minor NFL Transactions:  12/1/21

December 1st, 2021 at 3:49pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Las Vegas Raiders

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Vikings WR Olabisi Johnson Tears ACL

July 31st, 2021 at 7:14pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Tough news out of Minnesota. Vikings receiver Olabisi Johnson tore an ACL during practice on Friday, a source told Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).

Also known as ‘Bisi,’ Johnson was drafted in the seventh-round in 2019, and he’s made pretty solid contributions for a 247th overall pick. He started six games as a rookie, finishing with 31 catches for 294 yards and three touchdowns. This past year he made three starts, racking up 14 catches for 189 yards. Needless to say, the Colorado State product will now spend his entire third season on injured reserve.

It’s awful news for the 24-year-old, and for a Vikings offense that doesn’t have a ton of receiver depth. Minnesota will now be extra glad that they decided to sign Dede Westbrook last week. They obviously Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson at the top, but things are pretty thin beyond them and Westbrook.

Chad Beebe could stand to get some extra looks as a result of the injury. Here’s to hoping Johnson makes a full and smooth recovery in time for the 2022 season, which will be the last of his rookie deal.

Vikings Work Out Jordan Matthews

September 20th, 2019 at 6:55pm CST by Sam Robinson

After falling short of making the 49ers’ 53-man roster, Jordan Matthews is attempting to catch on elsewhere. The veteran wideout auditioned for two NFC teams this week, with the Vikings giving him a look Friday after a Tuesday Saints tryout, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

The Vikings, who recently placed Josh Doctson on IR, also worked out receivers Deontay Burnett and Tanner Gentry, per ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin (on Twitter).

Only four receivers reside on Minnesota’s active roster. The two backups are currently Chad Beebe and seventh-round rookie Olabisi Johnson. It would be logical for the Vikes to make a move at receiver before the Saturday afternoon transaction deadline.

Matthews, who topped 800 yards in each of his first three seasons, has not been able to replicate the production of his first Eagles stay. He failed to surpass 300 yards during his Bills season in 2017 and finished with exactly 300 in 14 Eagles games last season. Were Matthews to find a gig this season, it would only be his age-27 campaign.

Vikings Sign Five Draft Picks

May 9th, 2019 at 9:31pm CST by Dallas Robinson

The Vikings made more selections (12) than any other team in the 2019 NFL draft, but they’re nearly done signing their entire rookie class. Only first-round center Garrett Bradbury and seventh-round long-snapper Austin Cutting remain unsigned after Minnesota recently announced the following first-year players have inked their rookie deals:

Mattison was considered something of an over-draft at the end of the third round, but he could see a path to playing time during his rookie campaign, as he’ll compete with Mike Boone, Ameer Abdullah, and Roc Thomas for work behind starting running back Dalvin Cook. Mattison, who stands 5’11” and 211 pounds, surpasses 1,000 rushing yards in each of the past two seasons, scoring a combined 29 touchdowns on the ground during that time. His four-year contract should be worth $3.342MM and come with a signing bonus of ~$822K.

Samia was one of four Oklahoma offensive lineman selected in last month’s draft. The four-year starter was named the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year in 2018, and also earned first-team All-Big 12 and second-team All-American nods. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com calls Samia a “very able zone blocker,” which could help him adjust to the NFL as the Vikings implement some form of new offensive consultant Gary Kubiak‘s zone-based scheme. Samia probably isn’t in line for starting work immediately, as Pat Elflein, Bradbury, and Josh Kline will handle Minnesota’s interior, but he’s likely penciled as the club’s top guard/center reserve.

First-round contracts often take a bit longer to work out, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Bradbury is still unsigned. But Cutting’s situations is tied to his status as an alum of the Air Force Academy. He hasn’t signed his rookie deal as he waits for the Air Force to decide if he’ll first need to fulfill his service requirement before playing in the NFL. President Trump is reportedly considering a waiver to allow service academy prospects to immediately play professional sports and delay their military obligations.