Nick Vigil is joining the Vikings. NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero reports (via Twitter) that the free agent linebacker is signing with Minnesota. It will be a one-year deal that includes $1MM in guaranteed money. Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that the deal is worth $1.75MM, and that total could increase to as much as $2.3MM.
The 2016 third-round pick out of Utah State spent the first four seasons of his career with the Bengals, including a 2019 campaign where he started 16 games and compiled a career-high 111 tackles. Vigil had to settle for a one-year deal with the Chargers last offseason, and he also had to settle into more of a backup role with his new team. The 27-year-old ultimately started only two of his 15 games in 2020, finishing with 50 tackles and a pair of sacks.
In Minnesota, Vigil will be reunited with senior defensive assistant Paul Guenther; the veteran coach was the Bengals defensive coordinator during Vigil’s first two seasons in the NFL. This is the second notable linebacker move the Vikings have made today; the team also made major adjustments to Anthony Barr‘s contract.
Should be both two-down starter when they start three LB’s and primary back-up for both Barr and Kendricks, replacing both Ben Gedeon and, mostly, Eric Wilson. Probably reduces 2020 4th rounder Troy Dye to pass coverage downs, only.
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So Eric Wilson is not coming back?
It was never very likely that Wilson would be coming back. His tackling and run defense were awful last year, and his splash plays in coverage and rushing the passer pretty much dried up by Game 9. I don’t even think, though this might be a minority opinion, that they would have tried hard to bring him back if they’d lost Barr. The Tomlinson, Weatherly, and Vigil signings show that Zimmer is laser-focused on fixing the team’s run defense, first and foremost, and that is not Wilson’s strong suit.