Vikings Predicted to Sign Major Free Agent Defender

The Minnesota Vikings are one of the most exciting teams in this year’s free agency for two reasons. For one, quarterback Sam Darnold will be one of the first dominoes to fall. Will he return or take one of the other QB1 spots? The other item is the long list of impending free agents, with the entire secondary and running back Aaron Jones scheduled to depart.

Vikings Predicted to Sign Major Free Agent Defender

That, of course, leads to a ton of holes on the roster, some premier in-house free agents, and significant available cap space to fill those voids. Long story short, the Vikings need a bunch of new players, and they have the money to be major players in free agency.

One of the players who is close to the top of the wishlist is Eagles defender Milton Williams. The defensive interior lineman would be one of the biggest possible splashes the Vikings could make in the fourth offseason under general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

ESPN assembled a list of six of the top free agents and predicted their free agency journey.

For Williams, the crew predicted the Broncos (three years, $73 million) and the Patriots (four years, $97 million) to make an offer for the defender. The Vikings were willing to hand him a four-year deal worth $96 million, so slightly less than New England’s theoretical deal.

Kevin Seifert wrote: “The Vikings tried to sign free agent Christian Wilkins last season to give them some juice on the interior of the defensive line, and they’ll take another swing here. Over the past two seasons, they have 91 sacks — but only nine have come from defensive tackles.”

Indeed, the interior pass rush has been subpar for an entire decade. The days of Kevin Williams and John Randle are long gone. Since Mike Zimmer’s arrival in 2014, the Vikings have emphasized run stoppers in the middle of the line with Linval Joseph, Michael Pierce, Dalvin Tomlinson, and Harrison Phillips.

A guy like Sheldon Richardson is the lone exception, but he hardly matched Williams’ and Randle’s All-Pro level. The edge rushers have been excellent in the Twin Cities in most seasons during that stretch, but a lack of interior threat allows offenses to use gameplans to neutralize those edge defenders. Having Williams squaring up a guard would change the equation.

ESPN’s insider Dan Graziano picked the Vikings as Williams’ next team. “It was between Minnesota and Denver, and the fourth year on the deal and the stronger guarantee push this toward the Vikings. This is also a team that won 14 games last season, and while there’s a lot to like about Denver’s trajectory, the Vikings are already a contender. They give Williams the best chance to get back to the Super Bowl soon.”

First of all, it’s nice to see that the Vikings are viewed as contenders.

Williams would be a phenomenal get for defensive coordinator Brian Flores, although the price tag of $24 million per season surely is costly.

The defender came into the league as a third-rounder in 2021. He played a rotational role on Philadelphia’s stacked defensive line in all four seasons with the club and registered 11.5 sacks and 132 tackles through 67 games and 19 starts. Williams specializes in getting after the quarterback but can hold his own against the run, too.

He just produced a season with 54 QB pressures and 39 QB hurries despite playing in a timeshare with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis in Philadelphia. Both of those numbers would’ve ranked him second among all Vikings defenders in 2024, behind only Jonathan Greenard, and both ranked him inside the top ten of all interior defenders in the NFL.

“To play January football, there’s a certain way you’ve got to play. You’ve got to be able to control the ball, and be able to get after the passer with just four. We need to get better and will,” Adofo-Mensah told the media at the annual draft combine.

The Vikings can legally talk to his representation on Monday and sign him and other players to contracts on Wednesday.

Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Pro Football Reference helped with this article.

Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt