Sep 11, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jalen Reagor (5) and cornerback Kris Boyd. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports.
Two days ago, it was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Now, former Minnesota Vikings cornerback Kris Boyd has hopped conferences for a tryout, auditioning for the Tennesee Titans roster on Thursday.
The Arizona Cardinals released Boyd about two weeks ago, and it may not take long for the defender to latch on elsewhere.
The Titans worked out a bevy of players, as KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweeted Thursday, “Titans worked out Kris Boyd, Marlon Davidson, JoJo Domann, Joseph Jones, Lachavious Simmons, Josh Thompson and Jonathan Ward.”
Tennessee is a bizarre team through six games, not unlike the Vikings, owning a 2-4 record and resembling a damn good football team at times and producing like a bottom-feeder at others. Thankfully for its sake, Mike Vrabel is one of the sport’s best head coaches, and it is unlikely the Titans record will become too rotten.
Boyd played in four Cardinals games this season, although all snaps occurred on special teams, Boyd’s niche. He didn’t see the field on defense in Arizona and will now hope a deal comes together in Tennessee.
For the Vikings in 2022, Boyd played just 37 defensive snaps, head coach Kevin O’Connell’s first year on the job, but was a keynote special teams performer. He was on the field 82% of the time for special teams.
The Vikings discovered Boyd in the 7th Round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and he’s played 58 games since. Boyd was utilized frequently in 2020 on defense — 343 defensive snaps — but aside from that campaign is mostly a special teams asset and a damn good one, at that. He survived the Vikings regime change from Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and Kevin O’Connell 19 months ago — for a while, anyway.
If signed by the Titans, Boyd would join the cornerback room:
Former Vikings cornerback Tay Gowan joined the Titans practice squad on October 9th.
The Titans defense ranks 19th per DVOA through Week 6. Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is injured with a high ankle sprain, and after the bye week, the club is expected to pivot to Malik Willis at QB1. Rookie Will Levis is also available if the Willis experiment flops.
Tennessee also employs former Vikings defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson on its practice squad.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.