Vikings Sign Latest Reclamation Project
By now, it has become abundantly clear that Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah likes to seek out failed former high draft picks to see if they can be fixed. News broke on Tuesday that Minnesota and Jeff Okudah had agreed to terms as the Vikings signed their latest reclamation project. These types of signings have become a regular occurrence under Adofo-Mensah’s leadership.
Vikings Sign Latest Reclamation Project
The names are piling with the Vikings trying their luck with players like Jalen Reagor (first round), Ross Blacklock (second round), Jerry Tillery (first round), and Jamin Davis (first round) all brought in after failing to live up to their draft placement.
Adding Okudah to this list fits with Adofo-Mensah’s modus operandi. The man seems determined to find value in former high-round draft picks that haven’t worked. It will be down to Brian Flores and his team of coaches to try and help turn Okudah’s career around.
So far, Adofo-Mensah’s plan hasn’t produced much success in Minnesota. Tillery has probably been the most successful, as he carved out a role on the Vikings’ defense last season. He played in all 17 regular season games and amassed 467 (41%) defensive snaps, although he failed to register a single sack as the interior pass rush specialist.
Tillery signed a one-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in free agency. The others came in, saw minimal playing time, and were gone again. Can Okudah be the one that finally clicks?
The Story So Far
Minnesota’s divisional rivals — the Detroit Lions — spent the third overall pick on Okudah. Not a decision that the organization remembers fondly. Okudah was considered the best CB prospect in the 2020 draft, but injuries blighted his career in Detroit. The Lions chose to cut their losses after three seasons and traded him to the Atlanta Falcons for a fifth-round pick in 2023.
After one year in Atlanta, he signed for the Houston Texans on a one-year deal, where injuries surfaced again with a spell on Injured Reserve with a hip injury.
Okudah has played just 44 games across five seasons in the league, which has been a big part of the problem. However, glimpses of what caused him to have such high draft stock have been all too fleeting. He has never achieved an overall grade of 60 from Pro Football Focus for any of his five seasons in the league – 59.4 in 2022 is his highest mark.
Arguably, his best day in the league came at US Bank Stadium in 2022, when he used his physicality to help the Lions shut down Justin Jefferson for just 3 catches for 14 yards. He has safety help like every CB who faces Jefferson, but it’s the standard that the Vikings will want to try and recreate consistently.
Where Okudah Fits in the Vikings CB Room
At the moment, it looks like Byron Murphy is at corner for the Vikings, and then it’s anyone’s guess. There’s a list of guys for whom you can make a case, but none have ever been regular starting CB.
Isaiah Rodgers was signed on the back of an excellent year in Philadelphia as the third CB, Mekhi Blackmon is coming from missing the whole of the 2024 season through injury after starting a handful of games in a struggling Vikings secondary in 2023, and Dwight McGlothern is the undrafted rookie from last season viewed to have potential but is still relatively untested.
Okudah has every chance to compete for a major role in the Vikings’ secondary, especially if the Vikings don’t make another addition at cornerback. The training camp/preseason battle for places on the CB depth chart promises to be interesting. The Vikings lack a big, physical corner, which can show up when they come up against big, physical receivers. The stars may align for Okudah to land in the right spot and for Adofo-Mensah to strike gold with his failed high-draft pick recruitment philosophy.
Time will tell.
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