Speedy Ex-Vikings WR Picks the Chargers
Remember the Minnesota Vikings’ Jalen Reagor experiment?
Speedy Ex-Vikings WR Picks the Chargers
He’s on his way back to the Los Angeles Chargers, his 2024 employer.
The team announced the move on Wednesday, the third day of NFL free agency. Reagor will rejoin this Chargers’ WR room:
- Ladd McConkey
- Quentin Johnston
- Derius Davis
- Brenden Rice
- Jalen Reagor
- Dez Fitzpatrick
- Jaylen Johnson
Financial terms of the deal were not readily available, but the cash is likely small by NFL standards.
Reagor joined Los Angeles last September and remained on the roster the whole season. He played in 8 games and tallied 7 receptions for 100 yards. He returned punts in Minnesota and kicks for the Patriots in 2023 but did not do much returning as a Charger last season.
In August 2022, Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah traded a 2023 7th-Round draft pick and a 2024 conditional 5th-Rounder for Reagor to the Philadelphia Eagles, hoping to squeeze untapped potential from the playmaker.
The young playmaker never really took off as a Viking. In fact, the lasting memory of Reagor heading into the 2023 offseason was two blundered routes against the Indianapolis Colts that caused interceptions. All told, Reagor tabulated 8 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown as a Viking.
Of all 31 NFLers who returned 15+ punts in 2022, Reagor’s 6.2 yards per return ranked 31st in the league. His production flatly didn’t impress, and accordingly, he was theorized on the roster bubble heading into 2023 training camp, culminating in the late-summer exit.
The Vikings waived Reagor on August 30th, 2023, and the ex-Philadelphia Eagle latched onto the Patriots practice squad the day after. He produced an impressive 2023 training camp and preseason for the Vikings, plopping him smack dab on the middle of Minnesota’s roster bubble. Most Vikings fans believed he did enough that summer to make the regular season roster, while some national voices speculated a possible waiver, which was ultimately correct.
To hedge the bet on the deal’s price tag, Adofo-Mensah conducted a trade during the 2023 NFL Draft that netted a 2024 5th-Rounder from the Kansas City Chiefs, making the original Reagor deal next to free when the ledger balanced.
Reagor turned 26 in January.
He’ll presumably vie for a roster spot in Los Angeles this summer.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His MIN obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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