The Minnesota Vikings agreed to terms on a contract with cornerback Jeff Okudah on Tuesday, adding the third overall pick from the 2020 draft whose career has been sidetracked by injuries.
Okudah was limited to six games last season for the Houston Texans. He suffered a hip injury while playing on special teams in the opener. Okudah played in 2023 for the Atlanta Falcons, who acquired him for a fifth-round draft pick in a trade with the Detroit Lions. He played in only 10 of a possible 33 games over his first two years with the Lions, hampered by hamstring, shoulder and Achilles tendon injuries. He tore the Achilles tendon in the 2021 opener and missed the entire season.
Okudah, who played collegiately at Ohio State, was the first defensive back to crack the top three of the NFL draft since Shawn Springs was picked third by Seattle in 1997. Houston’s Derek Stingley followed in 2022 at third overall.
Okudah has two interceptions and 14 passes defensed in 44 career games. He likely will slot in the depth chart at cornerback behind Byron Murphy, Isaiah Rodgers and Mekhi Blackmon.
The Vikings also agreed to terms on a contract with wide receiver Tim Jones, who primarily played on special teams for the Jacksonville Jaguars and appeared in all 17 games in each of the last three seasons. He went undrafted in 2021 out of Southern Mississippi and spent his rookie year on the Jags’ practice squad.
The Vikings have been the NFL's busiest team in free agency spending big to bolster both the offensive and defensive lines, along with revamping their defensive backfield.
Quarterback situation is still unclear
Still unanswered? What the team plans to do with the quarterback position either in front of, or behind, last year's rookie J.J. McCarthy with rumors persisting that former Packer and Jet QB Aaron Rodgers is holding out on a decision until he finds out if the Vikings are actually interested in bringing him to Minnesota.
So, what are the chances we see Rodgers wearing purple, like his Packer predecessor Brett Favre did?
"I don't think that the percentage is super high," says Purple Insider Matthew Coller on the WCCO Morning News Tuesday. "But it's definitely not zero because there's enough reporting out there, especially from The Athletic, Diana Russini is their NFL insider, and Mike Silver has covered Aaron Rodgers' entire career, and both of them have reported that the Vikings are considering it. And it's up to (coach) Kevin O'Connell whether they want to go after Aaron Rodgers. But there is Some logistics there called money, which I'm sure Aaron Rodgers wants a lot of it. I don't think that he's just gonna come here and play for free.
That means the team needs to consider whether they really want J.J. McCarthy, their first round draft pick, to sit for another year, or deal with what Rodgers brings to town.
"Do they want to deal with the circus that comes along with Aaron Rodgers because he's not just a quarterback, but he's also a political figure as well," says Coller. "You know, Netflix documentaries and all sorts of different things, and interviews on national shows where he says a lot of different things that have implications with your locker room."
Coller adds Rodgers is not the same quarterback that he used to be when he was tormenting Viking fans in the green and gold.
"He has only won 13 of his last 34 starts in the NFL since 2021, which makes you wonder if he would be as great as I think the few people that want him think that he would be," says Coller. "So, personally, I'm not for this idea of the Vikings going after Aaron Rodgers, but the longer that the Vikings don't come out and say that J.J. McCarthy is their guy, the longer we will speculate."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.