The Vikings shuffled their roster ahead of Tuesday’s start to their mandatory minicamp.
The team announced the signing of tight end Giovanni Ricci. Linebacker Matt Harmon was waived in a corresponding move.
Ricci signed with the Panthers after going undrafted in 2020 and made his regular season debut the next year. He had nine catches for 102 yards in 36 games for the team over the next three seasons and he was also credited with 19 tackles while playing on special teams.
Ricci spent time with the Browns and Patriots last year, but did not appear in any games.
T.J. Hockenson, Josh Oliver, sixth-round pick Gavin Bartholomew, Ben Yurosek, and Bryson Nesbit are the other tight ends in Minnesota.
Free agent running back Cam Akers will participate in the Saints’ minicamp on a tryout basis, Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football reports.
The Saints have Kendre Miller, Devin Neal and Clyde Edwards-Helaire behind Alvin Kamara at the position.
Akers, 25, spent last season with the Texans and Vikings. Between the two teams, he rushed for 444 yards and two touchdowns on 104 carries and added 14 catches for 68 yards and three touchdowns.
The Rams made Akers a second-round pick in 2020, and he played in Los Angeles until the team traded him to the Vikings during the 2023 season. He signed with the Texans last offseason, and Houston traded him to Minnesota on Oct. 15.
In his career, Akers has 502 carries 2,025 yards and 13 touchdowns and 52 catches for 388 yards and four touchdowns.
There’s no denying cornerback Jaire Alexander’s talent. For the Packers, it was simply a matter of Alexander missing 20 games over the last two regular seasons.
Someone else will pounce on the defensive back, whose skills are undeniable. Now that he’s a free agent, and given that he might have some hard feelings for the team that drafted him in 2018 and cut him on Monday, he could be inclined to join one of Green Bay’s division rivals.
Between the Lions, Vikings, and Bears, Minnesota makes the most sense. Beyond needing a boost in the defensive backfield, having Alexander on the team means not having to worry about Alexander covering receiver Justin Jefferson.
They haven’t faced each other since Week 17 of the 2022 season, when Alexander held Jefferson to one catch for 15 yards and mocked his Griddy celebration. That season began with Jefferson catching nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2023, Jefferson was injured for the first game between the NFC North rivals. For the second, Alexander was suspended after forcing his way into the captains’ gathering in his hometown of Charlotte and nearly screwing up Green Bay’s decision after winning the toss.
Last year, Alexander was injured for both Vikings-Packers games.
Maybe they could end up being teammates in 2025. The projected Vikings’ starters on the outside are Isaiah Rodgers, Jr. and Mekhi Blackmon. Byron Murphy Jr. is the starting slot corner. Alexander, when healthy, is better than any of them.
And now the Vikings — along with all other teams — have a chance to sign him.
We’ve seen this movie before. We may end up seeing it again today.
By getting the word out early Monday that the Packers will be releasing veteran cornerback Jaire Alexander, the Packers could be trying to beat the bushes for a trade partner.
It has happened many times. And here’s how it goes: The new of the planned termination is leaked. The phone rings. A deal gets done before the player becomes a free agent.
The question becomes whether another team wants to secure Alexander’s services at a base salary of $16.15 million in 2025 and $18.15 million in 2026. Would the Packers pay some of it in order to essentially buy a draft pick?
Then there’s the question of whether Alexander would even welcome a trade. Even without a no-trade clause, a new team may not want to inherit a headache in the form of someone who doesn’t want to be there.
Still, making it known early in the day gives the Packers until 4:00 p.m. ET to get a deal done. Which would ensure that Alexander won’t end up signing with, say, the Vikings or the Lions or the Bears.
Defensive tackle Harrison Phillips had a front-row seat for quarterback Josh Allen’s first few years in the league, as the two were in the same 2018 Bills draft class.
Now with the Vikings, Phillips is watching the ascendance of another young quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. Phillips noted that he can see some parallels, which he talked about in a press conference earlier this week.
“I’ve commented before about [how] he came to me the week after his injury to try to learn more about the defense,” Phillips said, via Will Ragatz of SI.com “Asking those great questions. He’s really stepped up in the personal power role [this year]. In the locker room, I’m constantly seeing him go up to new guys, to new players, dapping each other up, sitting on the couches, and just having conversation. Where last year it was off to rehab, off to meetings. He understands that we have to build a family here and that you can’t have unique results without unique relationships.
“And then man, he’s got some confidence. And he reminds me of Josh Allen when I was with him in Buffalo, coming into his own and understanding the power that he has to lead this organization, and he’s doing a fantastic job doing that.”
McCarthy has a long way to go to get to a similar level of performance as the 2024 AP MVP. But that kind of name drop from Phillips illustrates that McCarthy is going about things the right way this offseason.
