The Vikings signed second-round linebacker Jake Golday to his four-year rookie deal on Tuesday, the team announced. Minnesota now has its entire nine-player draft class under contract.
The Vikings selected Golday with the 51st overall pick.
He played defensive end for two seasons at Central Arkansas before switching to linebacker. In 2024, he transferred to Cincinnati.
In earning All-Big 12 honors in 2025, Golday totaled 105 tackles, six tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, three pass breakups and a forced fumble last season.
The Vikings previously signed first-round defensive tackle Caleb Banks, third-round defensive tackle Domonique Orange, third-round offensive tackle Caleb Tiernan, third-round safety Jakobe Thomas, fifth-round fullback Max Bredeson, fifth-round cornerback Charles Demmings, sixth-round running back Demond Claiborne and seventh-round center Gavin Gerhardt.
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Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores has a tiger by the tail. And he’s pulling it, hard.
Via Daniel Kaplan in an item published by Front Office Sports, Flores will be amending his complaint against the NFL and multiple teams on Wednesday to include a claim for retaliation. The alleged basis for the retaliation is Flores’s opposition to the NFL’s enforcement of its arbitration provisions in employment agreements.
The argument is simply stated, even if it will be difficult to prove. He’ll argue that his head-coaching prospects have been blocked by his aggressive, and to date successful, assault on the NFL’s habit of requiring coaches to agree to contracts that require all disputes to be resolved by arbitration ultimately controlled by the league.
Flores has secured multiple victories on that front, culminating in a federal appeals court scrapping the league’s longstanding practice of forcing coaches to submit to an in-house procedure that has the head of the organization — the Commissioner — ultimately responsible for processing and deciding claims made against the NFL and/or its teams.
Flores, who continues to be one of the most successful defensive coordinators in the NFL, has been unable to get a second head-coaching job since being fired by the Dolphins after the 2021 season. (His pending lawsuit includes a retaliation claim against the Texans for not hiring him in the aftermath of the filing of his race discrimination case against the NFL and multiple teams.)
Kaplan also reports that Flores has sought information from all 32 teams about their hiring practices, now that the discovery process is moving forward.
Flores filed his lawsuit in early 2022. For most of the past four-plus years, the case has been bogged down as to the threshold question of whether the claims will be processed in arbitration, or in open court.
It’s gutsy, to say the least, for Flores to keep pushing these issues as aggressively as he is. Businesses like the NFL don’t like to be sued. It will make it harder for Flores to get another head-coaching job, even if he’s been kept out due to improper motivations.
Still, if he truly believes in his position, he’s doing the right thing by refusing to back down.
That said, proving retaliation will be a challenge. No one will admit to it. His lawyers will be required to show through circumstantial evidence and/or aggressive cross-examination that the stated reason(s) for not hiring Flores are a pretext for a prohibited consideration.
The Vikings opened up a spot on their 90-man roster on Tuesday.
The team announced that they have waived wide receiver Shaleak Knotts and they did not make a corresponding addition to fill out their active roster.
Knotts signed with the Vikings after going undrafted last month. He appeared in 43 games for Maryland over the last four seasons and caught 67 passes for 963 yards and seven touchdowns while playing for the Terrapins.
Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jauan Jennings, Myles Price, Tai Felton, Jeshaun Jones, Dillon Bell, Joquin Davis, Dontae Fleming, Terrill Davis, Marcus Sanders, and Luke Wysong are the remaining receivers in Minnesota.
It’s official: Minnesota will host the 2028 NFL Draft.
As expected, owners voted to approve Minnesota as the host at the NFL spring meeting in Orlando on Tuesday.
The event will be anchored in downtown Minneapolis, in and around U.S. Bank Stadium, the home of the Vikings.
“Minnesota knows how to show up for big moments, and we’ve seen it firsthand,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “This is a market that delivers at the highest level. Working with the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Sports and Events, we look forward to bringing the 2028 NFL Draft to this great community, driving positive economic impact throughout the region, and hosting an incredible experience for fans and the next generation of the NFL.”
“For three days, Minnesota will become the center of the football world,” Vikings owner Mark Wilf said in a statement. “The 2028 NFL Draft will give us an opportunity to showcase not just U.S. Bank Stadium, but the energy, hospitality and pride that define Minneapolis-St. Paul and the entire state and region. We have no doubt the community will deliver a world-class event that is unique to Minnesota.”
With Minnesota now officially approved, the NFL has its next two drafts set. In 2027, the event will take place in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall.
Since the last draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in 2014, the draft has been hosted by Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Detroit, Green Bay, and Pittsburgh.
The Vikings will only have one home preseason game this summer, but they’ll get more than one day of work against their opponents that week.
The team announced that they will have two days of joint practices with the Ravens. They are set to work with the AFC North team on August 19 and 20 with the preseason game between the teams scheduled for August 22.
Joint practices have been a regular occurrence during Vikings’ camp in recent years. They have also worked with the Patriots, Browns, Titans, and Cardinals in recent seasons.
The Vikings will visit the Giants and Broncos in their first and third preseason games this summer. The Ravens will be hosting the Eagles and Commanders.
The 2028 NFL draft appears to be heading to Minnesota.
League owners are preparing to make it official at this week’s league meeting, after talks between league officials, local officials, and the Vikings.
The draft has become the NFL’s biggest annual offseason event, attracting hundreds of thousands of fans to the host city. Virtually every NFL city has expressed interest in hosting the draft since the league first moved it out of New York and began traveling the country in 2015.
Minnesota was considered the favorite to host in 2028, but it takes a vote of ownership to make it official. The Minnesota bid was focused on the major event at U.S. Bank Stadium, with other portions of the draft spectacle at the Mall of America and other sites in the Twin Cities.
After leaving New York City, the draft was in Chicago twice, and then in Philadelphia, Dallas, Nashville, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Kansas City, Detroit, Green Bay and Pittsburgh. Next year’s draft will be in Washington, D.C.
Sherman Lewis, whose long coaching career included 12 seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator, has died at the age of 83.
Lewis was an All-American halfback at Michigan State, and in 1963 he finished third in Heisman Trophy voting. He also won three Big Ten titles in track and field.
Although he was drafted by both the NFL and the AFL in 1964, he chose to begin his professional playing career in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts. He would later play in the AFL for the Jets in 1966 and 1967, seeing most of his action as a punt and kickoff returner.
In 1969, after his playing career ended, Lewis returned to Michigan State to begin his coaching career. He was an assistant for the Spartans for 13 years before Bill Walsh hired him to work on the 49ers’ coaching staff in 1983. Lewis stayed in San Francisco for nine seasons.
In 1992, 49ers assistant Mike Holmgren was hired as head coach of the Packers, and Holmgren hired Lewis to be his offensive coordinator, a role Lewis filled for Holmgren’s entire tenure in Green Bay.
After eight years as the Packers’ offensive coordinator, Lewis spent two years as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator and two more years as the Lions’ offensive coordinator. His final season of coaching took place in Washington in 2009.
NFL Network lost its schedule-release show. It’s nevertheless gaining a late-season Saturday doubleheader.
In Week 16, on the day after Christmas, NFLN will televise a game at 4:30 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET.
The schedule identifies four potential games for the two slots: Buccaneers-Falcons, Bengals-Colts, Commanders-Vikings, and Panthers Steelers.
The decision as to which games will slide from Sunday to Saturday will be made during the season.
Coupled with a Thursday night game and three Christmas Day games, Week 16 will have 10 total windows — one more than Thanksgiving week. That leaves only eight games to be played on the Saturday afternoon windows.
There’s one less name for the Vikings to consider for their General Manager opening.
Albert Breer of SI.com reports that Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander has declined the team’s request for an interview. Per the report, Alexander is comfortable with his spot in the Chargers’ front office and wants to remain on hand through the 2026 season.
Alexander is in his third year working under GM Joe Hortiz with the Chargers. He worked for the Jets and the Ravens — where Hortiz also worked — before joining the Chargers.
In addition to internal candidate and acting GM Rob Brzezinski, the Vikings have also requested interviews with Lions assistant GM Ray Agnew, Broncos assistant GM Reed Burckhardt, Dolphins assistant GM Kyle Smith 49ers assistant GM RJ Gillen, Bills assistant GM Terrance Gray, Rams assistant GM John McKay, Seahawks assistant GM Nolan Teasely and Titans assistant GM Dave Ziegler.
Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson had a consistent starting quarterback for his first four seasons in Kirk Cousins.
While Sam Darnold played well for the Vikings in 2024, Minnesota started three QBs in 2025 with mainly poor results: J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz, and Max Brosmer. Minnesota went 9-8 last season, but the quarterbacks combined to throw for just 2,802 yards with 17 touchdowns and 21 interceptions on a 61.4 percent completion rate (running back Cam Akers also had a 32-yard touchdown pass).
That level of play is part of why Jefferson finished with just 1,048 yards and two touchdowns, despite playing all 17 games. The only other time in his career he finished with fewer than 1,400 yards was in 2023, when he appeared in just 10 games.
The Vikings signed Kyler Murray in free agency, and he’s widely expected to be the team’s Week 1 starter. But McCarthy, Wentz, and Brosmer are all back — and ostensibly all have eyes on that QB1 spot.
In a Friday interview with NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, Jefferson was asked what he’d like to see from Minnesota’s QB derby this offseason.
“Just competition, for real,” Jefferson said. “Just to see who’s going to be that last man standing, who’s going to be that dog, who’s going to be that leader to carry us throughout this season — because that’s definitely a missing piece that we’re looking for and something that’s very important to our team, which is the quarterback spot. So just seeing that competition, battle — seeing those guys come every single day leading the team and trying to spark, especially the offense, is definitely something I’m looking forward to. And just going out there and just connecting with any quarterback who’s throwing the ball, that’s the main, important thing this training camp.”
No matter who ends up starting this year, Jefferson would like to have a consistent QB1 throwing him passes for years to come.
“Yeah, that’s definitely something that is… I want that, for sure,” Jefferson said. “It’s definitely difficult for those types of things to happen. But just like me being with Kirk for those first four years of my career, just building on that connection, building on that relationship, that’s something that’s unbroken. That’s something that you just don’t find anywhere.
“So it definitely would be great to have a quarterback — the same quarterback — for these next couple years going down the line. But we already know that’s something that’s very difficult to do in this league. But for sure, to keep on that quarterback for these next couple years, and build that relationship, and create that spark, that’s definitely the plan.”
In his six stellar seasons, Jefferson has recorded 579 receptions for 8,480 yards with 42 touchdowns.
