{"id":878574,"date":"2026-04-30T09:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878574\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T09:36:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T09:36:39","slug":"minnesota-vikings-add-a-veteran-player-to-their-roster-and-its-not-who-you-think-it-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878574\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Vikings add a veteran player to their roster, and it’s not who you think it is"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minnesota Vikings have a bevy of needs on their roster after the NFL Draft, and their latest signing doesn\u2019t address those.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Indianapolis
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIndianapolis Colts defensive tackle Grover Stewart (90) locks arms with Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Eric Johnson II (98) on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, ahead of the game against the Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUSA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Vikings are in a very interesting spot going into the offseason. After a successful NFL Draft<\/a> where they added nine players<\/a>, there are still multiple holes. Wide receiver, edge rusher, and center are all spots where the Vikings should look at adding talent.<\/p>\n

Free agency is now more fruitful than it was right before the NFL Draft. Without having to worry about the compensatory formula, teams are being more aggressive in adding players. The Vikings are hosting former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings<\/a>, and they made a signing. However, it\u2019s not Jennings.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings sign intriguing depth piece<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Vikings added another player to the roster, and it\u2019s not at any of the above position. They signed defensive lineman Eric Johnson to a one-year contract.<\/p>\n

Adding Johnson brings the room up to nine players ahead of the second and third wave of OTAs. The back end of that room doesn\u2019t have the strongest depth, and adding Johnson gives them a little bit more.<\/p>\n

A fifth-round pick out of Missouri State, Johnson spent all four seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, where he was a depth player. This past season, he played just 131 snaps. More of a run defender than pass rusher, Johnson had just two pressures on 73 pass rush reps, with 10 on 316 in his career. He\u2019s played just 701 snaps in his career, meaning he is nothing but a depth player fighting for a roster spot.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a really interesting move by the Vikings, who are now at 87 players out of 91, with punter Brett Thorson<\/a> having the International Pathway Player designation. They will have their rookie minicamp next weekend, May 8-10th, which will likely end in multiple players signed. Even so, they will still target a couple more depth, veterans.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Dec\t\t<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMinnesota Vikings signed award-winning player the rest of the NFL forgot to draft\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

After four years of having UDFA Ryan Wright as their punter, the future of that position could be another undrafted player.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Oct\t\t<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tVikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf release statement opening up GM search, including our first official candidate\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

With the conclusion of the NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings are officially opening up their search for the next general manager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minnesota Vikings have a bevy of needs on their roster after the NFL Draft, and their latest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[2005,18260,7,4609,2004,392,2381,259,6],"class_list":["post-878574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indianapolis-colts","tag-colts","tag-eric-johnson","tag-football","tag-free-agency","tag-indianapolis","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-indianapoliscolts","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116492986045567190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}