The Minnesota Vikings cut bait with some expensive players this offseason, which means they will look to younger and less pricey options to step up at premier positions in 2024.
One of those players was pass rusher Danielle Hunter, who finished last season with 17 sacks and a league-leading 23 tackles for loss. Minnesota didn’t exactly scrimp on replacing Hunter, either.
The team signed Jonathan Greenard to a contract worth $76 million over four years ($38 million guaranteed) and Andrew Van Ginkel to a $20 million, two-year deal ($10 million guaranteed). Minnesota then traded up in the 2024 NFL draft from No. 23 to No. 17, surrendering four picks in the process, to select edge defender Dallas Turner of Alabama.
Still, Turner is entirely unproven. Greenard is the author of a rollercoaster tenure over his first four seasons with the Houston Texans, and Van Ginkel a relative newcomer to performing at a high level who burst onto the scene only last year with a career-high 6 sacks for the Miami Dolphins.
The Vikings’ depth at the position beyond those three men is also questionable. As such, Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report predicted on Thursday, August 1, that edge defender Gabriel Murphy has the best chance of any undrafted free agent to make the team’s roster this year.
“Gabriel Murphy was the 13th-ranked edge defender and 132nd overall prospect on B/R’s final big board, which made it surprising that he went undrafted to begin with,” Ballentine wrote. “Murphy is a bit unrefined as a pass rusher and needs technique work to make the most of his athletic ability.”
Murphy signed a three-year deal worth $2.85 million to join the Vikings, which includes $245,000 in guaranteed salary — a high number for a UDFA that is indicative of how much Minnesota values him.
Gabriel Murphy’s Success at UCLA, Fit Under Brian Flores Render Him Good Bet to Earn Roster Spot With Vikings
GettyFormer UCLA Bruins pass rusher Gabriel Murphy (left).
For reference, linebacker Ivan Pace Jr. inked a contract with Minnesota last offseason that guaranteed him $236,000. Pace not only made the team but proved himself a breakout star who started 11 games as a rookie and enters the 2024 preseason as a likely starter at inside linebacker.
Murphy has the athletic tools to play the position 6-feet-2 and 250 pounds. He posted 16 tackles for loss and 8 sacks at UCLA last season during his fifth collegiate campaign. Murphy played alongside Laiatu Latu in the Pac-12 last year. Latu landed with the Indianapolis Colts at No. 15 overall in the first round of the 2024 draft.
Tyler Forness of The Sporting News suggested in late May that Murphy ended up in an ideal situation under Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
“Murphy ended up in the perfect place for him. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores understands how to use a player who has a narrow skill set or … a physical limitation,” Forness wrote. “In a similar way to how he used linebacker Ivan Pace Jr., Flores will find a way to maximize Murphy’s ability as a pass rusher despite only having 30.5′ arms.”
Vikings May Rely Heavily on Depth at Edge Rusher if Team Faces Injuries, Jonathan Greenard Struggles
GettyVikings edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, formerly of the Houston Texans.
While Murphy’s nearly $250,000 in guaranteed money renders him well-paid among recent UDFAs entering the NFL, the total is peanuts compared with the amounts that teams invest in players like Greenard on big second contracts. That could end up meaning a good deal for Minnesota if Greenard’s up-and-down pattern of production continues in 2024 as it has in recent years.
Greenard had a minimal impact as a rookie in Houston in 2020, tallying just 1 sack as he acclimated to life at the NFL level. He had a monster second season with 8 sacks in 12 games played, all starts.
However, injury robbed Greenard of more than half of the 2022 campaign, during which he played in only eight games and started just four of those, finishing the year with 1.5 sacks. He then produced a career campaign in 2023 that got him paid with the Vikings — 13 sacks in 15 games played.
Greenard has averaged just 12 appearances played annually and just eight starts per season over four NFL campaigns. He has tallied 23 sacks in that span and 32 tackles for loss.
Minnesota took a considerable risk in inking Greenard as its highest-paid edge rusher due to his history of missing games and his streakiness as a sack producer. Meanwhile, and somewhat ironically, Hunter landed with the Texans on a two-year contract as Greenard’s replacement.
Should Greenard fall short of his contract, or should he miss several games due to injury, Murphy could end up with the same kind of opportunity that Pace seized in 2023 and go from UDFA to bona fide starter inside of one year.
