Could the Vikings Get Greedy in Free Agency?
One of the biggest question marks regarding this year’s Minnesota Vikings roster comes at the cornerback position.
Minnesota is relying on free agent acquisition Byron Murphy and a plethora of unknown talent to hold down the fort in the secondary during the 2023 season following the departures of Kris Boyd, Cam Dantzler, Patrick Peterson, Duke Shelley, and Chandon Sullivan.
However, an interesting option popped up in free agency this week. On Saturday morning, the Philadelphia Eagles released CB Greedy Williams. The move was reported by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, who tweeted, “The #Eagles released CB Greedy Williams. They also signed DT Robert Cooper, DT Marvin Wilson, DT Caleb Sanders, LB Tyreek Maddox-Williams and LB Quinton Bell, Waived/Injured WR Tyrie Cleveland, DT Noah Elliss and CB Zech McPhearson, and released P Ty Zentner.”
Could the Vikings Target CB Greedy Williams?
Williams is a very intriguing free agency option for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, the cornerback has a connection to Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Cleveland selected the cornerback in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and during the spring of 2020 Adofo-Mensah joined the team as a member of the Browns front office. The Vikings GM has been privvy to giving players chances from his previous tenures with the 49ers and Browns before (Kareem Hunt visit, Sheldon Day signing), and this could be yet another.
Additionally, Williams is a product of the LSU Tigers, which has been a constant pipeline to the Minnesota Vikings during recent years. The Vikings have selected an LSU player in three of the past four NFL Drafts from 2020-2023.
While with the Tigers as a starter in 2017 and 2018, he recorded 71 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, 19 passes defended, and 8 interceptions. He led the SEC with 6 INTs during the 2017 season. Here is what NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein thought of Williams coming into the 2019 Draft:
Long, athletic cornerback who is more smooth and fluid than twitchy and sudden in his coverage. Williams has the instincts and tools to play a variety of coverages, but his length and pattern-matching talent will likely get him drafted to handle press-man duties. His ball production dropped a little from 2017 and he continued to struggle with finding the ball downfield, but he is rarely ever out of position. He needs to get stronger and more competitive in run support, but he has the talent and traits to become a CB1.
That CB1 talent has not come to fruition so far in Williams’ NFL career. His ball production continued to drop, and through his first years in the league, he has only recorded two interceptions. His best season came during 2021 (when he had both of those interceptions) starting 8 games for the Browns and playing in 16.
While Williams’ production hasn’t exactly been impressive to this point, he remains a very young player at just 25 years old. The biggest knock on him right now remains his health. He missed the entire 2020 season due to a nerve issue in his shoulder, and he was placed on IR for about a month during the 2022 campaign.
Adofo-Mensah has proven willing to give players chances to rejuvenate their careers with the Vikings (Jalen Reagor, N’Keal Harry, Joejuan Williams), and Williams certainly fits into that criteria of a former high draft pick that hasn’t necessarily panned out.
With the Vikings having so much uncertainty at the cornerback position, in addition to both Mekhi Blackmon and Akayleb Evans going down with injuries during Thursday’s joint practice against the Tennessee Titans, Williams could be a player on the Vikings radar heading into the final week of preseason action.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.