An All Pro, 1st-Round Linebacker Just Hit Free Agency if the Vikings Want to Take a Shot
In the past, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has shown a proclivity for giving guys a second chance, especially those who were drafted highly. In fact, the team’s current QB1 — Mr. Sam Darnold — could slide into that broad category, suggesting that Minnesota’s GM is still willing to pursue that strategy when the fit makes sense.
To that end, consider former second-team All Pro linebacker Devin White, someone who was recently released by the Philadelphia Eagles. Kick it over to ESPN’s Adam Schefter for the word of the news: “Eagles are releasing former Pro-Bowl LB Devin White. The 26-year-old White has not played in a game this season after signing a one-year deal with Philadelphia this past offseason.”
In a follow-up to the initial news, Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network clarified that Philadelphia had been unsuccessfully looking for trade partners. “He has now been released,” Rapoport explains, “so Devin White, who they tried to trade over the last couple weeks, found no takers, now a free agent halfway through the season.”
In the offseason, White signed a single-season, $4 million deal.
Devin White, a Second-Team All Pro, is Now a FA
Not terribly long ago, White looked like a building block for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and like one of the NFL’s foremost young defenders.
The linebacker was snagged at 5th overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, a draft slot that doesn’t often get used on an off-ball linebacker. White, though, is an unusually gifted player. The 6’0″, 237-pound linebacker ran a 4.42 forty, meaning he actually tested slightly faster than Justin Jefferson (4.43), while also tossing up 22 reps on the bench press.
In the past, White has offered elite production.
His 2019 rookie season featured some impressive numbers. He finished off the year with 91 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 4 tackles for loss, 3 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, 1 interception, and 2 touchdowns.
As a sophomore encore, White put together his AP2 season. The defender played in fifteen games, starting all fifteen, while picking up 140 tackles, 9 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, 4 passes defended, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery.
Coming from the Todd Bowles system in Tampa Bay means stepping out of an aggressive group. Across his five NFL seasons, White has been an attacking linebacker, blitzing 75 times (2019), 91 times (2020), 133 times (2021), 65 times (2022), and 75 times (2023).
Minnesota’s current linebacker hierarchy is being led by Blake Cashman, a free-agent addition who is sometimes tasked with being the team’s lonely linebacker on the field. By no means would a White addition be about unseating Cashman from his LB1 spot.
In fact, very little would change among the top options at the position, at least initially.
Ivan Pace Jr. would stick around in his role as the LB2. After all, Pace arguably should see his role increase. Kamu Grugier-Hill has emerged as a LB3 who can function as a bit of a matchup weapon in the passing game, someone to offer a bit more in pass coverage than Pace. Neither player would be likely to relinquish their role via a Devin White addition (if it were to occur).
Adding Devin White, then, would be about fortifying the LB4/5 spot with someone who had a ton of upside. Again, we’re talking about someone taken at 5th overall in the draft that took place one year in front of Justin Jefferson, Josh Metellus, and Blake Brandel (all part of that 2020 draft class). In other words, White could still have productive football in his legs and lungs.
Would a league minimum deal be enough? Or, perhaps, a spot on the practice squad? If so, then maybe the fit makes some sense. No assets would need to be used apart from cap space. Minnesota currently has more than $10 million in open room.
The linebacker is only 26.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter, as a co-host for Notes from the North, and as the proprietor at The Vikings Gazette, a humble Vikings Substack.