Vikings Linebacker Gains a Mere Pittance in Guaranteed Cash but a Shot at the Roster
A couple weeks ago, PurplePTSD considered wide receiver Jeshaun Jones, someone who snagged an impressive $235,000 in guaranteed money. The contract detail suggests Minnesota has some faith in the UDFA to push for a roster spot.
What about a Vikings linebacker without the same level of financial commitment?
K.J. Cloyd played for the Miami Hurricanes in 2023. Prior to joining Miami, Cloyd was playing his college ball at Louisville. So, his college career was taking place in the ACC before taking the next step to get into the NFL. What does the rookie season hold for Mr. Cloyd?
Vikings Linebacker K.J. Cloyd Battling for His Spot in Minnesota
The guaranteed money isn’t huge for K.J. Cloyd.
The overall contract is for a trio of seasons and $2.832 million. He snagged just $2,000 in guaranteed cash from the Vikings. The suggestion is that there wasn’t a ton of competition to sign the UDFA linebacker. Minnesota may have been among a few teams to be interested in onboarding the young defender.
However, it’s notable that the Minnesota roster shuffling has involved Cloyd sticking around. As Josh Frey notes, there have already been a pair of cuts among the UDFAs: linebacker Donovan Manuel and offensive lineman Matthew Cindric. Seeing someone at Cloyd’s exact position – linebacker – cut instead of him suggests that there’s at least some optimism in Eagan about where Cloyd can go.
He stands at 6’2” and weighs 228, so he looks like more of a modern linebacker: closer to Eric Kendricks in size than Brian Urlacher.
The Vikings’ team website offers a bit of a summary of Cloyd’s college career while highlighting the recent production: “During 2023 season at Miami, played in all 12 games with six starts, finishing with 42 tackles (21 solo), including 6.5 for loss, two sacks and one pass breakup.”
PFF suggested that Cloyd missed five tackles last year. For a depth player, those mistakes can be the difference between sticking around and getting cut, so Cloyd will be looking to ensure he’s a sure tackler through the preseason.
The simple fact that Cloyd wasn’t a full-time starter who piled up tremendous statistics suggests that Minnesota sees potential as a special-teams contributor, someone who has room to grow. Not a finished product, no, but a diamond in the rough who may be worth polishing.
The Vikings are being led by Ivan Pace Jr. and Blake Cashman at linebacker. After those two is veteran Kamu Grugier-Hill and then third-year defender Brian Asamoah. Those four are the ones who have the best shot at sticking around on the roster, with the opening pair of names being the ones who seem very likely to soak up lots of snaps on Sundays.
Other names to remember are Dallas Gant and Abraham Beauplan.
K.J. Cloyd won’t be leapfrogging all of those names. Success for the UDFA LB may simply involve getting a spot on the practice squad so he can continue developing. One day, he may be able to leverage his initial opportunity into a shot to help on specials and then keep building from there.
Cloyd is 23.
Editor’s Note: Information from Sports Reference CFB, Over the Cap, and PFF 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 and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.