The Vikings still need help at cornerback after former Pro Bowl player Stephon Gilmore visited the team’s headquarters in Eagan on Monday and left without agreeing to a contract.
Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore visits Vikings, leaves without a deal
Cornerback Stephon Gilmore got a “sneak preview” of Vikings headquarters, coach Kevin O’Connell said, but did not agree to terms on a contract.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
August 13, 2024 at 1:01PM
Coach Kevin O’Connell said Monday night there was “really good dialogue” between the two sides, including Gilmore getting to know O’Connell and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones. Gilmore overlapped with Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores in New England, where they spent the 2017 and Super Bowl-winning 2018 seasons together, the latter of which Flores served as Patriots play caller.
Gilmore’s decorated career — five Pro Bowls, two All-Pro selections — would bring experience to a Vikings secondary already thinned by attrition.
O’Connell alluded to the possibility of Gilmore still signing in Minnesota.
“The important thing is we’re very proud of the atmosphere, our locker room, our players,” O’Connell said. “So, I always think it’s a positive when we can just allow guys to get a little sneak preview, sneak peak of what they may be joining if all things work out.”
Gilmore, 33, is looking for his fifth different team in the past five years. The former 2012 first-round pick — selected 10th overall, 19 spots ahead of safety Harrison Smith — started every game for the Cowboys last season. He deflected 13 passes and had two interceptions and a forced fumble.
The Vikings lost cornerback Mekhi Blackmon to a torn ACL at the start of camp, and fourth-round rookie Khyree Jackson died in a car accident in July. They have added four corners in training camp.
Cornerback Shaq Griffin, the 29-year-old veteran who signed a one-year deal in free agency, remains sidelined because of a hamstring injury suffered during the first week of camp.
“He’s doing well,” O’Connell said Monday. “We kind of have had a thought process in mind of when he’ll be able to get some work this preseason, whether that’s in practice or possibly in a game depending on how we want to handle the next two games.”
The Vikings let go of one of the few remaining players from their 2022 NFL draft class on Saturday morning, cutting cornerback Akayleb Evans after his role on defense had dissolved. He could return to the practice squad.
