Former UFL star Jalen Redmond emerging as impact player for Vikings

Earlier this year, Jalen Redmond was dominating for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League. The former undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma, who was cut by the Carolina Panthers last year, had 4.5 sacks and 18 tackles in four UFL games before getting injured.

The Vikings took note and signed him to a contract this summer — and that decision has paid off. Redmond is coming off his best game of the season, earning a game ball for his play against the Cardinals in Sunday's win. The 25-year-old defensive tackle still isn't seeing a ton of snaps, but he might be earning more playing time with his recent production. He looks like a player with a chance to make a real impact for the Vikings both this season and beyond.

Redmond made Minnesota's initial 53-man roster out of training camp, though he's spent some time on the practice squad this season. He recorded his first career sack in his NFL debut against the Texans in Week 3. Since being signed back to the active roster around a month ago, he's started to carve out a spot in the Vikings' rotation at DT. He's now played double-digit defensive snaps in three consecutive games after doing so just twice in his first six games of the season.

Against the Cardinals, Redmond had a QB pressure and two tackles for loss, which both came during an impressive sequence in the fourth quarter. On consecutive reps, he burst into the backfield and took down James Conner for two-yard losses. That's how he earned a game ball from Kevin O'Connell despite playing just 16 snaps. "I just noticed him today," O'Connell said in his postgame locker room speech.

Vikings DT Jalen Redmond had back-to-back TFLs in the fourth quarter yesterday and earned a game ball from Kevin O'Connell.

He's a former UDFA who was playing for @TheUFL's Arlington Renegades earlier this year. Impressive player with a great story. pic.twitter.com/jVf6AnohUc
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) December 2, 2024

"There's a reason why he made our team," O'Connell said on Monday. "I think the cool thing about Jalen is he always showed some unique things as a rusher, an interior rusher with some twitch and what he had done previously in the other league he was in, and it was a great job. Then, as he went through camp, you started to see a little bit more power and ability to be rooted in the run game, but also use that athleticism to get on edges. He's a perfect fit for our scheme with the way we move those guys up front, taking gaps and things like that."

On a very small sample size of 94 defensive snaps this season, Redmond's 87.4 PFF grade is the best of any of player on the roster. That would be difficult to sustain in a larger role, but it tells you how productive he's been in the snaps that he's earned. This is a guy who had 14 sacks and 29 total TFL across his final three seasons at Oklahoma. He's an undersized DT (6'2", 291), but his big-time athleticism shows up on tape.

In a Vikings defensive tackle room that doesn't have a whole lot of pass-rushing juice, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Redmond start to push upwards of the 15-16 snap mark that he's been capped at so far. That position group will still be led by veterans Harrison Phillips, Jonathan Bullard, Jerry Tillery, and Jihad Ward, but Minnesota's ex-UFL star is certainly making a case for more playing time.