Vikings Sign Linebacker Hardy Nickerson Jr., Waive Marcus Sayles
With their linebacker depth suddenly a concern, the Vikings have signed Hardy Nickerson Jr., a three-year veteran who has appeared in 37 games for the Bengals. To make room on the 80-man roster, cornerback Marcus Sayles has been waived.
Nickerson was one of three players brought in by the Vikings for workouts on Monday, the others being safety Jahleel Addae and linebacker Derrick Moncrief.
This move makes a lot of sense from a roster-construction standpoint. The Vikings had nine corners and only six healthy linebackers, three of which were rookies. Adding Nickerson for Sayles gives them a veteran linebacker who could legitimately make the team, and they're only losing a corner who was buried on the depth chart.
This move was necessitated by a wave of injuries to Vikings linebackers. Cameron Smith is on IR due to upcoming open-heart surgery that will cause him to miss the entire season. Ben Gedeon remains on the Physically Unable to Perform list and hasn't been able to participate in training camp. The Vikings signed journeyman LB Quentin Poling, but then he got hurt in one of his first practices with the team. They also waived DeMarquis Gates.
That left the Vikings with three rookie backup linebackers behind Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, and Eric Wilson. Fourth-round rookie Troy Dye is No. 4 on the depth chart right now, and the other two are UDFAs Jordan Fehr and Blake Lynch.
Nickerson gives the Vikings someone who made nine starts in the NFL and will compete for a roster spot.
Hardy Nickerson Jr. File
- College: Cal (three seasons), Illinois (one season)
- Drafted: 2017 UDFA
- NFL experience: Three seasons (37 games, 9 starts)
- Age: 26
- Size: 6'0", 235
- Career stats (NFL): 81 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 PD, 1 FF
- Career stats (NCAA): 351 tackles, 14.5 TFL, 4 sacks, 3 INT, 2 FF, 4 FR
Nickerson spent the first three seasons of his college career at Cal before spending his final year as a grad transfer in the Big Ten at Illinois. He went undrafted, but was a priority signing by the Bengals and wound up making the 53-man roster as a rookie. He was primarily a special teams contributor as a rookie, but made his first career start in Week 14 at...U.S. Bank Stadium. Nickerson had five tackles in that game in a blowout loss.
His best season in the NFL came in 2018, when Nickerson made seven starts and recorded 57 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and a forced fumble on the year. He made a career-high 11 tackles against the Ravens in Week 11. It's worth noting that PFF gave him a very low grade of 45.6 for his 500-plus defensive snaps that season.
Nickerson's role on defense essentially disappeared last season, as he played just 46 snaps. He did continue to play on special teams.
Part of the reason why Nickerson may have gone undrafted in 2017 was that his athletic testing numbers were very underwhelming at the combine:
The 26-year-old doesn't have a ton of upside, but he has experience and can provide some run-stuffing ability. If Gedeon remains out, Nickerson will likely be competing with rookies Fehr and Lynch for the No. 5 linebacker spot on the active roster.
He is the son of 16-year NFL veteran and all-1990s team linebacker Hardy Nickerson Sr.
The player the Vikings waived is Sayles, who appeared to be way down the depth chart at cornerback during the camp practices we've seen so far. The former West Georgia and Canadian Football League star signed with the Vikings back in early January and was seen as a longshot candidate to make the team as a nickel corner.
Minnesota now has eight cornerbacks on the roster: Mike Hughes, Holton Hill, Jeff Gladney, Cameron Dantzler, Kris Boyd, Mark Fields II, Harrison Hand, and Nevelle Clarke.
Make sure to bookmark this site and check back daily for the latest news and analysis from training camp. Also, click the follow button in the upper right-hand corner of this page (mobile users, tap the bell icon – you may have to click ‘News’ first), leave comments below, and follow me on Twitter.
