Longtime Vikings Nuisance Akiem Hicks Has Officially Left the NFC North

Tuesday brought great news for Kirk Cousins, Garrett Bradbury, and the entire interior of the Vikings' offensive line: Akiem Hicks is officially out of the NFC North.

Hicks spent the last six seasons with the Chicago Bears and gave the Vikings fits every time he played them. After a long wait as a free agent this offseason, he signed a one-year deal worth up to $10 million with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — who are not on the Vikings' 2022 schedule.

Former Bears’ DL Akiem Hicks reached agreement today on a one-year deal worth up to $10 million with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, per source. Deal negotiated by Bucs’ exec Mike Greenberg and agents @DrewJRosenhaus and @RyanMatha.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 31, 2022

A 2012 third-round pick by the Saints, Hicks was a solid player in New Orleans — and, briefly, for the Patriots — but his career really took off in Chicago. He was one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the NFL from 2016 to 2018, and although he's dealt with some injuries over the past few seasons, the 32-year-old remains a major force when healthy.

No team seemed to catch the full brunt of Hicks' impact quite like the Vikings. In nine games against Minnesota during his six years with the Bears, Hicks racked up 8.5 sacks, 14 total tackles for loss, 21 quarterback hits, and 35 pressures. From Joe Berger to Pat Elflein to Bradbury, he routinely mauled Vikings centers (and guards), creating interior pressure in the passing game and shutting down rushing lanes. The Bears went just 4-5 in those games, but Hicks was always a huge factor. In recent years, he loved talking trash with Cook.

It started back in 2016, when Hicks had two sacks, six pressures, a pass breakup, and a 90.9 PFF grade in his first matchup against the Vikings as a member of the Bears. He then had another two sacks in the matchup at Soldier Field in 2017. Hicks' Vikings dominance might have peaked in 2018, when he had a sack and five total TFLs in Chicago and added 1.5 sacks in Minnesota to help keep the Vikings out of the playoffs. After missing both of the Bears' victories in 2019 and not doing a ton in 2020 (though he still had 8 pressures in the two games), Hicks got another two sacks at Soldier Field last December.

Check out #Bears Akiem Hicks sawing through the #Vikings on this play:

Dude uses pure left-hand power to shove the center aside before power-swimming his right hand back over to collect the sack. All without breaking stride.@The_Dream99 is Godzilla in the flesh, prove me wrong pic.twitter.com/yMuXBPAm3k
— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) December 31, 2018

"He's the biggest human being on the field, so we gotta send like two, three guys to block him," Cook said last year. "So that takes another guy off another guy to be free. Once he's on the field, he's a force. He's a good player. Just playing against him through this rivalry, you see what he means up front for those guys. He brings the energy, trash-talker, just raises the level of their play."

Hicks became a free agent this offseason, and there was some speculation about the Vikings potentially looking to add one of their biggest tormentors to their defense. They did end up doing that by signing Za'Darius Smith, but they went with Harrison Phillips as their addition on the interior of the defensive line.

According to KSTP insider Darren Wolfson, the Vikings showed interest in Hicks at one point, but it never materialized.

Now he's in Tampa, where he'll team up with Vita Vea to form a scary duo on the inside. The Vikings don't play the Bucs in the regular season until 2023, so they won't have to worry about Hicks this year until a possible postseason meeting.

I don't think anyone in the Vikings organization is upset about that development.

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