Vikings Sign Another Intriguing Defender After Rookie Minicamp Tryout

The Vikings have officially signed two defenders who attended their rookie minicamp on Friday as tryout players: Former UNC and Penn State defensive lineman Smith Vilbert and former Kansas, South Carolina, and Pitt linebacker Bangally Kamara.

We covered the Vilbert addition this weekend after it was announced by his agent on social media. Kamara is a new name who is also worth breaking down as a longshot player to keep an eye on over the course of this offseason.

Hailing from Akron, OH, Kamara was a four-star recruit who began his college career at Pittsburgh in 2020. He hardly saw the field on defense in his first two seasons, though he did record two sacks in the second half of the 2021 campaign. He then earned a major role the following year and recorded 3 TFLs, a sack, an interception, 23 pressures, and seven passes defended.

Kamara remained a key player for Pitt in 2023. He set a career high at the time with 6.5 TFLs and two more sacks, grading out well as a run defender and blitzer. Possessing a fifth year of eligibility due to COVID, he then decided to transfer to South Carolina for the 2024 campaign. But he was limited by an injury to just four games. Fortunately, he was granted one more year of eligibility and made his way to Kansas for his final collegiate season.

Kamara went on to have a big season for the Jayhawks. He set new career bests in tackles (56) and tackles for loss (9.5), also chipping in 1.5 sacks and 4 passes defended. He had 18 QB pressures as well. However, tackling proved to be a significant issue for him. Kamara was charged with a whopping 24 missed tackles, more than he had in his two main seasons at Pitt combined. His PFF tackling grade was an abysmal 27.5.

Bangally Kamara | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

For both Kamara (24) and Vilbert (25), age is a major reason why they went undrafted and didn't even land an initial UDFA contract with a team. Kamara is also rather slender for an NFL linebacker at 6'2" and 223 pounds, and his 4.68 40 is good but not great.

Nonetheless, Kamara's athleticism and skill set give him some intrigue within Brian Flores' defensive scheme, and the Vikings were clearly impressed enough by his performance at rookie minicamp to give him a spot on their 90-man roster for the offseason. He's an explosive, aggressive downhill player who had 22 TFLs, 6.5 sacks, and 12 pass breakups in essentially three seasons of heavy snaps at the FBS level. He lined up at both off-ball linebacker and on the edge for Kansas.

Three defensive tackles on the field for this play. Edges are Dak Brinkley (on the bottom) and Bangally Kamara (on the top). Kamara gets the sack and forced fumble and Kenean Caldwell makes the recovery. pic.twitter.com/P0m8ySwscW
— Kevin Flaherty (@KFlahertyKU) August 24, 2025

I promise we're in the home stretch for this round of clips.

Welcome back Bangally Kamara. Kamara’s athleticism flashes in a big way on tape, and here he uses his quickness to shake the tight end in space to make a tackle for loss. pic.twitter.com/Pt3qccELyT
— Kevin Flaherty (@KFlahertyKU) September 11, 2025

If Kamara continues to impress this offseason, he could have a chance at sticking around on the 53-man roster or the practice squad.

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