Minnesota Vikings make huge splash, address biggest need remaining on the roster with ties to Brian Flores
It’s been a hindrance on Brian Flores’ defense for the majority of training camp, and now it’s been fixed.
The Minnesota Vikings have had a dire need at edge rusher for the entire offseason. After not making a serious effort to address it in either free agency or the NFL Draft, they have finally signed a capable EDGE3 in Kyle Van Noy. He will start on the practice squad initially.
It’s a long time coming for the Vikings after trading Jonathan Greenard left them in a poor position for the 2026 season.
Minnesota Vikings sign EDGE Kyle Van Noy
With Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner as your starters, they will play a significant amount of snaps this season, somewhere in the neighborhood of 850 each if they stay healthy. What they didn’t have is someone who could replace what Turner’s role was last year: the third edge rusher.
Van Noy can do that and then some. He spent the last three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, averaging about 540 snaps per year, including his lone Pro Bowl season in 2024, where he had 52 pressures and 12.5 sacks on 413 pass rush reps. He’s still got the ability to thrive in a multitude of ways for the Vikings, but what’s really intriguing is how similar he is to Van Ginkel.
He came out of BYU in 2014 as that weird tweener that wasn’t valued nearly to the level he would be now. Van Noy has the ability to play both on and off the ball, and that versatility is huge when playing in Flores’ defense. Plus, Van Noy already has a firm grasp of what Flores likes to do, as he’s played in his defenses for multiple years.
This is exactly what the Vikings needed. We don’t know how much Van Noy is going to command on the open market. Last season, Van Noy had a $4.25 million contract, and that would be a really nice price for the Vikings. Being that he’s starting on the practice squad, it’s likely going to be a veteran minimum contract.
