Earlier this week, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said that he thought NFL teams would sign former AAF players after the league folded.
Well, the Vikings are one of those teams.
On Friday, the team announced it had signed safety Derron Smith and cornerback Duke Thomas.
Bother players played for the San Antonio Commanders.
Smith, 27, played in the NFL from 2015 to 2017, playing in 31 games for the Bengals and six games for the Browns. He has zero starts in his career.
His NFL career wasn’t impressive, but he did excel in the AAF. He was the league’s best defensive player and perhaps the best player entirely. Pro Football Focus named him as their Player of the Year. That seems like a pretty good get for a Vikings team that needs safety depth with the departures of Andrew Sendejo and George Iloka.
As for Thomas, he’s spent time in preseason or on the practice squad with the Texans, Eagles, 49ers and Cowboys since 2016.
The Vikings have an extra corner spot open after the team lost Marcus Sherels in free agency to the Saints.
We’ll see if these players can stick around through the summer and into training camp.
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