The Vikings landed a key reinforcement at cornerback.
Vikings agree to terms with former All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore
Stephon Gilmore, 33, is likely to jump into the starting lineup after taking a free-agent visit to the Vikings facility last week.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
August 18, 2024 at 11:18PM
The team agreed to terms with former All-Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore on Sunday morning, a league source confirmed. ESPN first reported the agreement, a one-year deal with $7 million guaranteed and worth up to $10 million.
Gilmore, 33, appears likely to jump into a starting lineup alongside cornerbacks Byron Murphy Jr. and Shaq Griffin at a position where the Vikings are thin. His decorated career — five Pro Bowls, two All-Pro selections — brings much-needed experience and production after he started every game for the Cowboys last season. He deflected 13 passes and had two interceptions and a forced fumble.
He is familiar with the Vikings facility and coaches after taking a free-agent visit to TCO Performance Center last week. During the Aug. 12 visit, Gilmore met with head coach Kevin O’Connell and defensive backs coach Daronte Jones, among others.
“I’ve had a ton of respect in Stephon Gilmore’s career playing against him,” O’Connell said after the visit. “This is a guy that’s done it at a really high level for a long time.”
Gilmore already knows Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores from their time together in New England, where they spent the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the last of which Flores served as Patriots play-caller in a Super Bowl-winning season. Gilmore’s experience with Flores could quickly get him onto the field by the Vikings’ Sept. 8 season opener at the New York Giants.
That is assuming Gilmore is fully recovered from January surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. Gilmore suffered the injury during a shoulder dislocation in the Cowboys’ regular-season finale. He wore a harness and played through it during Dallas’ playoff loss to Green Bay.
He’s the fifth veteran cornerback added by the Vikings since the start of training camp after rookie Khyree Jackson was killed in a car accident and second-year corner Mekhi Blackmon tore an ACL on the first day of practice. The Vikings have signed Fabian Moreau, Duke Shelley, Jacobi Francis and Nahshon Wright, who was acquired via trade with the Cowboys for Andrew Booth Jr.
The Vikings are Gilmore’s fifth different team in the last five years. The 2012 first-round pick was selected 10th overall, 19 spots ahead of Vikings safety Harrison Smith.
On this episode of the Access Vikings podcast, Ben Goessling, Andrew Krammer and Michael Rand preview Sunday’s matchup against NFC champion San Francisco from Sam Darnold’s start to the defense’s resurgence.
