5 potential landing spots for Eagles DE Derek Barnett in NFL free agency

Might Derek Barnett be a part of a Minnesota Vikings facelift?

Much is uncertain in Minnesota with the Vikings. They fired the general manager, Rick Spielman, and their head coach, Mike Zimmer, on the Monday following the close of the regular season. Before that was official, we were already asking questions about Kirk Cousins’ future.

Multiple sources have reported that Doug Pederson is on their list of potential replacements of Zimmer. If he’s hired, we can connect a couple of dots there, right?

If you need a little more meat on the bone, here are a few other nuggets. Danielle Hunter, perhaps their best EDGE guy when healthy, hasn’t been. He was a two-time Pro Bowler (2018, 2019), but after a neck injury ended his season in 2020, a torn pectoral muscle sent him back to the injured reserve in 2021.

In his absence, the Vikes were forced to rely on Everson Griffen, and they worked him to death. The biggest concern about that is Griffen is aging and just turned 34 years young in December. Minnesota needs bodies, and they need them in a hurry.

The Vikings are expected to spend some draft capital to upgrade themselves at EDGE, but if they’re looking for a veteran presence as well, there’s more than enough evidence to state Barnett’s addition to their roster is a move that makes sense.