Getty Defensive coordinator Brian Flores of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings signed linebacker Abraham Beauplan to the practice squad this week, five days ahead of the season finale against the Detroit Lions.
Bleacher Report’s NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported the reunion between Minnesota and its former linebacker on Tuesday, January 2.
The #Vikings are signing rookie LB Abraham Beauplan after working him out today, his agent @DerykGilmore tells me.
Beauplan was with Minnesota in the preseason but was waived following an injury. He’s now fully healthy.
“The #Vikings are signing rookie LB Abraham Beauplan after working him out today, his agent @DerykGilmore tells me,” Schultz wrote on X. “Beauplan was with Minnesota in the preseason but was waived following an injury. He’s now fully healthy.”
Beauplan played three years at Marshall between 2020-22 where he tallied 231 tackles, including 23 tackles for loss, 5 forced fumbles, 3.5 sacks and 1 interception, per Sports Reference.
Anthony Barr Could Play Final Game with Vikings Against Lions Sunday
GettyMinnesota Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr.
Beauplan is unlikely to play in the Vikings’ regular season finale. However, his signing indicates that Minnesota is potentially interested in inking the linebacker to a reserve/future contract, which would set Beauplan up to participate in the team’s training camp activities beginning this spring.
Minnesota’s addition of Beauplan to the practice squad is also an indication that linebacker Anthony Barr will remain on the active roster for the Vikings’ must-win road contest against the Lions on January 7. The team has only a 2.7% chance to make the playoffs, per ESPN’s Football Power Index, after dropping its home finale against the Green Bay Packers in primetime on New Year’s Eve.
The Vikings reunited with Barr on November 13 after parting ways with the four-time Pro Bowler following the 2021 campaign. He spent the 2022 season in the NFC East, appearing in 14 games and making 10 starts for the Dallas Cowboys.
Barr has appeared in three games for the Vikings this season, two against the Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears in the two weeks immediately following his signing in Minnesota. He spent the next several weeks on the practice squad before the team elevated him again for last Sunday’s contest against the Packers.
All told, Barr has played 34 defensive snaps and 6 snaps on special teams since rejoining the Vikings, per Pro Football Reference. Over the course of his 10-year NFL career, nine of which he has spent in Minnesota, Barr has appeared in 115 games and made 108 starts. He has tallied 554 total tackles, including 41 tackles for loss, 32 pass breakups, 18.5 sacks, 8 forced fumbles, 5 interceptions and 1 defensive touchdown.
Brian Flores May Leave Vikings Just 1 Year After Building Quality Defense
GettyMinnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores could be on his way out in 2024 after just one season with the franchise.
Next Sunday’s game in Detroit could be Barr’s swan song with the Vikings, and also as an NFL player anywhere, as the linebacker will turn 32 years old ahead of next season and has already played a decade at the game’s highest level.
Meanwhile, Beauplan’s career may be just beginning if he avoids injury and fits in well with Minnesota’s defensive scheme. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the Vikings defense, the author of that scheme may not be around to continue building on it in 2024.
Defensive coordinator Brian Flores served as head coach of the Miami Dolphins for three seasons between 2019-21. He joined head coach Kevin O’Connell’s staff ahead of the 2023 campaign and installed an aggressive, blitz-heavy scheme that has been more successful than most anyone might have conceived before the season began.
Because of that success and Flores’ history as a head coach, however, he will be a prime candidate for one of the several NFL head coaching jobs expected to become available in the coming months.