Getty Former Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson signed with the Packers on October 4, 2022.
The Green Bay Packers just signed a face familiar to Minnesota Vikings fans.
In a team release, the Packers announced they are signing former Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson to the team’s practice squad after he spent the first four weeks of the season with the New Orleans Saints.
A sixth-year NFL veteran, Wilson was a wild success story coming out of the Vikings organization.
Undrafted, Wilson Achieved Starting Status With Vikings
Undrafted coming out of college in 2017, Wilson earned a spot on special teams and quickly became one of the Vikings’ most valuable depth pieces. Wilson contributed for years and helped Minnesota’s special teams rank among the league’s best for three seasons.
And when he got his shot, he ran with it.
After Anthony Barr suffered a season-ending torn pectoral injury in Week 2 of the 2020 season, Wilson stepped into a starting role. He tallied 122 tackles, eight tackles for loss, eight pass breakups, three sacks, three interceptions and a forced fumble in 16 games and 15 starts.
It earned him respect from teammate and All-Pro middle linebacker Eric Kendricks who called Wilson a “walking turnover.”
While turnovers are often a fleeting statistic among linebackers, Wilson provided needed durability in the 2020 season — playing 1,034 defensive snaps for 96% of the team’s total on defense. He was one of just nine former undrafted players to start at least eight games that season, achieved by just 1.9% of the 463 undrafted players in the league that year, per Football Outsiders.
However, the Vikings couldn’t afford to sign Wilson to a lucrative contract with both Kendricks and Barr on the 2021 cap sheet. Wilson inked a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles but was released after seven games. Wilson, who emerged as a special teamer with the Vikings, couldn’t cement a role on defense or special teams with developing talent underneath him emerging.
He signed with the Saints in the offseason but had yet to see a regular-season snap. He’ll have a chance with the Packers.
“The [Packers] emphasized Wilson’s contributions on both defense and special teams, indicating that he may play a role on some of the team’s special teams units like punt or kickoff,” Heavy’s Tyler Brooke wrote.
Vikings Defense Undergoing Change
Wilson represents one of the many pieces the Vikings defense under Mike Zimmer developed over the years.
The group that he groomed into the NFL’s top-ranked unit in 2017, is a shell of its former self with many of its core members elsewhere in the league or free agents.
Barr signed with the Dallas Cowboys, a similar path Everson Griffen took in his year away from Minnesota. Linval Joseph spent two seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers but is currently a free agent. Xavier Rhodes also signed with the Buffalo Bills a few days ago.
Harrison Smith, Danielle Hunter and Kendricks are the last members of that defense still on the team in Minnesota while defensive coordinator Ed Donatell transitions the unit to a 3-4 base scheme.
The new regime in Minnesota opted to stick with the core of Pro Bowlers and add in veteran talents like Jordan Hicks, Harrison Phillips and Za’Darius Smith — a move that should keep the defense afloat for a few years before a potential rebuild around the team’s younger talent.