Getty Joejuan Williams
The Minnesota Vikings tore down their secondary this offseason and are slowly building it back brick by brick.
The most recent addition to the unit came on Monday, April 17, when the team added former New England Patriots cornerback JoeJuan Williams. The news was reported via Twitter by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
“The #Vikings have signed former #Patriots 2nd-round pick Joejuan Williams,” Rapoport wrote.
Neither the length of the contract or its monetary value were immediately available.
Williams Plagued by Injuries Before Signing With Vikings
GettyFormer New England Patriots cornerback Joejuan Williams signed with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday, April 17, 2023.
The precise role the Vikings envision for Williams is difficult to say, as the 25-year-old’s measurable qualities are high-end but his performance on the field through four years in the NFL has been anything but.
The Patriots selected Williams out of Vanderbilt with the No. 45 overall pick in the second round back in 2019, in large part due to his 6-foot, 4-inch and 208-pound frame. However, Williams has been plagued by injury since entering the league.
Williams missed 13 games across his first three professional campaigns due to various ailments before a shoulder injury cost him the entirety of the 2022 season. The cornerback has appeared in a total of 36 games, earning one start over the course of his career. Williams has tallied 44 tackles and eight pass breakups during that span, per Pro Football Reference.
Vikings See Upside in Williams After Rough NFL Start
Courtesy of VikingsVikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores had his introductory press conference on February 15, 2023.
Williams watched his four-year, $6.6 million deal with the Patriots expire from the sidelines as the sun set on the 2022 regular season. Due to his injury concerns, what the Vikings ultimately pay for the cornerback is going to be a determining factor in the quality of the signing.
The likelihood is a short contract, probably one year, at an exceedingly reasonable price as Williams attempts to rebuild his value. That paradigm suits the Vikings as well, who still need to add to what is now a very young and inexperienced secondary and had less than $1.5 million in salary cap space before inking Williams Monday.
Minnesota this offseason hired long-time Patriots staffer and former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores to coordinate their defense moving forward. Flores left the New England organization after a 15-year tenure, his departure coming during the same offseason in which the Patriots drafted Williams.
While Flores presumably had no part in that selection, his defensive philosophy and schemes were developed under and by the same coaching staff that chose to pluck Williams up in the middle of the second round four years ago.
After the Vikings signed the cornerback, it is reasonable to assume that Flores believes in Williams’ potential with a fresh start and playing in a scheme that is going to be at least somewhat familiar to the one he was part of in New England. That Minnesota likely added Williams on a value contract makes taking a flier on him an even more attractive proposition because if it doesn’t work out, cutting bait with Williams should prove relatively painless.
Williams now joins a Vikings secondary that is headlined by veteran safety Harrison Smith and newly added cornerback Byron Murphy, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals. Also expected to return healthy this season are second-year cornerbacks Andrew Booth Jr. and Akayleb Evans, as well as second-year safety Lewis Cine. All three had their rookie campaigns cut short by injury in 2022.