For the last few weeks, there have been some intriguing rumors floating around about the possibility of the Minnesota Vikings signing free-agent cornerback Asante Samuel Jr., who spent the last four seasons as a member of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Unfortunately, any Vikings fans who have fallen in love with the idea of the team signing Samuel this offseason might end up with a broken heart thanks to a recent report about an injury that the veteran cornerback is currently dealing with.
According to NFL Media's Mike Garafolo earlier this month, Samuel is still dealing with symptoms related to a neck/shoulder injury that kept him off the field for 13 games last season, and this has had an impact on the amount of interest that he's been able to generate since the start of free agency in March.
Chances of former Los Angeles Chargers CB Asante Samuel Jr. playing for the Minnesota Vikings in 2025 seem low
As Minnesota fans know from the experience the team had with Danielle Hunter in 2020, a neck injury is nothing to mess around with, especially one with lingering symptoms.
So, while it was fun to think about the possibility of Samuel joining the Vikings' secondary this offseason, the likelihood of it actually happening now seems pretty low after what Garafolo revealed.
It's possible that things could change before the start of the 2025 season, but Minnesota's focus has probably already shifted to other free agents and trade possibilities who could be added to the team's secondary this year.
Whether Samuel ends up with the Vikings or not during the next few months, the team's cornerback room is going to look a lot different next season than it did in 2024.
Minnesota was able to re-sign Byron Murphy Jr. this offseason, but Stephon Gilmore and Shaq Griffin aren't expected to be back, and they both played a significant amount of snaps for the team in 2024.
Mekhi Blackmon will be returning from a torn ACL he suffered last summer, and the Vikings also signed Jeff Okudah in free agency. But the team likely still needs to add another more reliable corner or two before the start of the 2025 season.
Minnesota might even attempt to improve the talent level of its current group of cornerbacks in this week's NFL Draft. Whatever the Vikings decide to do, though, one can almost guarantee that they're not done adding corners to their roster this year.
