Vikings Sign Two To Futures Contracts

The Minnesota Vikings, who signed all of the members of their practice squad to futures contracts the other day, signed a couple of new faces to futures contracts on Thursday. They brought in punter T.J. Conley and cornerback Greg McCoy.

Conley was actually the starting punter for the New York Jets in 2011, but was out of the National Football League last season. In his one year with the Jets, he was 30th in the NFL in gross punting average and 20th in net average. He was also one of the punters brought in while Chris Kluwe was struggling during the middle portion of this past season. With Kluwe scheduled to undergo surgery for a torn meniscus in his non-kicking leg at some point this off-season, Conley appears to be an insurance policy more than anything else.

McCoy was the seventh-round pick of the Chicago Bears in the 2012 NFL Draft. He didn't stick with the Bears, spending the 2012 season on the practice squad of the Arizona Cardinals.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with "futures contracts," Ted spelled out exactly what they are pretty nicely in this story from last season.

A lot of agents have been busy Tweeting about their clients signing "futures contracts." They are called futures contracts because they technically are premised on future performance, as the NFL season does not officially begin until March. The only players who are eligible to sign this type of contract are those who were not on their teams' active rosters at the conclusion of this past season.

That's why the Vikings were able to sign Conley and McCoy, even though free agency doesn't kick off for a while.

Not earth-shattering signings or anything like that. . .but, hey, it's better than no news at all.