Minnesota Vikings Sign Datone Jones

While free agency has quieted down a bit, the Minnesota Vikings made another addition on Tuesday afternoon, adding depth to their defensive line.

The Vikings have announced the signing of defensive lineman Datone Jones, who spent his first four NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers.

Jones was the 26th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft out of UCLA, and was a college teammate of both Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks down in Westwood. Jones has played in 59 games in his NFL career, but has just seven starts. He has performed primarily as a defensive end in the Packers’ 3-4 defense, but with the Vikings has the ability to play either as a base defensive end or as an interior rusher in passing situations. Hopefully he will be a better fit in a 4-3 type of defense like the one the Vikings run.

The contract is for one year and is worth $3.75 million with a chance to be as high as $5 million, according to Mike Garafolo.

Jones fits the profile of the sort of player Rick Spielman goes after in free agency, as he’s young and coming off of his first NFL contract. The Packers did not exercise Jones’ fifth-year option, and so he became a free agent a week ago. The Vikings could use some depth on the defensive interior, with Sharrif Floyd having missed nearly all of last year because of injury. Tom Johnson is also coming off of an injury he suffered near the end of the regular season, and is also one of the Vikings’ oldest defensive player.

So, hey. . .Rick Spielman hasn’t decided to take the rest of free agency off after all.