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This has been a bit of an unusual year for Vikings fans. For the last several offseasons, reports have reached the media within a week or so of the relevant year’s draft that the Vikings have signed each and every one of their draft picks to their rookie contracts.
This year, Daniel Carlson, Colby Gossett, Ade Aruna and Devante Downs all signed their deals on May 3, Brian O’Neill signed his deal the day after, and Jalyn Holmes and Tyler Conklin put pen to paper on the 5th.
Of Minnesota’s eight draft picks from this most recent draft, that left only top pick Mike Hughes unsigned, and that period of being unsigned lasted far, far longer than the last few first round picks the Vikings have made.
Finally, in the week before training camp, a report by former Vikings beat writer Tom Pelissero states that the Vikings and Hughes have agreed to terms.
Another first-round contract done: the #Vikings have an agreement in principle with top pick Mike Hughes, source said. Hughes had a productive spring and will be in training camp on time to compete for nickel and punt return duties. Rookies report Tuesday.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 19, 2018
Less than an hour later, the Vikings announced the signing on their own Twitter feed.
Big news for Big Mike!@_Bigmikee1 has signed his rookie contract!
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 19, 2018
: https://t.co/nLbIFgQDi5 pic.twitter.com/LRdhVrtX0X
The Vikings even put up a photo of Hughes with his mom while signing his contract.
Making mom proud! pic.twitter.com/H56OPTsuS3
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) July 19, 2018
And for those of you interested in the numbers, Mike Zimmer’s Favorite Reporter(TM), Chris Tomasson, has those for you.
#Vikings CB Mike Hughes gets a four-year, $9.87 million deal. He received a signing bonus of $5.256 million and will have a 2018 salary-cap number of $1.794 million.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) July 19, 2018
That officially puts the wraps on the 2018 Draft and means that Vikings fans can now focus in on whether the Vikings will manage to get deals done with Anthony Barr and Stefon Diggs before the opening of training camp.
Congrats, Mike Hughes, and welcome to the Purple Horde!