Vikings sign seven to reserve/futures contracts

With their 2019-20 season officially in the books, the Minnesota Vikings have started going about the business of the offseason, as they have announced the signing of seven players to reserve/future contracts.

Here are the seven players the team signed on Sunday:

• RB Tony Brooks-James
• QB Jake Browning
• WR Davion Davis
• TE Brandon Dillon
• CB Mark Fields
• CB Kemon Hall
• CB Marcus Sayles

The first six players on the list above all finished the season on the Vikings’ practice squad. Browning and Dillon were on the practice squad all season long, while Brooks-James, Davis, Fields, and Hall came on at various points during the season. Davis was promoted to the active roster at a couple of points during the season as well.

Sayles actually signed his contract back on 3 January, as he comes to the Vikings courtesy of the Canadian Football League. He played this past season for the Grey Cup Champions, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and was named an All-Star for the CFL’s Western Conference team. In his two CFL seasons, he intercepted six passes. He also had two sacks, five forced fumbles, and 136 total tackles. Prior to going up north, he spent some time with both the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Rams, including spending nearly all of the 2017 season on the Rams’ practice squad.

The purpose of signing a player to a reserve/future contract is so that they can be added to a team’s 90-man roster when the new league year starts in March. That then makes them eligible to participate in offseason workouts, mini-camps, and other team activities. So, these players are locked into the 90-man roster for the Vikings by signing these deals.