Vikings sign CB Kalon Barnes from Dolphins’ practice squad

With the Minnesota Vikings continuing to deal with injury issues at cornerback, the team made a move to address the position on Wednesday.

The Vikings are signing cornerback Kalon Barnes away from the Miami Dolphins practice squad, according to numerous sources. As the team is signing Barnes off of another team’s practice squad, they are required to put him onto the active roster.

Barnes was a seventh-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in the 2022 NFL Draft after a successful college career at Baylor. He was waived by the Panthers at the end of Training Camp and was signed to the Dolphins practice squad shortly thereafter. He has yet to appear in an NFL game.

Barnes made some waves at the Scouting Combine earlier this year when he clocked a 4.22-second 40-yard dash, one of the fastest times ever recorded at the Combine.

The Vikings have had a lot of issues at the cornerback position across from Patrick Peterson, with the team rotating four different players in at that position: Cameron Dantzler, Andrew Booth Jr., Akayleb Evans, and Duke Shelley. Dantzler missed four games with an ankle issue and is finally back, but Booth is done for the season after knee surgery and Evans is currently on injured reserve.

The team also has Tay Gowan on the practice squad, but they've used up all three of his elevations for the season already. That means that if they want to put him on the active roster again they’ll have to give him a permanent spot.

I don’t know if Barnes is going to have any sort of meaningful impact on the team right away, but he could be someone interesting to keep an eye on for the long term.

Welcome to Minnesota, Kalon Barnes!