Akayleb Evans signs rookie contract

Another member of the Minnesota Vikings’ draft class of 2022 has officially put pen to paper.

The team has announced that fourth-round pick Akayleb Evans has signed his first-ever NFL contract.

Evans was the Vikings’ fourth-round pick out of Missouri this past April, with the team giving up their fifth-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to move up to #118 overall and select him. Evans started his college career at Tulsa but then transferred to Missouri for his final year in college.

Based on his draft slot, Evans should receive a signing bonus of around $760,000 for his four-year deal, which could have a value of as much as $4.4 million according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

The signing of Evans leaves just two members of the Vikings’ draft class unsigned. Those two players were the two that the Vikings drafted in the second round of this year’s draft, cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. and guard Ed Ingram. Like Evans, both of those players participated in OTAs under injury agreements in case anything happened to them on the field.

The Vikings still have about five weeks before Training Camp officially gets underway. At this point, there’s no reason to believe that their whole draft class won’t be under contract by the time they return to Eagan.