Minnesota Vikings sign 11 undrafted college free agents

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MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings announced on Wednesday they’ve signed 11 college free agents who were not selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.

After taking 11 players in the draft, that’s 22 players who will make their way to TCO Performance Center this summer when minicamp and training camp commence. When you take a look at the undrafted free agent signings, there could be an interesting competition among the specialists.

The Vikings signed Turner Bernard, a long snapper out of San Diego State. They signed Riley Patterson, a kicker out of Memphis and they signed Zach Von Rosenberg, a punter out of LSU.

Last year, the Vikings released Austin Cutting at long snapper after nine games and replaced him with Andrew DePaola. It’s possible Bernard could compete with DePaola for the job.

Colquitt is back for his third season with the Vikings after agreeing to a pay cut in the offseason as the team needed to make several moves in free agency. He’ll make the veteran’s minimum in 2021 after finishing last season second to last in net yards per punt with 36.7. He was also one of only two punters to have multiple kicks blocked last season. Von Rosenberg, if nothing else, will give him competition.

The most interesting battle might come at kicker. The Vikings released veteran Dan Bailey in the offseason, after he had struggles toward the end of last season. They brought in Greg Joseph, who didn’t have a single kick in 2020, spending the season on the practice squad for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2018, Joseph was 17-of-20 on field goals, 25-of-29 on extra points and had 47 touchbacks on 69 kickoffs.

In four years at Memphis, Paterson was 240-of-246 (97.6 percent) on extra points, and 64-of-83 (77.1 percent) on field goals. He finished second in program history with 432 career points.

Here’s a complete look at the Vikings’ 2021 undrafted free agents.

VIKINGS 2021 UNDRAFTED FREE AGENTS

Turner Bernard – San Diego State LS

Tuf Borland – Ohio State LB

Christian Elliss – Idaho LB

Zeandae Johnson – California DT

Myron Mitchell – UAB WR

Riley Patterson – Memphis K

Whop Philyor – Indiana WR

Blake Proehl – East Carolina WR

A.J. Rose – Kentucky RB

Jordon Scott – Oregon NT