Instant reaction: Vikings sign safety Xavier Woods
Vikings make another addition to their defense on Saturday afternoon
For the second day in a row, the Minnesota Vikings have added to their secondary. On Saturday afternoon, they signed former Dallas Cowboys safety Xavier Woods to a one-year contract worth $2.25 million, according to NFL Network.
Woods replaces Anthony Harris, who left in free agency to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Last season Woods’s performance by PFF metrics dropped from his previous two years. He allowed a 129.0 rating on throws into his coverage with four touchdowns and zero interceptions and graded 45th of 64 safeties.
Part of his 2020 struggles, however, may have been due to being surrounded by a struggling Cowboys secondary that gave up the seventh worst QB rating against in the NFL. In 2018 and 2019, Woods’ numbers and grades were much better.
He was the 24th overall safety by PFF grades and 18th in coverage grade in 2019 while allowing a 56.4 rating on passes in his direction. Woods’s 2018 season was similar. He ranked 22nd in coverage grade and gave up a 62.8 rating.
The Vikings are assuming that playing alongside Harrison Smith combined with improvements at cornerback and defensive line will help Woods return to the form of his 2018 and 2019 seasons. If that’s the case, they will have landed a huge bang-for-buck deal having paid less than half the price from what Harris received from the Eagles.
Woods could be a long term option if the Vikings like what they see in 2021. He is 25 years old and has been remarkably healthy, playing more than 975 snaps in each of the last three years.
It’s likely that the signing of Woods takes the safety position off the board in the draft considering the way the Vikings have handled the position in years past. They have not selected safeties during the Zimmer era outside of Jayron Kearse in the seventh round of 2016, Josh Metellus in the sixth round and Brian Cole III in the seventh round of 2020.
Now that the Vikings’ defense appears to be almost fully revamped, the starting lineup looks like this:
DE: Danielle Hunter, Stephen Weatherly
DT: Dalvin Tomlinson, Michael Pierce
LB: Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr
CB: Cam Dantzler, Patrick Peterson, Mackensie Alexander/Jeff Gladney
S: Harrison Smith/Xavier Woods
That’s quite different from the group that Zimmer ended up with last year.
The Vikings have an estimated $7 million still to spend in addition to the cap space that Kyle Rudolph’s June 1 designation will create. They could still add another pass rusher, address the offensive line or add a wide receiver or all three.
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Okay, well that's a nice pickup. Know you guys had Woods in other articles and it seems like a good fit in terms of skillset, experience, and certainly need. While I liked the return of Alexander at slot CB I admit I was wondering why they weren't addressing the huge hole at Safety instead. I'll never doubt you Rick for the next 24 hours.
Peterson, Alexander, and Woods aren't stars, but this secondary looks much improved from last year. While with 20/20 hindsight I wish they had waited a few more days and been able to pick up Fuller instead of Peterson overall this doesn't feel like desperation to have draft picks have to produce...on defense.
Guess I can quit reading about DBs like Grant, Newsome, and Campbell, but still consume everything on Darrisaw, Slater, Vera-Tucker, Mayfield, Hudson, Humprhey, Mienerz, and Green. Thank goodness this is a good year for O-line. In the (copyright PFF's Austin Gayle) "fun to watch" category, Darrisaw in purple fits the bill. It would be nice to see someone on this offensive line rag doll some defensive linemen.
And, yes, Matthew, you probably saw it coming that an article on a Safety signing leads directly to postings on the O-line.
Something I've noticed from "certain" sports fans, there is a number of them that LOVE chiming in with negativity when an old players join new teams.
Me -- I'm more of a go with the flow kind of fan. AP finally leaves, thanks for the memories... Kalil joins Carolina, hope he comes back to life... Harris with Eagles, nice pairing with DB Slayton... Diggs in Buffalo, new QB can throw it to you in the parking lot...
I don't know a lot about Woods, but Dallas fans really dislike the dude. Last I checked, their entire defense was lacking...