The Minnesota Vikings have re-signed cornerback Terence Newman, bringing the NFL’s oldest active defensive player back for a 16th season that will begin five days after he turns 40.
Newman, who has played the last three years with the Vikings, has 42 career interceptions to lead all active players in the league. With Xavier Rhodes and Trae Waynes the starters on the outside, Newman and Mackensie Alexander remain the primary options to play the slot in the nickel defense. The Vikings also drafted Mike Hughes out of Central Florida in the first round Thursday.
The Vikings exercised the fifth-year contract option on Waynes , too, on a busy Monday. That move was made Monday by the Vikings, who drafted Waynes with the 11th overall pick in the first round in 2015. He was the first cornerback taken that year. Waynes has been a starter for the last two seasons, opposite All-Pro Xavier Rhodes. Waynes has five interceptions and 35 passes defensed in his career and was credited by the Vikings with 72 tackles in 2017.
Picking up the option gives the Vikings a window of almost two years to sign Waynes to an extension before he can hit free agency. They have yet to reach a new deal with linebacker Anthony Barr, the 2014 first-round draft pick now in the final year of his rookie contract.
The NFL announced that practice squad wide receiver Cayleb Jones has been suspended for the first four games of the regular season for violating the performance-enhancing substances policy, the second Vikings player to do so this month. Backup linebacker Kentrell Brothers also got a four-game ban.
Finally, the Vikings signed 17 college free agents, including South Dakota State wide receiver Jake Wieneke, a Minnesota native.
Wieneke, who played at Maple Grove High School, is the sixth Minnesotan on the roster, joining wide receivers Adam Thielen and Brandon Zylstra, guard Tom Compton, punt returner Marcus Sherels and fullback C.J. Ham.
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