Should the Minnesota Vikings sign safety George Iloka?

Once a disciple of current Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, the Cincinnati Bengals released the safety on Sunday.

After playing his first four years in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals, safety George Iloka entered the 2016 offseason as a free-agent. Iloka had a number of teams who were interested in adding him to their roster, including the Minnesota Vikings, but he ultimately decided to re-sign with the Bengals.

Well, the Vikings might get another shot at the safety after Cincinnati opted to release him on Sunday. Iloka has been in the league since 2012 and he was a starter on the Bengals’ defense for the last five seasons.

During his first two years in Cincinnati, the safety learned from the teachings of current Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer, who was the Bengals’ defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2013.

So considering that the Vikings were interested in Iloka’s services two years ago, would they be interested in bringing him in this season?

For right now, it doesn’t seem like a move that would be logical for both parties.

Still 28-years-old and coming off of five straight seasons as a starter, Iloka is likely going to be looking for a starting gig with his new team and that doesn’t look like something Minnesota can currently offer him.

The Vikings are heading into their fourth straight year with Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo has their starting safeties. Despite Sendejo’s struggles over the last three seasons, he and Smith have been able to form a solid pair on the back line of Minnesota’s defense.

Bringing in Iloka would mean that the Vikings are not interested in keeping Sendejo as a starter this year and there has not been anything reported this offseason that would support this line of thinking. At this point, one of Minnesota’s safeties would have to sustain an injury for the team to even consider signing the former Bengals safety.

Despite the Vikings attempting to land Iloka in 2016, it would be very surprising if they actually ended up adding him to their roster for this year.

Continuity has been a big part of Minnesota’s recent success on defense and adding someone new with the regular season just weeks away would seem like a bit of an uncharacteristic move by the team’s current regime.