Vikings reportedly losing Trae Waynes to the Bengals

After five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, free-agent cornerback Trae Waynes is reportedly taking on a new adventure and signing with the Cincinnati Bengals.

He appeared to give his intentions for the offseason away recently and now Trae Waynes is actually choosing to leave the Minnesota Vikings and sign with a new team.

According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero on Tuesday, the former Vikings cornerback and the Cincinnati Bengals have agreed to a deal. The contract is reportedly for three years and worth up to $42 million ($14 million yearly average).

With Waynes’ departure and the release of Xavier Rhodes, Minnesota’s top remaining cornerbacks for 2020 are now Mike Hughes and Holton Hill.

Waynes first arrived to the Vikings in 2015 after the team used the No. 11 pick in the NFL Draft on him. He struggled during the early portion of his tenure with Minnesota, but he eventually was able to develop into a solid defender and earn the job as one of the team’s starting corners for the last three seasons.

Still, it never felt like the Vikings were willing to re-sign Waynes this year, especially if he was going to command big money. Well, big money is apparently what he’s getting from the Bengals and for someone who might not have another opportunity to land a lucrative deal in his career, this was obviously an opportunity he felt he couldn’t pass up.

As for Minnesota, they will officially have two brand new starting corners for their defense next season. For the past three years, it’s been Rhodes and Waynes lining up on the outside and in 2020 that will no longer be the case.

Luckily for the Vikings, getting the most out of a team’s secondary is a specialty of Mike Zimmer’s and one can imagine he’s going to be working extra hard this offseason to prove the position group will be just fine without their two top corners from 2019.