Geno Atkins – DT
Connection to Vikings: Mike Zimmer
One would literally have to be living under a rock to be unaware of Mike Zimmer’s admiration for former Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins.
Whenever he’s talking about interior defensive linemen, Zimmer typically likes to use Atkins as his measuring stick. It’s hard to blame the Vikings head coach though since the veteran defensive tackle was a First-Team All-Pro when Zimmer was the Bengals’ defensive coordinator in 2012.
Earlier this offseason, there was a report that Minnesota had some interest in adding Atkins to their roster. But, obviously, nothing ever came of it.
Perhaps the Vikings wanted to use their spending money to fill some other needs first before signing the free-agent defensive tackle. So now that they’ve got some additional cap space, maybe we’ll hear about Atkins agreeing to a deal with Minnesota sooner than later.