5 former Vikings who could return to the team in free agency in 2023

Mike Boone – RB

Running back is an area many assume the Vikings will be needing to upgrade either through the draft or free agency. Alexander Mattison is a free agent who could be looking for a bigger role with a new team. Dalvin Cook has reportedly said he’s unwilling to take a pay cut, and that could lead to him being dealt in the coming weeks or flat-out cut.

One former member of the team who could be had for cheap and could actually fit in nicely with the current stable of running backs would be Mike Boone. Boone has always been a guy who runs like it’s the last time he’ll ever carry a football. He’s got underrated speed and is powerful, always willing to lower his shoulder and fight for extra yardage.

The issue with Boone is that he’s just never gotten the chance to be “the guy”.  He’s only carried the ball 99 times in his career. While he’s had few carries he is averaging 5.2 yards per touch, and that is quite impressive. Boone has also shown the ability to be a dual threat hauling in 18 passes for 146 yards.

The Vikings have a couple of speedy backs on the team already in Kene Nwangwu and Ty Chandler.  If they prefer not to use one of the few draft picks they have on a running back, Boone would be a nice change of pace/bruiser type of back to pair with the aforementioned duo.