By now, many of the more notable free agents have found new teams for the 2026 NFL season. There will be some new faces on the Minnesota Vikings roster, but there are also former purple and gold contributors finding a new team.
Even players who used to start for a team like the Vikings can struggle to find a team that is a good fit. But sometimes the combination of a player and team makes a lot of sense and should be a great partnership.
That kind of great connection is exactly what happened on Saturday night when a former starter in Minnesota found a new team that might seem like they don't need his talents, but looks smart for signing him.
The Dallas Cowboys are signing former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard for the 2026 NFL season.
Recently, Mike Garafolo shared a post on X revealing that the Dallas Cowboys are signing former starting Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard to a contract to bring him to the NFC East.
Bullard's deal is for one year and is worth a maximum of $2.5 million. He should serve as an amazing depth piece for a Dallas defense that got serious about adding talent in the defensive trenches this offseason.
Bullard joined the Vikings before the 2022 NFL season and stuck around for three years before leaving for the New Orleans Saints in 2025. Before that, he was a third-round pick of the Chicago Bears in the 2016 NFL Draft.
The 32-year-old defensive lineman had a down year in 2025 with the Saints. Although he played in all 17 games, Bullard only started six of those games. In 327 defensive snaps, the veteran defender accumulated 26 combined tackles and two pass defenses, but struggled to have a bigger impact on the New Orleans defense.
In Dallas, Bullard has the opportunity to play for a team he rooted for growing up as a kid in Shelby, North Carolina. Not only that, but he will get opportunities to play defense while pushing 25-year-old free agent signing Otito Ogbonnia for snaps at defensive end in Dallas's 3-4 defense.
Time will tell if former Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard ends up being a good signing for the Dallas Cowboys, but his experience, combined with a manageable contract, means that the veteran defender will have a chance to surpass that contract value if he can have a solid season in 2026.