The Minnesota Vikings obviously haven't made much noise in free agency—at least not in bringing help in, that is, as they've watched a plethora of their now-former players sign new contracts elsewhere.
One external free agent they have signed, however, is cornerback James Pierre, inking the six-year veteran to a two-year, $8.5 million deal, which includes a $2.5 million signing bonus and $3.7 million overall in guaranteed money.
Now, nobody is expecting Pierre, who has spent the vast majority of his NFL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, to come in and steal a starting position from either Byron Murphy Jr. or Isaiah Rodgers. But he undoubtedly adds some much-needed depth on the perimeter and also provides Minnesota an upgrade on special teams.
Pittsburgh Steelers expert offers up extremely encouraging take on new Minnesota Vikings CB James Pierre
In an effort to gauge the feelings of someone on the other side of this transaction, we reached out to our pal Tommy Jaggi at Still Curtain, and this is what he had to say about Pierre joining the Vikings:
"James Pierre had a sneaky-good 2025 season in a part-time role with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The former undrafted free agent finally broke out in year six and was Pro Football Focus' second-highest graded cornerback last season.
Pierre, 29, doesn't have great top-end speed, and he only has 13 career starts. However, he has an excellent feel for the game and should be a quality depth signing for the Vikings."
That's a pretty encouraging take from a Steelers expert, don't you think?
As Jaggi mentioned, Pierre went undrafted back in 2020, ultimately signing with the Steelers as a free agent.
The Florida Atlantic alum signed with the Washington Commanders ahead of the 2024 campaign but never appeared in a regular-season game, as he was part of final roster cuts, at which point he returned to Pittsburgh, which certainly says something about how Mike Tomlin felt about him. And that kind of trust from such a legendary coach shouldn't be taken lightly.
As Jaggi also mentioned, Pierre, who started five of the 14 games in which he appeared this past season, received the second-highest overall PFF grade among 114 qualifying cornerbacks, with his 86.2 mark trailing only the 90.1 grade earned by the Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowler and Second-Team All-Pro Devon Witherspoon.
But what wasn't mentioned was that his 88.9 coverage grade actually ranked first.
So, again, this was a strong signing for the Vikings. As mentioned, Pierre likely won't get a shot to genuinely compete for a starting spot during training camp.
But if Murphy or Rodgers falters at any point, it's good to know that Brian Flores has a solid backup waiting in the wings.