With the 2023 season in the books, Inside the Vikings will be taking a look at all 22 of Minnesota's pending unrestricted free agents over the next couple weeks. We'll examine their past and speculate about their future, particularly the likelihood that they could be re-signed by the Vikings this offseason. We'll start from the least important (Hakeem Adeniji) and work our way up to the big fish (Kirk Cousins).
Vikings UFA profile: DL Sheldon Day
- Age: 29
- 2023 stats: 6 games, 8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FR
- 2023 contract AAV: $1.08 million
Sheldon Day is the definition of a journeyman veteran. He's on his fifth team since being picked by the Jaguars in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. After stints in Jacksonville, San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Cleveland, he landed with Minnesota's practice squad in December 2022 and stuck around into the following year. Day was eventually signed to the Vikings' active roster in November.
Starting in Week 12, Day played between 12 and 27 snaps at defensive tackle in each of the season's final six games. He had a TFL against the Bears, a fumble recovery against the Raiders, and a couple QB pressures against the Bengals. Overall, he provided what you'd hope for from a practice squad veteran, which was replacement-level DT play. Day earned a 59.4 PFF grade (60 is average) on his 125 snaps.
He's never played more than 325 defensive snaps in a season, but Day has the experience and ability to get another opportunity to at least be on a practice squad in 2024. That just might not be in Minnesota.
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