Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.79 million with former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Trent Sherfield on Thursday. Sherfield will receive a $400,000 signing bonus. The 28-year-old former undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt spent the first three years of his career playing for the Arizona Cardinals before one-year stints with the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Bills in 2023. He caught 11 of his 22 targets for 86 yards and one touchdown in 17 regular season games (one start) in Buffalo last year. Sherfield has a grand total of 78 receptions for 930 yards and five touchdowns on 141 targets in his six years in the NFL and won't be on the fantasy radar in 2024 as he competes with Brandon Powell for a reserve role in Minnesota behind Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

The Minnesota Vikings declined to offer a restricted free-agent tender to running back Cam Akers (Achilles), meaning he is a free agent and can negotiate freely with any team. The former second-round pick was an exciting prospect out of Florida State in 2020 but after two Achilles tears in four years in the NFL, his career has struggled to get off the ground. Akers was traded to the Vikings from the Los Angeles Rams early in the 2023 campaign and rushed 38 times for 138 yards and one touchdown before suffering a major Achilles injury. The 24-year-old might get a chance to play elsewhere, but it'll likely be on a cheap, one-year deal. For now, he remains far from the fantasy radar. The majority of skill players do not recover well from an Achilles tear, never mind two.

Veteran free-agent quarterback Brett Rypien is signing a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears, according to Ari Meirov of the 33rd Team. The 2019 undrafted free agent has thrown for 950 yards, four touchdowns, and nine interceptions in 10 career games with the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams. He spent time with the Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets last year but did not appear in a game. The Bears are expected to select Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Justin Fields is rumored to be on the trade block. That said, Rypien has a path to the backup role in 2024. Based on his career so far, he is not anywhere close to the fantasy radar.

At the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Minnesota Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah aggressively rejected the idea of trading star wide receiver Justin Jefferson. The Vikings came close to extending Jefferson last offseason, and the team still has no plans to trade him despite quarterback Kirk Cousins' departure to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency, according to sources. The 25-year-old pass-catcher is currently signed through the 2024 season. With Cousins gone, the Vikings signed former first-rounder Sam Darnold. Unless the team makes a splash in the upcoming NFL draft for a rookie signal-caller, all signs point to Darnold taking over the starting gig in Minnesota, which would give Jefferson far less upside as an elite WR1 for fantasy purposes.

The Minnesota Vikings agreed to terms to re-sign wide receiver Brandon Powell to an undisclosed one-year deal on Tuesday night, according to a source. Powell caught 29 passes for a career-high 324 yards and a key touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons on 44 targets in 17 games (two starts) in 2023 in his first year with the Vikings and fifth year in the NFL. Normally more of a punt returner, Powell was relied on more often due to injuries to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and K.J. Osborn. The 28-year-old former undrafted free agent out of Florida has bounced around with four different teams in his five NFL seasons, but he'll stay put in Minnesota in 2024 and could be the team's starting slot wideout if Osborn doesn't re-sign. Still, with quarterback Sam Darnold potentially Minnesota's starter under center in 2024, Powell will be off the fantasy radar in most leagues.