Vikings Rumors: Byron Murphy Agrees to 2-Year $22M Contract with MIN

The Minnesota Vikings are getting some much-needed help in their secondary after agreeing to a deal with Byron Murphy.

Per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero, Murphy will sign a two-year, $22 million deal with the Vikings after spending the past four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.

The Vikings are in a tricky spot this offseason after winning the NFC North with a 13-4 record in 2022. They went 11-0 in one-score games and tied for the third-worst scoring defense in the league.

Those are indications that a lot of their overall success was unsustainable going forward. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah seems to recognize this by bringing in Murphy. They also agreed to a one-year deal with Marcus Davenport, per Rapoport and Pelissero.

Cornerback was a major area of need for Minnesota. Patrick Peterson, who started all 17 games for the team last season, is joining the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Even with Peterson, the Vikings allowed the second-most passing yards per game in the NFL last season. Opposing teams had at least 300 passing yards eight times against them. Daniel Jones threw for 301 yards in the New York Giants' 31-24 win over Minnesota in the NFC Wild Card Game.

NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal ranked Murphy as the No. 25 free agent available this offseason.

"Murphy proved with the Cardinals in 2022 he can play on the outside; his bona fides in the slot were already established," Rosenthal wrote. "At a position with high variance, Murphy has been a steady starter since a rocky rookie year."

Regardless of whether the Vikings want to use Murphy on the outside or in the slot, he's going to represent a huge upgrade over what they had in the secondary last season.

Adding to Murphy's value is he's only 25 years old and should have several more seasons of high-quality production ahead of him.

Murphy was the first pick of the second round by the Cardinals (No. 33 overall) in 2019. He was limited to nine games last season because of a back injury, but appeared in 47 out of a possible 48 games in his first three years.