After spending one season with the Chargers, former Vikings All-Pro linebacker Eric Kendricks was cut by the team on Tuesday. Despite signing a two-year contract last offseason, Los Angeles will free up $6.5 million in cap space with this move. In 2023, Kendricks made 14 starts for the Chargers, tallying impressive stats such as 117 tackles, 7 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 6 passes deflected, and 1 forced fumble. Additionally, the 32-year-old had his highest PFF
rating (72.3) since the 2020 campaign. Even though he had a successful season, the Chargers’ cap savings and the new coaching staff don’t make this move all that shocking. As the new head coach in Los Angeles, Jim Harbaugh took defensive coordinator Jesse Minter from Michigan with him.
After being selected by the Vikings in the second round in 2015, Kendricks played his first eight seasons with them as a UCLA player. After a great 2019 season, he was named to the first team of the Pro Bowl. Despite only making one Pro Bowl, he was quite good from 2016 to 2020. The Vikings dropped him in the spring of last year after he began to play less well in 2021 and ’22. They had excellent play at inside linebacker last season from Jordan Hicks and rookie Ivan Pace Jr., so the move seemed to work out well.
Hicks, Troy Dye, Anthony Barr, and Nick Vigil are all free agents at this time, although it seems doubtful that they will play together again in Minnesota. The Vikings would probably just bring Hicks back for one or two more seasons to play alongside Pace if they were going to sign a veteran LB. If he makes significant progress in his third season, Brian Asamoah II might also be a factor. Kendricks ought to have a healthy market to go compete for a starting position elsewhere even at the age of thirty-two.