Tag: Andrew Van Ginkel

Nik Needham shows photo of two former Dolphins he keeps in his locker

Nik Needham is the only Dolphins player left from the team’s 2019 rookie class.

When the Miami Dolphins allowed both Christian Wilkins and Andrew Van Ginkel to leave in free agency, it left no 2019 draftees on the roster.

Cornerback Nik Needham wasn’t picked in the 2019 NFL draft, but he earned a spot on the Dolphins’ roster that year as an undrafted rookie. And after re-signing with Miami in March, Needham is now the only player left from the team’s 2019 rookie class.

On Wednesday, Needham shared on Instagram that he’s keeping a photo of his now-former Dolphins teammates in his locker:

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In March, Wilkins agreed to a massive four-year, $110 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Van Ginkel signed a two-year, $20 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

Needham has appeared in 61 games in five seasons with the Dolphins and has recorded six interceptions, three sacks, and 25 pass deflections. The one-year deal he signed with the team last month is set to pay him $1.29 million for the 2024 season.

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Brian Flores had a lot to do with the Vikings pursuit of Andrew Van Ginkel

Miami’s former head coach was a big reason the LB left for Minnesota.

During the first few days of free agency, the Miami Dolphins lost a number of key players, including linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who signed a two-year, $20 million contract to join the Minnesota Vikings.

Van Ginkel was an impact player for Miami despite having his opportunities dip at times. In 73 career games wearing aqua and orange, the former Wisconsin Badger recorded 250 tackles (31 for a loss), 57 quarterback hits, 21 passes defended, 17 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumbles recovered and two interceptions.

Speaking during the NFL’s annual meetings, Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell shared why they were so aggressive in targeting the edge rusher.

“I think [Brian Flores’] background with him and, obviously, a lot of my offensive coaches and myself on the offensive side have had some trouble playing against Gink over the past few years,” O’Connell said (transcribed by the South Florida Sun Sentinel). “I think, just the versatility of what he means to our team, really, what it means for Flo, their history together. Flo has built something unique, kind of 1-of-1 here in Minnesota, and I’m excited to see him use Gink and kind of where that takes us.”

Flores and Van Ginkel both arrived in Miami in 2019 and worked well together for three seasons before the coach’s firing. The linebacker’s 2020 and 2021 campaigns were some of his best, as he recorded 119 tackles (16 for a loss), 30 quarterback hits, 11 passes defensed, 9.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and one fumble recovery (a 78-yard scoop and score).

Van Ginkel will likely be lined up all over the front in Flores’ scheme, allowing him to confuse opposing quarterbacks and offensive linemen to get pressure and potentially force some mistakes.

Meanwhile, the Dolphins have replaced him with veteran linebacker Shaq Barrett, who may be a more proven pass-rusher, but he definitely doesn’t have the versatility that Van Ginkel brought.

Contract terms for OLB Andrew Van Ginkel have been released

The Minnesota Vikings signed OLB Andrew Van Ginkel to a very team friendly contract with a 2024 salary cap hit of $3.4 million

The Minnesota Vikings made a lot of free-agent signings during the first wave of free agency. Arguably my favorite one of them was outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel.

After playing with Brian Flores for three seasons, Van Ginkel had a breakout with the Miami Dolphins. He signed a two-year, $20 million contract with the Vikings and the terms of the contract were disclosed by The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling. The deal is structured like this:

  • $7 million signing bonus spread across five years
  • 4 void years are on the deal
  • $1.78 million base salary in 2024 fully guaranteed
  • $10.78 million base salary in 2025 ($1 million fully guaranteed, $3 million more for injury only. That injury guarantee vests on third day of 2025 league year.)
  • Per game roster bonuses of $170k in 2024 and 2025
  • $50k workout bonuses in 2024 and 2025.
  • 2024 cap hit: $3.4 million
  • 2025 cap hit: $12.4 million

The Vikings adding void years to Van Ginkel’s deal signals a want to keep him around long term and also ease the cap hit for 2024 to make the math work out better.

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Former Wisconsin linebacker gets big payday with Minnesota Vikings

Former Wisconsin linebacker gets big payday with Minnesota Vikings

Former Wisconsin linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel agreed to a 2-year, $20 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings on Monday afternoon.

The five-year veteran was a 5th-round pick of the Dolphins back in 2019. He’s spent his entire career in Miami thus far, serving as a significant part of the Dolphins’ defense since the 2020 season.

Related: Braelon Allen gives his all-time Wisconsin running back Mount Rushmore

The former Badger is off a stellar 2023 campaign which included 69 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 19 quarterback hits, one interception and one fumble recovery.

Van Ginkel played at Wisconsin in 2017 and 2018 after transferring from Iowa Western. While he recorded 98 tackles and 12.0 sacks in two years as a Badger, no play was more memorable than his pick-six off Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett in the 2017 Big Ten Championship Game.

He now gets job security and an impressive contract with a Minnesota team desperately looking for defensive improvements.

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Jonathan Greenard, Andrew Van Ginkel add serious spice to Brian Flores’ Vikings blitzes

Brian Flores’ blitz-happy Vikings defense got two major pieces for the future in edge-rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.

If there’s one thing you know about Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, it’s that he’s going to bring more defenders after the quarterback than just about anybody else in the league. Last season, the Vikings ranked first in the NFL with a blitz rate of 51.5%, though their pressure rate of 21.9% was far more middle of the pack.

So, while it’s highly likely that star edge-rusher Danielle Hunter will be on the move in free agency, the Vikings reinforced their edges with two highly interesting pass-rushers. Minnesota agreed to terms with former Texans defender Jonathan Greenard, and also with former Dolphins defender Andrew Van Ginkel. Van Ginkel was selected by the Dolphins in the fifth round of the 2019 draft out of Wisconsin, and as Flores was Miami’s head coach from 2019-2021, there’s some familiarity there.

Greenard played in a Houston Texans defense in which blitzing was hardly the order of the day — Houston blitzed on just 21% of their snaps last season — but when Greenard was involved in some sort of extra pressure, he was able to make the most of it.

As for Van Ginkel, who also had 53 pressures last season, a full 32 came on some kind of blitz, and he was more than happy to be an Agent of Chaos when that happened.

So, while he may lose Hunter in free agency, Flores has two new pieces to his ornate defense who can really get things done.

Report: Rams showed interest in free-agent OLB Andrew Van Ginkel

The Rams are in the market for pass-rush help and showed interest in Andrew Van Ginkel before he agreed to a deal with the Vikings

There’s no hiding the fact that the Los Angeles Rams want to add pass-rush help this offseason. Whether they do that in free agency or the draft (or both) remains to be seen, but they’re going to bring in talent to go with Aaron Donald, Kobie Turner and Byron Young.

Though the Rams haven’t added anyone yet, they did show interest in edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel on Monday before he agreed to a deal with the Vikings, according to Adam Caplan of Pro Football Network. Van Ginkel got a two-year deal worth $20 million from Minnesota, which would’ve been a very reasonable contract for the Rams to give him.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t get it done but they’ll still be in the market for edge rushers.

Van Ginkel enjoyed a breakout season in Miami last year, recording a career-high 53 pressures and six sacks in 17 games (11 starts). He dropped into coverage often, too, which is something the Rams asked Michael Hoecht to do frequently last year.

Look for the Rams to remain active in the pass rusher market this week.

The Real Forno Show: Vikings agree to terms with Andrew Van Ginkel and Blake Cashman

The Minnesota Vikings have agreed to sign OLB Andrew Van Ginkel and ILB Blake Cashman. The Real Forno Show breaks it down.

The Minnesota Vikings have made another splash move in free agency. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Minnesota Vikings have agreed to terms with Miami Dolphins OLB Andrew Van Ginkel on a two-year, $20 million contract.

This deal comes after the Vikings already agreed to terms with Houston Texans edge rusher Jonathan Greenard for four years and $76 million. This defense is continuing to reshape itself under the image of Brian Flores.

What does Van Ginkel bring to the Vikings? He does have a history with Flores having played for him for three seasons and breaking out in 2021 with 45 pressures and six sacks. He will come in and be a versatile chess piece on a defense that needs it.

The Vikings also agreed to terms with former Texans linebacker Blake Cashman on a three-year deal worth up to $25.5 million. What does he bring to the table?

What else will the Vikings have in store for the rest of free agency? We are here to break it all down and more on the latest episode of The Real Forno Show, airing Monday and Wednesday nights at 6 pm central on the Vikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel.

Former Dolphins LB Andrew Van Ginkel agrees to join Vikings

AVG agrees to a two-year deal with Minnesota.

While the Miami Dolphins had done a solid job of signing their own pending free agents, they’ve started to lose a number of them in the hours since the legal tampering window opened.

After defensive lineman Christian Wilkins and safety Brandon Jones reportedly found new homes, Dolphins Wire’s own Jason Sarney reported that Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel has agreed to join the Minnesota Vikings on a two-year deal worth $20 million ($14 million guaranteed).

Van Ginkel, 28, was selected by Miami in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL draft out of Wisconsin. In his five seasons with the team, he recorded 250 tackles (31 for a loss), 57 quarterback hits, 21 passes defensed, 17 sacks, four forced fumbles, three fumbles recovered and two interceptions.

He’ll now reconnect with his former head coach, Brian Flores, who is now the Vikings defensive coordinator.

For the Dolphins, they’ll need to find more depth at outside linebacker/defensive end with Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips recovering from serious injuries.

Minnesota Vikings agree to terms with OLB Andrew Van Ginkel

The Minnesota Vikings agreed to terms with Miami Dolphins OLB Andrew Van Ginkel on a two year contract.

The Minnesota Vikings have made another splash move in free agency. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Minnesota Vikings have agreed to terms with Miami Dolphins OLB Andrew Van Ginkel on a two-year, $20 million contract.

This deal comes after the Vikings already agreed to terms with Houston Texans edge rusher Jonathan Greenard for four years and $76 million. This defense is continuing to reshape itself under the image of Brian Flores.

Van Ginkel is a versatile pass rusher that can also drop back into coverage and do a lot of different things. On only 321 pass rush reps last season, Van Ginkel had 53 pressures and eight sacks. Pretty good efficiency.

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1 pending free agent the Ravens could target from each AFC team

We’re looking at one pending free agent from each AFC team that the Baltimore Ravens could target

Free agency is about two weeks away, and the Baltimore Ravens have several players set to hit the open market. General manager Eric DeCosta has to make crucial decisions to fill roster holes.

While DeCosta will likely look to the free agent market for answers, several in-house free agents are candidates to sign an extension ahead of free agency.

But there are also many of them, including some of Baltimore’s higher-profile free agents, likely on the way out.

With the NFL combine set to wrap up and the new league year just eight days away, we’re looking at one pending free agent the Ravens could target from each AFC club.