Tag: Kentrell Brothers

Report: Former Vikings LB Kentrell Brothers suspended nine games

Brothers is currently a free agent after spending four seasons with the Vikings. During that stint, Brothers started one game and played in 51.

Kentrell Brothers, a former Vikings linebacker and special teams player, has been suspended nine games, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.

Brothers is currently a free agent after spending four seasons with the Vikings. During that stint, Brothers started one game and played in 51.

He tallied 55 total tackles and 41 solo tackles with Minnesota, the only team he has played for in his NFL career. He was drafted by the Vikings in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Brothers has been suspended before this reported occurrence. In 2018, he was hit with a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, according to a report from NFL.com. That season, Brothers played in all 12 eligible regular season games for Minnesota.

The Vikings drafted linebacker Troy Dye this offseason. The team also re-signed linebacker Eric Wilson, who will earn a non-guaranteed $3.259 million on his contract for this season, according to Ben Goessling of the Star Tribune.

Vikings’ free-agency watch: Linebackers

The Vikings could be losing one of their key backups at the position.

Under contract:

The Vikings have their best two linebacker under contract, which is good news.

Anthony Barr has four more years left on his contract and has a cap hit of $12.7 million in 2020.

Eric Kendricks, the 2019 All-Pro, is in the second year of a five-year, $50 million deal. He has a cap hit of $10 million next season at age 28.

Cameron Smith and Ben Gedeon are also under contract.

Free agents:

Both Kentrell Brothers and Eric Wilson are set to be free agents.

Losing Wilson would hurt this team. He was a solid spot starter and actually graded as the league’s 24th-best linebacker per Pro Football Focus out of 88 graded players.

It feels like he’ll get paid to be a starter somewhere in 2020.

Potential Cap Casualties:

It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if the team moved on from Gedeon in the final year of his rookie deal. Gedeon has an $893,289 cap hit in 2020, but the penalty to cut ties is just $158,289, per Spotrac.

Gedeon played in just eight games last season due to a concussion. Gedeon is a solid linebacker against the run, but has struggled in passing situations.