Vikings roster preview: Grugier-Hill, Asamoah and linebacker depth

As we head toward a new season, Inside the Vikings is looking at each member of the 53-man roster to recap their 2023-24 season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. Today, we focus on linebacker depth. Check out our past stories on each member of the offense , the punter competition , kicker Will Reichard , the interior defensive linemen , the edges , and inside linebackers Blake Cashman and Ivan Pace Jr.

The Minnesota Vikings seem to have two very strong inside linebackers in Ivan Pace Jr. and Blake Cashman, but how about the depth behind them?

Over the offseason, the Vikings added veteran Kamu Grugier-Hill on a one-year deal worth roughly $1.4 million as depth and competition for third-year man Brian Asamoah II.

Grugier-Hill, 30, has eight NFL seasons of experience, appearing in 115 regular-season games with Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Arizona and Carolina. While he’s mostly been a backup and special teams guy, he has started 42 games in his career.

While his experience is a plus, he otherwise doesn’t seem like a fantastic fit with the Vikings. He’s never been a good coverage guy, his defense against the run has been subpar the past four seasons and he’s not an elite pass-rusher, although that has been his best skill in recent years.

Pro Football Focus has only given him an overall grade of at least 70.0 in one season (2017) and his last three seasons have all been below 50, including a 29.6 grade in 2022. In fact, his only grades above 60.0 in any area over the past four seasons have been for rushing the passer, where he did post a pass-rush productivity score that tied for 15th-best among linebackers in 2023.

Maybe that’s simply his role and fit: a situational pass-rusher and special teamer, although his tackling struggles — 15% career missed tackle rate, including 19.7% last season — even make that a questionable fit.

Then there’s Asamoah, a third-rounder in general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first draft. Given how the rest of that draft class is looking for the Vikings, it seems reasonable to assume the Vikings want to do all they can to turn him into a contributor, so he could have a longer leash.

Still, the 24-year-old hasn’t played a ton in his first two seasons besides special teams and seems to be on the roster bubble this year, although he should be able to provide solid depth at the very least.

Injuries have hindered him a bit as well, as he’s dealt with ankle, shoulder, knee and toe injuries during his first two seasons. An injury last year during training camp may even have helped Pace leapfrog him on the depth chart and grab a starting job.

Like Cashman and Pace in particular, he’s a little small by NFL linebacker standards but is speedy and athletic. That helped him have a solid rookie year that seemed to put him on a trajectory toward becoming a starter, but last year was a big step back, as PFF gave him just a 38.3 overall grade (compared to 78.8 his rookie year).

Despite that, when healthy, he does fit Minnesota’s mold at inside linebacker and still posted solid pass-rushing and coverage grades last season.

With two years left on his rookie deal, it’d be surprising if the Vikings cut him but he does need to turn in a healthy season and show he can be productive when called upon.

For what it’s worth, the Vikings kept four inside linebackers on their initial roster last season. If that’s the case again, those four seem to be the top choices, although it’s possible they could part with Grugier-Hill and keep only three or even give undrafted rookie Dallas Gant a chance. Gant was Minnesota’s top-graded defender in their first preseason game , although he still seems like more of a practice squad candidate than a 53-man roster fit at the moment. He does have a more prototypical size (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) for the position if that’s important to the Vikings.

Overall, Minnesota seems to have a really strong starting group of inside linebackers and just OK depth, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Adofo-Mensah grabs someone off waivers at the end of the preseason to help bolster this spot. The club did add someone on Tuesday that maybe could help, too. With good health, this unit will be more of an asset than a problem, but a big injury could drastically change that due to the drop-off from the starters to the reserves.