's 6,818 rushing yards
Pre-draft transactions The first major transactions of the 2012 offseason were the releases of veteran guards
Steve Hutchinson and
Anthony Herrera, and CB
Cedric Griffin on March 10, as the Vikings began rebuilding their offensive line and secondary. Three days later, the team re-signed perennial backup QB
Sage Rosenfels and DT
Letroy Guion off their unrestricted free agents list. This was followed up with the signing of the
Seattle Seahawks' unrestricted free agent TE
John Carlson on a five-year contract. The next week, the team brought in FB
Jerome Felton, also an unrestricted free agent, from the
Indianapolis Colts. They then released DT
Remi Ayodele on March 21, but re-signed DT
Fred Evans. March 26 was a big day for signings by the Vikings, with the re-signings of WR
Devin Aromashodu and LB
Erin Henderson, as well as the free agent acquisitions of CB
Zack Bowman from the
Chicago Bears and T
Geoff Schwartz from the
Carolina Panthers. April saw very few transactions go through in anticipation of the
2012 NFL draft at the end of the month. Nevertheless, the Vikings signed LB
Marvin Mitchell and WR
Jerome Simpson, despite the fact that Simpson would miss the first three games of the season for a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy.
2012 draft and the Vikings defense against the
Jacksonville Jaguars, September 9
Notes: Post-draft transactions With the 2012 Draft over, the Vikings resumed their transactions in May, signing a number of undrafted free agents to their roster, and releasing RB
Caleb King, following a short jail term. With the drafting of
Blair Walsh, veteran kicker
Ryan Longwell found himself surplus to requirements for the Vikings and he was released on May 7. By the start of June, all of the Vikings draft selections (with the exception of T
Matt Kalil) had been signed to long-term contracts. ==Staff==