52 Days Until Vikings Football: Previewing Eddie Yarbrough's 2020 Season

The former Wyoming and Bills pass rusher will look to stick around in Minnesota.

As we count down the days until the Vikings' opener against the Packers on September 13th, InsideTheVikings will be previewing every single player on the roster. The amount of days remaining corresponds with the jersey number of the player being examined on that day. Today is July 23rd, and there are 52 days until kickoff for the 2020 regular season. That means it's time to look at the team's seventh and final defensive end.

Countdown to Vikings-Packers on September 13th: 52 Days

Player Previews: Eddie Yarbrough (No. 52, Defensive End)

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  • College: Wyoming
  • Drafted: 2016 UDFA
  • NFL experience: Four seasons (two on an active roster)
  • Age: 27 (Birthday was in April)
  • Size: 6'3", 259
  • 2019 stats: N/A
  • Career stats: 63 tackles, 8 TFL, 1 sack, 2 passes defended

Two days following their final regular season game of the 2019 season, with a big playoff test in New Orleans looming, the Vikings made a seemingly insignificant move by signing defensive end Eddie Yarbrough off of the Bills' practice squad. Depending on how he performs in training camp, that move could be confirmed as insignificant. However, with Yarbrough's experience – plus the Vikings' lack of proven depth at defensive end – there's a chance it turns into a savvy pickup.

Yarbrough was a two-star recruit out of Aurora, CO, and ended up choosing Wyoming over a few Pac-12 offers. After a redshirt year and a bit of playing time as a redshirt freshman, he was a full-time starter for the last three years of his college career. Yarbrough stuffed the stat sheet, leaving Wyoming with 256 tackles, 39.5 tackles for loss, 21.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, and four passes defended. He was named first team All-Mountain West as a sophomore and junior, and made the second team as a senior.

Yarbrough wasn't seen as much of an NFL prospect in 2016. Without elite sack production, he didn't receive a combine invite. He's undersized for the position at 6'3", 259, and has very short arms for an NFL edge rusher (32 and 1/8th inches). Yarbrough also has good but not great athleticism, though his 28 bench press reps at Wyoming's pro day show excellent strength. 

He had enough upside to be picked up as an undrafted free agent by the Broncos, but was waived by the defending champions during roster cuts. Yarbrough signed with the Bills the following April and wound up making the active roster after impressing in practice and the preseason. In 2017, Yarbrough took advantage of some injuries and played in all 16 games (including six starts) for a Bills team that made the playoffs. He finished the year with nearly 500 snaps, 34 tackles, four TFLs, two pass breakups, and a sack. He got the start in the wild card round of the playoffs and had five tackles.

Yarbrough's performance in 2017 got him a one-year deal to stay in Buffalo, and he played in 15 more games in 2018. However, his snaps fell to 300, his production dropped slightly, and his PFF grade went from 63.4 to 58.0. Yarbrough then spent all of the 2019 season on the Bills' practice squad before being picked up by the Vikings.

Heading into 2020, Yarbrough is a long shot to make the roster or practice squad in Minnesota. Being 27 years old could be an advantage for him, but it also probably means that if he doesn't make the team, the Vikings would go with a younger option – such as seventh-round rookie Kenny Willekes or 25-year-old Stacy Keely – on the practice squad. There are seven defensive ends currently on the roster, and the Vikings are likely to keep four or (maybe) five. With Danielle Hunter, Ifeadi Odenigbo, and D.J. Wonnum as locks, Yarbrough is competing for one or two roster spots with Anthony Zettel and the two aforementioned players.

Yarbrough's strength, bend, technique, and NFL experience will give him a shot to impress in camp, assuming he makes it there; the Vikings are going to have to go from 87 players down to 80 before camp officially kicks off. But if he doesn't turn heads at TCO Performance Center, given the lack of preseason games this year, we may never actually see him in a Vikings No. 52 jersey.

Other DE player previews:

You can find every single player preview to date – plus other offseason content – in this handy spreadsheet.

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Will Ragatz
WILL RAGATZ

Will Ragatz is a senior writer for Vikings On SI. He is a credentialed Minnesota Vikings beat reporter, covering the team extensively at practices, games and throughout the NFL draft and free agency period. Ragatz attended Northwestern University, where he studied at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. During his time as a student, he covered Northwestern Wildcats football and basketball for SB Nation’s Inside NU, eventually serving as co-editor-in-chief in his junior year. In the fall of 2018, Will interned in Sports Illustrated’s newsroom in New York City, where he wrote articles on Major League Baseball, college football, and college basketball for SI.com.