Vikings Sign AAF DBs Duke Thomas & Derron Smith

April 5, 2019

The Minnesota Vikings announced that they’ve signed DBs Duke Thomas and Derron Smith to contracts on Friday.

Thomas, 24, wound up signing on with the Texans after going undrafted out of Texas back in 2016. He signed a three-year, $1.62 million contract with the Texans but was waived with an injury designation coming out of the preseason and later reverted to their injured reserve.

Thomas had brief stints with the Eagles and 49ers before the Cowboys signed him to a futures contract back in 2017. He was waived at the start of the 2018 season.

During his four-year college career, Thomas recorded 169 tackles, one sack, six interceptions, a forced fumble and 20 pass defenses for Texas.

Smith, 27, is a former sixth-round pick of the Bengals back in 2015. He was on and off of the Bengals’ roster over the course of three years before the Browns signed him to their active roster during the 2017 season.

Unfortunately, Cleveland waived Smith coming out of the preseason last year.

In 2017, Smith appeared in seven games and recorded four tackles for the Bengals.