Longtime Vikings Nuisance Akiem Hicks Ha

Tuesday brought great news for Kirk Cousins, Garrett Bradbury, and the entire interior of the Vikings' offensive line: Akiem Hicks Johnny Pesky Jersey is officially out of the NFC North.Hicks spent the last six seasons with the Chicago Bears and gave the Vikings fits every time he played them. After a long wait as a free agent this offseason, he signed a one-year deal worth up to $10 million with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who are not on the Vikings' 2022 schedule.A 2012 third-round pick by the Saints, Hicks was a solid player in New Orleans and, briefly, for the Patriots but his career really took off in Chicago. He was one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the NFL from 2016 to 2018, and although he's dealt with some injuries over the Joe Kelly Jersey past few seasons, the 32-year-old remains a major force when healthy.No team seemed to catch the full brunt of Hicks' impact quite like the Vikings. In nine games against Minnesota during his six years with the Bears, Hicks racked up 8.5 sacks, 14 total tackles for lo s, 21 quarterback hits, and 35 pre sures. From Joe Berger to Pat Elflein to Bradbury, he routinely mauled Vikings centers (and guards), creating interior pre sure in the pa sing game and shutting down rushing lanes. The Bears went just 4-5 in those games, but Hicks was always a huge factor. In recent years, he loved talking trash with Cook.It started back in 2016, when Hicks had two sacks, six pre sures, a pa s breakup, and a 90.9 PFF grade in his first matchup against the Vikings as a member of the Bears. He then had another two sacks in the matchup at Soldier Field in 2017. Hicks' Vikings dominance might have peaked in 2018, when he had Tyler Thornburg Jersey a sack and five total TFLs in Chicago and added 1.5 sacks in Minnesota to help keep the Vikings out of the playoffs. After mi sing both of the Bears' victories in 2019 and not doing a ton in 2020 (though he still had 8 pre sures in the two games), Hicks got another two sacks at Soldier Field last December.Scroll to Continue"He's the biggest human being on the field, so we gotta send like two, three guys to block him," Cook said last year. "So that takes another guy off another guy to be free. Once he's on the field, Steven Wright Jersey he's a force. He's a good player. Just playing against him through this rivalry, you see what he means up front for those guys. He brings the energy, trash-talker, just raises the level of their play."Hicks became a free agent this offseason, and there was some speculation about the Vikings potentially looking to add one of their biggest tormentors Nomar Garciaparra Jersey to their defense. They did end up doing that by signing Za'Darius Smith, but they went with Harrison Phillips as their addition on the interior of the defensive line., the Vikings showed interest in Hicks at one point, but it never materialized.Now he's in Tampa, where he'll team up with Vita Vea to form a scary duo on the inside. The Vikings don't play the Bucs in the regular season until 2023, so they won't have to worry about Hicks this year until a po sible postseason meeting.I don't think anyone in the Vikings organization is upset about that development.