EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings on Friday announced the signing of defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson to help fortify the interior of the defensive line.
Originally drafted by the Jets with the 13th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft, Richardson spent the past season with the Seahawks.
He has started 70 of 73 career games played in five seasons, including 15 with Seattle when he had 44 tackles (27 solo), a sack, one pass defensed, two fumble recoveries and his first career interception.
A native of St. Louis, Richardson played two seasons of college football at Missouri and entered the draft with a year of eligibility remaining (he attended College of the Sequoias before transferring to Mizzou).
With the Jets, Richardson appeared in all 32 games of his first two seasons and started 31, including a 2014 contest against the Vikings in Minnesota en route to a Pro Bowl appearance.
Richardson recorded a safety of former Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater for New York's first two points of the game. The safety was one of 3.0 sacks recorded by Richardson on the day in the lone multi-sack game of his career.
He was credited with seven tackles and four quarterback hits by press box statisticians and showed tremendous hustle in chasing — and nearly catching — Jarius Wright on the Vikings 87-yard walk-off touchdown from Bridgewater to Wright.
Richardson was inside the hash mark at the 9 when Wright secured the ball outside the numbers at the 12. The defensive tackle nearly caught the speedster at the 23, but former center John Sullivan got just enough of Richardson to give Wright the space to turn on his afterburners.
Now, Richardson is a Viking, Bridgewater is a Jet, and the teams are scheduled to meet again this fall.
