The Minnesota Vikings had an exciting off-season and made new hires before the beginning of the 2022 NFL draft. They worked hard to build a reputable roster with the help of new hires Head Coach Kevin O’Connell and General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
New players and leadership were most welcome, but an opportunity for returning players to build the team remained. Recent rumors about the Vikings’ new search for a new DT were officially confirmed when they signed former Chicago Bears Khyris Tonga.
The Vikings made this official this Wednesday morning by signing the seventh-round pick. This signing was followed by three roster moves that included waiving the linebacker, Ryan Connelly. Ryan Connelly’s return to the Minnesota Vikings was short-lived, as he was activated from the physical but could not perform on Tuesday. However, he was placed on the waivers by the Vikings, and this move opened up a spot for Khyris Tonga.
Khyiris Tonga will join the Vikings after spending some time on the practice squad of the Atlanta Falcons team. He was born and bred in West Valley, Utah, and entered the NFL as the seventh-round pick in 2021 with the Chicago Bears.
New #Vikings NT Khyiris Tonga is a true blue 1-Tech. Was solid at BYU. Showed some promise with the Bears last season, but they shifted to a 4-3 this SZN under Eberflus. Really solid pickup. pic.twitter.com/cNkhdE42J8
— Purple FTW! Podcast (@PurpleForTheWin) October 4, 2022
About Khyiris Tonga
Khyiris only spent about a month with the Atlanta Falcons; his rookie campaign and offseason were spent with the bears before the waiver at the end of August. Tonga played at Brigham Young University from 2017 to 2020 for about four seasons. The University reports his stats at 130 tackles, 69 of which were solo, 15 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, five sacks, and 12 passes in the 50 games he played. In his final year, he recorded two sacks, five passes, and 36 tackles in the 11 games he was in.
Khyiris Tonga also attended his high school in Utah at Granger, where as a freshman, he was part of the All-Region 2 First-Team in football. While there, he played as defense and offense line, and tight end for the BYU Cougars football team. He was also a rugby player.
Go Cougs! 💙 pic.twitter.com/25diqCC5ux
— Khyiris Tonga (@khyiristonga) Decemb