Madieu Williams Signs 33 Million, 6 Year Deal With Vikes

In an off-season that has already seen the largest contracts for a center and a defensive tackle ever, and Asante Samuel figuring to break the bank, we can add safety to that list. Madieu Williams, formerly of the Bengals, signed with the Vikings today. Although many would immediately point to the idiocy of going to the Bengals for help of defense, Williams has actually put up some very good numbers in the four seasons he's played in the NFL. Despite missing 12 games in 2005 and 3 games this season, he still has a fairly respectable 290 career tackles, making him average 5.9 tackles in every game he's played in. Combine that with 34 career pass deflections and 9 career INTs, the Vikings may have picked up a good player. I'm not saying that he's worth the money... but he might not be a total bust. It's worthwhile noting that his biggest liabilities was always his tackling, which won't be so much of an issue since in Minnesota he'll be the last line of defense after Kevin and Pat Williams as well as E.J. Henderson and Darren Sharper. Whatever gets through that, I wouldn't want to touch anyways. He's always been good in coverage and I think that's what Minnesota needs the most.