Jalen Redmond made big plays on a regular basis during his time at Oklahoma, but his ability to do so in the NFL was the best of surprises for the Minnesota Vikings in 2024.

Despite tallying 31.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks as a Sooner, Redmond entered the league as an undrafted rookie in 2023. His first opportunity came with the Carolina Panthers, but was ultimately waved after the 2023 preseason and ended up in the UFL, playing for Bob Stoops and the Arlington Renegades during the spring of 2024.

It didn't take long for Redmond to flash on film, racking up 4.5 sacks and 18 tackles in just four UFL games before going down with an injury.

Minnesota brass took note of his production, and this past summer, the Vikings signed him to a contract.

Now, after a breakout season in Brian Flores' defense, Minnesota has announced that they have re-signed the 25-year-old defensive lineman.

"The Vikings are running it back with Jalen Redmond," the team announced on Thursday. "Redmond was scheduled to become an exclusive rights free agent at the start of the 2025 League Year in March, but both parties wanted to go ahead and take care of business."'

Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah recently appeared in a radio interview with Paul Allen and discussed the process that landed Redmond in Minnesota, crediting Senior VP of Player Personnel Ryan Grigson for noticing the former Sooner.

"I remember he called me and said, 'I like this guy.' I think it was late May," Adofo-Mensah explained. "You have to ask yourself, what's your standard for bringing people in, because a lot of good players are on teams already, so there's going to be something there that's not perfect, not clean, and earlier he had injuries, so you've got to understand why he's available, but ultimately here's why he might be a good bet."

But, despite being in the UFL at the time, the tapes showed that Redmond was the definition of a diamond in the rough.

"And you saw the flashes for an interior guy with burst, his run defense kind of jumped out to me," Adofo-Mensah added. "That's the other thing, when you've been together for two or three years, and my history with Grigson before, he knows how to communicate with me, makes a cut-up, knows exactly what we look for.

"I'm like, 'That's a great decision. Why don't you go talk to [Defensive Coordinator Brian Flores] and see what he thinks?' He goes and talks to [Flores] and sees the versatility, and it's May, there's 90 people on the roster, and we don't know what it's going to be like in December in U.S. Bank [Stadium], but you put your portfolio together with good bets like that, a good risk-reward proposition, and that's kind of what we've done. I'm giving Grigson a lot of credit for that, but that's my entire staff."

Redmond finished his first season in Minnesota with 18 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, one sack, and two pass breakups.

In his first career start, Redmond tallied four tackles with two TFLs and two passes defended against Atlanta. With that, he became the first Minnesota defensive lineman to record two TFLs and two passes defended in a single game since Pat Williams did it in 2009.

Redmond appeared in 13 games and made two starts for the Vikings in 2024, and with a second contract now in place, he figures to be a significant part of the rotation in 2025 and beyond.

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