The team officially announced the signing of free-agent defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson on Thursday, March 18, and he spoke to the media on a Zoom call. He was asked about joining the team that features running back Dalvin Cook.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of times someone will say, ‘Dalvin,’ and we’re both going to look,” he said. “We haven’t talked about it yet, but it’s going to work out, I feel like.”
The only two Dalvins in NFL history both entered the league as second-round draft picks in 2017. Cook, 25, is a two-time Pro Bowl selection, while Tomlinson, 27, didn’t make the Pro Bowl in his first four years with the New York Giants. But Vikings general manager Rick Spielman believes Tomlinson has star potential and called him a “big prize” and Minnesota’s “No. 1 target” in free agency.
“He plays with great leverage, has great strength at the point, excellent with his hands, does a great job getting off blocks and firing at the ball, making plays all over the field in the run game,” Spielman said. “I think the thing that he doesn’t get enough credit for is … how he affects the quarterback even though he might not have the gaudy sack numbers.”
Tomlinson had 3½ sacks in each of the past two seasons as a nose tackle in the Giants’ 3-4 defense. But he is expected to start at three-technique defensive tackle in Minnesota’s 4-3 alignment, and his sack numbers could go up.
Michael Pierce is expected to be Minnesota’s starter at nose tackle. But the Vikings regularly use a three-man rotation in the interior of the line.
“We haven’t talked about exactly which position I’m going to play, but all I can assume is I’m going to play a little bit of three-tech and shade (nose tackle), as they go hand in hand together,” Tomlinson said. “I feel like I’m pretty stout at the run game. … I’m pretty known for stopping the run but also want to be known as an all-around defensive lineman who can also rush the passer.”
Howard Cross, a Giants television and radio analyst after a playing career as a longtime tight end for the franchise, considers Tomlinson equally adept against the run and pass.
“He’s got good speed and great leverage,” Cross said. “That’s the kind of guy you want at (three-technique). Guards are going to have a hard time dealing with him.”
Tomlinson, who agreed to a two-year, $21 million contract on Monday, has been lauded by Pierce, who wrote in a text message Tuesday that he is “super excited” to play with him. The two spoke this week, and Tomlinson used the same words in talking about being paired with Pierce.
“There’s going to be some energy up front,” Tomlinson said. “I’m just super excited. … I’d just have to say Minnesota felt like it was a good fit for me with the coaching staff and the players.”
The 6-foot-3, 319-pound Tomlinson and the 6-foot, 340-pound Pierce have been familiar with one another since Tomlinson starred at Alabama in Tuscaloosa from 2013-16 while Pierce played an hour away at Samford University in Birmingham from 2012-15. But Tomlinson almost didn’t go to Alabama.
Tomlinson is a native of McDonough, Ga., population 22,000, and grew up on Tomlinson Street, named after an ancestor who owned land in the area. He said his mother stressed academics, which led to him to being accepted by Harvard.
“I was a big academic kid growing up and when they gave me an offer to go to Harvard, it was a tough one not to go,” he said. “But football is my first love, and with Alabama having a good business program as well as football program, it just felt like a home away from home.”
Since coming into the NFL as the Giants’ second-round pick in 2017, Tomlinson started all 64 possible games with the team. Spielman lauded his durability and also his work with a number of charities, which led to Tomlinson being chosen as the Giants’ nominee for the 2020 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
“Not only is he a great football player, but he’s an even better human being off the field,” Spielman said.
Spielman made note of Tomlinson servicing as a captain last year for the Giants. The other Dalvin was named a captain last season for the Vikings.
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Vikings now have a Dalvin on both sides of the ball - Grand Forks Herald
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