Stolen Vikings Pass Rusher is a Free Agent Yet Again

Maybe the front office can circle around to the Vikings pass rusher who got away.

Check out the quick word to emerge from Mike Garafolo from The NFL Network: “The #Giants have released LB Jihad Ward, sources say. He was signed off the #Vikings’ practice squad late last month. Appeared in two games, logging 41 snaps.”

Former Vikings Pass Rusher Now a FA

At this stage, Minnesota is home to the NFL’s most fearsome defense, largely due to the pass rush.

Dallas Turner has been a rumored breakout candidate for a long time. The long-awaited prophecy has been unfolding in real time. Now partner that great production from the third-year pass rusher with ongoing excellence from linebacker Blake Cashman, edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel, and various others. Combined, Flores’s Fiends have proven to be incredibly difficult to corral.

Oh, and the secondary has seen the corners do good work, especially with Isaiah Rodgers and James Pierre.

Could the defense be even better with Jihad Ward grafted back into the rotation? Would he be of some help?

For a time, re-welcoming Mr. Ward to the practice squad made some sense for the 2026 Minnesota Vikings. He was signed to the practice squad on September 9th of 2026.

The versatile veteran boasts excellent size, allowing him to kick inside on passing downs. Better yet, his experience working as a Vikings employee in 2024 gave him some built-in knowledge of the scheme, making the transition quite easy to manage. Ward, then, could be housed on the practice squad as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency defender who could be a fill-in option at edge rusher or defensive tackle if/when a need arose.

The issue, of course, is that Minnesota was keeping Ward on the taxi squad (to borrow a hockey term). He could therefore get stolen away for the promise of a job on team’s 53-man roster.

That precise possibility — getting stolen away — became a reality when New York called for his services. But now the Giants have moved on, apparently more interested in rolling with the other options in New York rather than the well-travelled veteran pass rusher.

During the 2025 season, Jihad Ward played for the Tennessee Titans. He did so while throwing 31 tackles and 5 sacks onto the stat sheet. Note that he had an eye-popping 22 quarterback hits in that ’25 season, a great number that suggests Ward still has some game inside of him. Look for him to get signed before too long, possibly with the Vikings.

Next up for the Vikings is a Week 7 game against the flailing Indianapolis Colts.

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