The Vikings have signed 31-year old WR Javon Walker.  Walker played in 3 games for the Raiders last season but he didn’t catch any passes.  Walker has played in 83 games (46 starts) in his 8 years in the NFL and he has caught 267 passes for 4,011 yards (15.0 avg) with 31 TD grabs.  He has also carried the ball 14 times for 132 yards (9.4 ypc) with 1 TD run in his career.  Walker had his best days when he was with the Packers catching passes from Brett Favre.  In four years with the Packers, Walker played in 48 games (18 starts) in which he caught 157 passes for 2,444 yards (15.6 avg) with 22 TD grabs.  If anyone can revive Walker’s career it will be Brett Favre so this might turn out being a good signing for the Vikings.

The Vikings have signed 27-year old RB Ryan Moats to a 1-year deal.  Moats played in 14 games (2 starts) for the Texans last season and he carried the ball 101 times for 390 yards (3.9 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He also caught 13 passes for 106 yards (8.2 avg) with 1 TD grab last season.  Moats has now played in 38 games (3 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 204 times for 831 yards (4.1 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  He has also caught 20 passes for 127 yards (6.4 avg) with 1 TD grab in his career.  Moats will battle rookie Toby Gerhart and Albert Young for the #2 job at RB behind Adrian Peterson.  My guess is that Moats will be the #3 RB for the Vikings this year behind Peterson and Gerhart.

UPDATE:  (8/24/2010) - The Vikings have waived Ryan Moats.  Moats played in the first two pre-season games for the Vikings in which he carried the ball 3 times for 16 yards (5.3 ypc) and  caught 1 pass for 2 yards.

The Vikings have signed 29-year old cornerback Lito Sheppard to a 1-year, $2 million dollar deal.  Sheppard played in 11 games for the Jets last season and he had 31 tackles, defensed 8 passes and he had 1 interception.  Sheppard has now played in 104 games in his NFL career and he has made 284 tackles, defensed 77 passes, he has 2 sacks, forced 3 fumbles and he has 19 interceptions (3 of which he has returned for TDs).  This was a good signing for the Vikings as Sheppard will be the nickel back in 2010 unless they need him to start and he’s more than capable of holding his own in that role.

The Vikings have signed DT/DE Michael Montgomery.  He played in 10 games for the Packers last season and he made 2 tackles.  Montgomery has played in 56 games in his NFL career and he has made 123 tackles, defensed 3 passes, he forced 1 fumble and he has 5 sacks.  He will probably play inside along the D-Line for the Vikings because of his size.

The Vikings have signed 27-year old kicker Rhys Lloyd.  He will likely serve as nothing more than a kickoff specialist saving 35-year old Ryan Longwell’s leg in 2010.  Lloyd kicked in all 16 games for the Panthers last season and he averaged 66.7 yards per kickoff with 21 touchbacks.  Lloyd has now played in 35 games in his NFL career and he has averaged 67.0 yards per kickoff with 53 touchbacks.  This was a great signing for the Vikings as Lloyd will pin the opposition deep on their end of the field a lot in 2010.