Vikings sign RFA OT Ryan Van Demark

[StickierBuns]

Bills player, per Schefty, to an offer sheet.

[badgervike]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/footbal...r-AA1YRAmL

[RS_Express]

Checked to make sure, it was a UDFA-level tender so there's no draft compensation to give if the Bills don't match. Seems like he played better than Skule last year (who didn't?).

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/bil...ngNewsSerp

[StickierBuns]

A buddy who's a Bill's fan said he played extremely well when called upon last year, fingers crossed he makes it to Minnesota. Probably 50-50. The reason the Vikings did this is that Buffalo has two other backup OTs they really like, so maybe they let this guy go.

[MaroonBells]

Hope the Bills don’t match. He sounds like a solid swing tackle. He had a couple good games last year in key moments, but also a few clunkers. Honestly it looks remarkably similar to the grades Justin Skule put up in Tampa before we brought him in. Van Demark is a couple years younger, so there might still be hope for development. The bad news in this is that it signals the Vikings still do not trust Walter Rouse one bit.

[FourCornersViking]

Bills OT Ryan Van Demark signs $4.2 million offer from Vikings
Story by Matt Byham • 19h • 2 min read


The Minnesota Vikings have signed restricted free-agent (RFA) offensive tackle Ryan Van Demark of the Buffalo Bills to an offer sheet figure of $4.2 million for the 2026 NFL season, per reports by Alec Lewis, Tom Pelissero, and others. Van Demark’s status as an RFA means that the Bills have the right of first refusal on any offer received by another team — an option that must be leveraged within five days of any offer being signed.

Buffalo had used the original round tender for Van Demark, a figure that guaranteed him a salary of $3.52 million for the 2026 NFL season. That Minnesota swooped in with the current offer may have caught president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane by surprise. Because Van Demark entered the league as an undrafted free agent, there is no draft compensation attached if Buffalo declines to match an outside offer.

The question for One Bills Drive now is undoubtedly one about value, and whether losing Van Demark is sound business for the team’s roster. At this point, the difference needed to match and retain Van Demark is just $700,000 dollars. Van Demark did not renegotiate his deal prior to free agency, which has paid off for him at least in the short term.

A versatile lineman who can play both left and right tackle, the 27-year-old Van Demark has played in 43 game with six starts across his tenure with Buffalo. He played in 12 games during the 2023 NFL season, following that up with two starts among 14 game appearances in 2024. Van Demark found his most significant action during the 2025 NFL season, providing reliable depth in the trenches while stepping in to make four starts and appearing in 17 regular-season games.

Van Demark entered the league following the 2022 NFL Draft, signing with the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis waived Van Demark during final roster cutdowns, at which point he then signed with the Bills’ practice squad before eventually signing a reserve/future contract at the beginning of 2023.