Vikings match, retain Tahi

The Vikings used the entire week to officially make their move, but decided to match the offer sheet fullback Naufahu Tahi had signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.

The suspense is over for Viking fans. The Vikings have matched the offer sheet extended to fullback Naufahu Tahi by the Cincinnati Bengals and will retain his services. The Bengals had signed Tahi to a $1.4 million, one-year offer sheet.

A fourth-year player from Brigham Young, Tahi has played in 26 games for the Vikings over the past two seasons. He officially started 5 of 16 games played last season. He did not carry the ball from scrimmage during the regular season but caught 16 passes for 37 yards.

The Vikings had tendered him as a restricted free agent at $1.01 million, but because he was undrafted, they would not have received any compensation had they chosen not to match the Bengals’ offer.

“I’m excited to come back to the Vikings,” Tahi said. “I think we have a lot to build on and hope we can pick up where we left off last year. I love the city and we have a good group of guys in the locker room. I’m excited to get to work on improving on our finish from last year. I think Adrian [Peterson] and I were really getting into a groove in the second half of the season and are playing well together.”

Tahi originally joined the Vikings for the final six weeks of the 2006 season, signed by the Vikings off the Bengals practice squad. He played in 10 games in 2007 on special teams and at fullback before taking over in 2008 as the Vikings' regular starting fullback, beating out free-agent signee Thomas Tapeh.

Tahi helped lead the way for Peterson, who led the NFL in rushing in 2008 with a team-record 1,760 yards and a team-record 10 games with 100 yards or more rushing.