A New Fan Favorite? Who Is Andrew Van Ginkel Of The Minnesota Vikings?

With the Minnesota Vikings dispatching the New York Giants Sunday afternoon, there were a few plays and players that stood out in the win. Sam Darnold, the new Vikings QB played a pretty good game, Harrison Smith with an interception now has the most picks of any current NFL player, and then there is the curious case of Andrew Van Ginkel. Van Ginkel had an interception returned for a touchdown, and made some other great plays on defense, but who is Andrew Van Ginkel?

According to Andrew Van Ginkel's official bio on ESPN.com the Rock Valley Iowa (Northwest Iowa, think close to Sioux Falls, SD) native is a Midwestern guy at heart. He started off going to school and playing college football at South Dakota before transferring to Wisconsin.

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Van Ginkel turned his time with the Badgers into getting picked in the 5th round of the 2019 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins. During his 5 years with the Dolphins he "started 42 of the 73 games he played in five seasons (2019-23) with the Miami Dolphins and recorded 250 total tackles, including 31 for loss, 17.0 sacks, one interception, four forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries (one returned for a touchdown)" according to his official Vikings roster notes. 

By the way, fun fact it was Brian Flores that drafted Van Ginkel to the Dolphins, so it only makes sense that the two reunited with the Vikings.

Off the field, Van Ginkel also seems like a stellar human as he married his high school sweetheart, Samantha, in February of 2020, and the couple has two sons - Leo Barrett, born in July of 2021, and Ripken Kai, born in February of 2023. While with the Dolphins Van Ginkel visited pediatric cancer patients at a local children's hospital and hosted multiple fundraising events throughout the season to benefit Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer.

If he keeps the long hair, which reminds people of hair a real Viking would have, and keeps playing the way he has been, expect to see more 43 jerseys at both US Bank Stadium and on the road this season.