In the excitement of the draft Thursday night, the Associated Press reported that free agent defensive end Lawrence Jackson had agreed to a deal with the Minnesota Vikings.

Jackson — known as LoJack — was brought to Detroit in a trade with the Seahawks in August 2010.  A rotational player he had a combined 46 tackles and seven sacks over the past two seasons.

He had tweeted that the Lions had made him an offer, but last week he visited the Vikings and the deal was done on Wednesday although not announced until Thursday. Jackson tweeted that it had nothing to do with the Lions drafting defensive end Ziggy Ansah who will wear No. 94, Jackson's number while with the Lions. 

 Interestingly enough, the Lions host the Vikings in the season opener on Sept. 8. 

 Jackson was a first-round pick (28th overall) out of USC in the 2008 draft.

 Big on Twitter, late Thursday night he sent a message to Detroit fans: “Can't say it enough, thank you, thank you, thank you LIONS FANS...u were good to me.’’

 (Follow @PaulaPasche on Twitter. Order her book,  “100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die’’ here. It’s also available at bookstores.)