Minnesota Vikings 80-man Roster

With Saturday's roster-trimming fast approaching, the Minnesota Vikings have made a few late tweaks to the 80-man roster. One of which was much more than a tweak. On Sunday, the Vikings traded a 2021 second-round pick and a conditional 2022 pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for defensive end Yannick Ngakoue. That's the splashy sort of move that a team makes in March. Not at the end of August. The Vikings added one of the best young pass rushers in the league to pair with Danielle Hunter, one of the best young pass rushers in the league.

Yannick Ngakoue and Danielle Hunter. Beautiful.

The other roster tweaks were more of the late-August variety. The Vikings added some linebacker depth with the signing of David Reese II. To make roster room for Reese, seventh-round safety Brian Cole II.

In a curious move, undrafted rookie receiver Dan Chisena was moved to safety.

The addition of Ngakoue and the $12 million that came with him added some salary cap strain. To relieve some of that strain the Vikings' decision-makers gave left tackle Riley Reiff the unfortunate option of taking a pay cut or be released. Another significant roster tweak was avoided when he accepted the pay cut to stay in Minnesota for another season.

After the wheeling-and-dealing, the Vikings 80-man roster looks like this.

Minnesota Vikings 80-man Roster

Offense (39 Players)

Quarterbacks (4)
 8 Kirk Cousins
 4 Sean Mannion
 3 Jake Browning
 7 Nate Stanley

Running Backs (5)
33 Dalvin Cook
25 Alexander Mattison
23 Mike Boone
31 Ameer Abdullah
35 Tony Brooks-James

Fullbacks (2)
30 C.J. Ham
40 Jake Bargas

Receivers (9)
19 Adam Thielen
18 Justin Jefferson
81 Olabisi Johnson
12 Chad Beebe
11 Tajaé Sharpe
17 K.J. Osborn
15 Alexander Hollins
13 Dillon Mitchell
14 Quartney Davis

Tight Ends (5)
82 Kyle Rudolph
84 Irv Smith Jr.
83 Tyler Conklin
86 Brandon Dillon
89 Nakia Griffin-Stewart

Offensive Tackles (7)
71 Riley Reiff
75 Brian O'Neill
72 Ezra Cleveland
69 Rashod Hill
76 Aviante Collins
74 Oli Udoh
64 Blake Brandel

Guards (4)
65 Pat Elflein
73 Dru Samia
78 Dakota Dozier
68 Kyle Hinton

Centers (3)
56 Garrett Bradbury
61 Brett Jones
63 Jake Lacina

Defense (38 Players)

Defensive Ends (9)
99 Danielle Hunter
     Yannick Ngakoue
95 Ifeadi Odenigbo
57 D.J. Wonnum
79 Kenny Willekes
92 Anthony Zettel
90 Stacy Keely
52 Eddie Yarbrough
91 Jalyn Holmes

Defensive Tackles (6)
93 Shamar Stephen
96 Armon Watts
94 Jaleel Johnson
51 Hercules Mata'afa
66 James Lynch
60 David Moa

Linebackers (8)
55 Anthony Barr
54 Eric Kendricks
50 Eric Wilson
45 Troy Dye
48 Blake Lynch
49 Jordan Fehr
47 Hardy Nickerson Jr.
     David Reese II

Cornerbacks (9)
21 Mike Hughes
20 Jeff Gladney
24 Holton Hill
27 Cameron Dantzler
38 Harrison Hand
29 Kris Boyd
34 Nevelle Clarke
26 Nate Meadors
32 Mark Fields

Safeties (6)
22 Harrison Smith
41 Anthony Harris
44 Josh Metellus
46 Myles Dorn
37 Steven Parker
39 Dan Chisena

Special Teams (3 Players)

Kicker
 5 Dan Bailey

Punter
 2 Britton Colquitt

Long Snapper
58 Austin Cutting

Reserve Lists

Active/Physically Unable To Perform
42 Ben Gedeon, LB

Reserve/COVID-19
No one!

Reserve/Non-Football Illness
59 Cameron Smith, LB

Reserve/Opt-Out
98 Michael Pierce, DT