The Minnesota Vikings reduced their roster to 53 players on Tuesday afternoon. They made several adjustments to that 53-man roster yesterday. An NFL roster is a fluid thing. Most of the adjustments were procedural. The Vikings also started adding players to the practice squad.
One of the first moves of the day after was the claiming of tight end Ben Ellefson off waivers from the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings have a significant tight end issue entering the season. The most significant of which was Irv Smith Jr’s season-ending knee injury. He had surgery yesterday and the recovery is expected to take 4-5 months. Smith was primed for a breakout season. He has the talent to be a unique offensive weapon. He teased with that talent in a supporting role for his first two seasons. This season was to be his opportunity to become a star. His loss is brutal. It also forced a last-minute, re-working of the tight end group. The Vikings completed a trade with the New York Jets for Chris Herndon on Tuesday. They added Ellefson yesterday. Herndon and Ellefson join Tyler Conklin and Brandon Dillon in a tight end group that’s much different than was expected.
Two of the biggest surprises of Tuesday’s roster reduction were the cutting of defensive end Everson Griffen and long snapper Andrew DePaola. Griffen’s return just last week was a celebration. His release brought tears and confusion. DePaola’s release was surprising simply because he was the only long snapper on the roster. There was no reason for tears, confusion, or surprise. The moves were simply procedural. Players headed to short-term injured reserve have to be on the initial 53-man roster before they can be placed on that reserve list. In this case, Griffen and DePaola had to be let go for about 24 hours to make room for those injured players. As vested veterans they weren’t subject to waivers and could be quickly re-signed. It was all a procedural roster dance.
Receiver Dan Chisena and rookie running back Kene Nwangwu were the players with “tweaks” that were placed on the short-term injured reserve. Both should be back on the active roster in a couple weeks. Smith Jr. was also placed on injured reserve. Perhaps he can be recovered in time for a deep playoff run.
The Vikings also started building their 16-man practice squad. So far, 14 have been signed. All 14 are familiar as all 14 went through training camp.
Minnesota Vikings Practice Squad
31 Ameer Abdullah, RB
65 Zack Bailey, OL
34 Jake Bargas, FB
47 Tuf Borland, LB
40 Zach Davidson, TE
46 Myles Dorn, S
78 Dakota Dozier, OG
68 Kyle Hinton, OG
87 Myron Mitchell, WR
39 Parry Nickerson, CB
16 Whop Philyor, WR
36 A.J Rose Jr., RB
5 Tye Smith, CB
79 Kenny Willekes, DE
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Today should be another day of roster-tweaking and practice squad-completing as the Vikings get ready for the 2021 NFL season.
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