Minnesota Vikings 53-man Roster

The Minnesota Vikings have their bye week behind them. It’s now a sprint to the finish. Coming out of the bye, the roster looks a little different. Defensive end Stephen Weatherly was traded to the Denver Broncos.  When Everson Griffen regained his starting job and his snaps increased, Weatherly’s snaps decreased. The trade gives him an opportunity for more on-field action. Broncos rookie general manager George Paton was a big part of the Vikings draft team that selected Weatherly in the seventh-round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Paton knows Weatherly and probably sees potential for him in the Broncos defense. The trade opens a path to the field for rookie Patrick Jones II in the Vikings defense. Perhaps it even gives second-year defensive end Kenny Willikes an opportunity to be a game day promotion from the practice squad. Rookie running back Kene Nwangwu was activated from injured reserve. He’d been rehabbing a knee injury suffered in the team’s first preseason game. With his speed, Nwangwu was one of the rookies I was most excited to see on the field. His speed is the sort of speed that can provide a very different dimension to the Vikings offense and special teams. Unfortunately, Ameer Abdullah was released to make room from Nwanagwu on the roster. Abdullah was a versatile player on the field and a team leader off the field. His presence will be missed in Minnesota. He wasn’t out of work for long. The Carolina Panthers quickly grabbed him for their roster. The final bye week roster tweak was activating cornerback Harrison Hand from the COVID reserve list. With the very unfortunate injury to Patrick Peterson, the Vikings need all of their cornerbacks on the field. 

The promotion of second-year offensive tackle Blake Brandel to the 53-man roster opened a spot on the practice. Offensive tackle Timon Parris was signed to fill that spot. He originally signed with the Washington Football Team in 2018 as an undrafted free agent out of Stony Brook. He saw some special teams action in four games during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. During the 2020 season he spent time on the practice squads of Washington, Atlanta, and Cleveland. Parris was in Miami’s training camp this past summer and released in August. The Vikings practice squad is now at the 16-player maximum. 

For the first six weeks of the season, the Vikings have had an offense/defense roster spilt that favored the offense. It was an unfamiliar time for a Mike Zimmer-led team. With the bye week tweaks the roster is now evenly split with 25 players on each side of the ball. 

Minnesota Vikings Roster

Offense (25 Players)

Quarterbacks (3)

  8 Kirk Cousins

14 Sean Mannion

11 Kellen Mond

Running Backs (3)

33 Dalvin Cook
25 Alexander Mattison

26 Kene Nwangwu

Fullbacks (1)

30 C.J. Ham

Receivers (6)
19 Adam Thielen
18 Justin Jefferson

17 K.J. Osborn

12 DeDe Westbrook

15 Ihmir Smith-Marsette 

85 Dan Chisena

Tight Ends (3)
83 Tyler Conklin

89 Chris Herndon

82 Ben Ellefson

Offensive Tackles (4)
75 Brian O'Neill

71 Christian Darrisaw
69 Rashod Hill

64 Blake Brandel

Guards (3)

72 Ezra Cleveland

74 Oli Udoh

51 Wyatt Davis

Centers (2)

56 Garrett Bradbury

52 Mason Cole

Defense (25 Players)

Defensive Ends (4)
99 Danielle Hunter

98 D.J. Wonnum

97 Everson Griffen

93 Patrick Jones II

Defensive Tackles (5)

94 Dalvin Tomlinson

58 Michael Pierce

90 Sheldon Richardson

96 Armon Watts
92 James Lynch

Linebackers (7)
55 Anthony Barr

54 Eric Kendricks
59 Nick Vigil

45 Troy Dye

48 Blake Lynch

41 Chazz Surratt

57 Ryan Connelly

Cornerbacks (5)

24 Mackensie Alexander

21 Bashaud Breeland

27 Cameron Dantzler

29 Kris Boyd

20 Harrison Hand

Safeties (4)

22 Harrison Smith
23 Xavier Woods

43 Camryn Bynum

44 Josh Metellus

Special Teams (3 Players)

Kicker

  1 Greg Joseph

Punter
 3 Jordan Berry

Long Snapper
42 Andrew DePaola

***

Practice Squad

34 Jake Bargas, FB

47 Tuf Borland, LB

40 Zach Davidson, TE

86 Brandon Dillon, TE

46 Myles Dorn, S

78 Dakota Dozier, OG

68 Kyle Hinton, OG

  9 Trishton Jackson, WR

87 Myron Mitchell, WR

39 Parry Nickerson, CB

61 Timon Parris, OT

36 A.J Rose Jr., RB

50 T.J. Smith, DT

  5 Tye Smith, CB

35 Luke Stocker, TE

79 Kenny Willekes, DE

Reserve/Injured

12 Chad Beebe

81 Olabisi Johnson

95 Janarius Robinson

  7 Patrick Peterson

13 Blake Proehl

84 Irv Smith Jr.

66 Jordon Scott

14 Nate Stanley

Reserve/Non-Football Injury

76 Jaylen Twyman