First Minnesota Vikings Cuts

Yesterday was roster cutdown day across the National Football League. All teams had to remove five players from their roster to reach the 85-man roster limit. It was the first of three cutdown days as teams work their way to a final roster of 53 players. 

August 16: from 90 to 85

August 23: from 85 to 80

August 30: from 80 to 53

A cutdown of five players after a single preseason game (two games for the HOF participants) feels a little pointless and maybe a little cold. Then again, the first few cuts are usually the easiest. 

Anyway, these are the new rules for the brutal ritual of crushing dreams. That might be a little harsh but cutting a player is rough. It’s rough for the coach doing the cutting. It’s even more rough for the player being cut. In my opinion, the league returned to a serious of cutdowns to throw some weekly drama into the “Hard Knocks” series. Some people are strangely taken by this difficult process. 

The Minnesota Vikings made the following transactions to get the roster to 85 players.

Waived:

Jake Bargas, FB

Andre Mintze, OLB

Contract Terminated/Vested Vet:

Tye Smith, CB

Waived/Injured:

Thomas Hennigan, WR

Tyarise Stevenson, DT

Thomas Hennigan and Tyrarise Stevenson were released with injury designations. If they clear waivers, they’ll revert to the team’s injured reserve. They’ll still be with the team. The undrafted rookies may still have a shot in Minnesota. 

With C.J. Ham on the roster, Jake Bargas’ shot was a long one. He’s been on the Vikings practice squad since 2020 but getting past Ham just wasn’t going to happen. 

Adrian Mintze played for the Denver Broncos and defensive coordinator Ed Donatell last season. That connection brought him to Minnesota this offseason. That familiarity was probably his best chance at the roster. It wasn’t enough. 

Tye Smith was on the Vikings practice squad last season and re-signed in the offseason. He was originally a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. He spent a little over a year in Seattle and some time on the practice squad in Washington. The bulk of his NFL experience was with the Tennessee Titans. He was with the Titans from 2017-2020.

The Vikings website referred to these first cuts as a “wave of roster cuts.” I don’t think that five cuts can be called a “wave.”