Minnesota Vikings Roster: Early Tweaks And Practice Squad

The Minnesota Vikings initial 53-man roster didn’t hold for even 24 hours. There were a couple early tweaks.

In:

RB Myles Gaskin

Out:

Jalen Reagor

In:

David Quessenberry

Moved to Injured Reserve:

RB Kene Nwangwu

Due to an undisclosed injury, running back/kick returner Kene Nwangwu hasn’t practiced in about a month. That left Alexander Mattison, Ty Chandler and fullback C.J. Ham as the only healthy backs on the initial roster. It’s no surprise that the Vikings signed Myles Gaskin after he was released by the Miami Dolphins on Tuesday. After a terrific college career at Washington, Gaskin had a productive four years in Miami. He has run-catch versatility and should be a nice fit with what the Vikings expect from their running backs. 

The Vikings initial 53-man roster had only eight offensive linemen. The team’s decision-makers had to be scanning the list of tackles, guards, and centers that were released this week. From that list, David Quessenberry was signed. He was selected by the Houston Texans in the sixth-round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of San Jose State. He was placed on injured reserve early in his rookie season. It was in 2014 that his NFL career and life left the rails. After dealing with fatigue and a persistent cough, Quessenberry was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. After completing cancer treatments and overcoming the illness, he returned to football and took part in OTAs with the Texans in May 2017. He played for the Tennessee Titans from 2019-22 and the Buffalo Bills in 2022. The Bills released him this week. Over five NFL seasons, Quessenberry played in 51 games, 26 starts. The bulk of those starts came in 2021 when he started all 17 games for the Titans. He’s an experienced, proficient football player with an unusual NFL life and career. 

While making early tweaks to the initial 53-man roster yesterday, the Vikings started putting together their 16-man practice squad. The majority of the practice squad is made up of players that were with the team throughout training camp.

66 Alan Ali, OL

35 C.J. Coldon Jr., CB

52 Sheldon Day, DL

15 Lucky Jackson, WR

  9 Trishton Jackson, WR

37 DeWayne McBride, RB

50 T.J. Smith, DL

89 Thayer Thomas, WR

43 Luiji Vilain, OLB

51 Benton Whitley, OLB

38 Jaylin Williams, CB

29 Joejuan Williams, CB

There were scattered reports that the Vikings were stocking up on offensive linemen released by other teams.

OL Hakeem Adenjii (Bengals)

OL Tyrese Robinson (Eagles)

OL Henry Byrd (Broncos)

Hakeem Adenjii was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Kansas. He played in 46 games, 22 starts, over the past three seasons. One of those starts was Super Bowl LVI. He’s played left tackle, right tackle, and right guard.

Tyrese Robinson was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles after going undrafted out of Oklahoma in 2022. He spent last year on the Eagles practice squad. 

Henry Byrd was signed by the Denver Broncos after going undrafted out of Princeton in 2023. 

As for the 16th spot on the practice squad, Tom Pelissero is reporting that the Vikings are bringing back linebacker Nick Vigil.