Roster Numbers Game

John Holler of Scout's Vikings Update website posted an interesting column about the annual roster numbers game. The juggling and puzzle-fitting that comes with whittling an NFL roster down to 53 players. The most interesting part of Holler's column was his look at the Minnesota Vikings' initial 53-man roster last year in relation to this year. A year ago when the Vikings cut down to 53 players they divided the talent evenly. Thee specialists, 25 offensive players, and 25 defensive players.

On offense, those 25 players were broken down like this:

QB-2
RB-3
FB-1
WR-6
TE-4
T-4
G-2
C-3

Of those 25 players, 11 are no longer on the roster. Shaun Hill, Adrian Peterson, Matt Asiata, Zach Line, Cordarrelle Patterson, Charles Johnson, Rhett Ellison, MyCole Pruitt, Brandon Fusco, Matt Kalil, and Andre Smith. Without giving it too much thought I would've guessed that more than three players were missing from last year's underwhelming offensive line. This is a pretty incredible roster churn. 44%. And that's assuming that all 14 players that remain from 2016 make the team in 2017. A bold assumption.

The defense is much more stable. That's hardly a surprise. The defense has been pretty good, great at times, in the three years that Mike Zimmer and his defensive coaches have been directing it. The 25 defensive players that survived the cuts last year broke down like this:

DE-4
DT-4
LB-7
CB-6
S-4

Of those 25 players, only four are no longer on the roster. Justin Trattou, Chad Greenway, Audie Cole, and Captain Munnerlyn.

The Vikings will have some very difficult decisions to make on defense. So, difficult that I'd be surprised if there's a similar 25:25 split on the 53-man roster. The offensive side of the ball might have to give up some roster space. The most difficult decisions will be on the defensive line. If the Vikings had any hope of slipping raw but talented undrafted defensive end Tashawn Bower onto the practice squad those hopes probably died due to his play in the preseason. Bower isn't the only talented young pass rusher that's going to make these roster decisions so difficult. Stephen Weatherly and Ifeadi Odenigbo have shown the talent to stick on this talented defense. Defensive tackle will also pose challenging roster decisions. Nose tackle Linval Joseph and 4th-round rookie Jaleel Johnson are locks but all of the other contenders are on the bubble. Shamar Stephen, Tom Johnson, Datone Jones, Will Sutton. I can see any combination of two or three of those four making the team. The Vikings are more likely to keep nine or ten defensive linemen than the eight that they kept last year. There will be tough decisions on each level of the Vikings defense but the line will probably impact the overall roster numbers game the most.

I'm glad that these decisions are left to the professionals. Those people that are around the players the most and know them the best.