Minnesota Vikings 54-man Roster

While nowhere near the MASH unit in San Francisco, the Minnesota Vikings have dealt with some recent injuries. The most significant is the loss of linebacker Anthony Barr to a torn pectoral muscle. He was placed on injured reserve this week and is done for the season. The loss of Barr forced the promotion of linebacker Hardy Nickerson Jr. from the practice squad. That's a short-term solution. A longer-term solution will probably be found in the expected signing of former Denver Broncos starting linebacker Todd Davis. He's going through the COVID protocol and I'm guessing will start his time in Minnesota on the practice squad. Guard Pat Elflein injured his thumb during practice last week and was placed on injured reserve. His absence is expected to be weeks rather than the entire season. Dru Samia stepped in at right guard against the Indianapolis Colts. Brett Jones was promoted from the practice squad to help offset the interior line loss of Elflein. Defensive end Danielle Hunter has been dealing with a neck injury for over a month. He started the season on injured reserve and could be activated as early as next week. Hopefully he's activated. They need him in the lineup so damn bad. So, the Vikings will be without Barr for the season, Elflein for a few weeks, and Hunter for, hopefully, one more week. 

Other than dealing with those few injuries most of the Vikings' roster juggling since the start of the season has been the usual back-and-forth between the active roster and the practice squad. Seeing as only two safeties were kept on the initial 53-man roster some of the game day back-and-forth was with that position. More liberal practice squad rules due to COVID has increased the back-and-forth movement.  Defensive tackle Abdullah Anderson and familiar safety George Iloka have been added to the practice squad in the past week. 

I currently have 54 players on the active roster and two vacancies on the practice squad. I'm guessing that Todd Davis will be added to the practice squad before he's added to the active roster once he's acclimated to his new team. I'm also looking at cornerback Mark Fields as the player moved from the active roster to the practice squad. Those moves would get the roster down to 53 and the practice squad up to 16. 

Offense (26 Players)

Quarterbacks (2)
 8 Kirk Cousins
 4 Sean Mannion

Running Backs (4)
33 Dalvin Cook
25 Alexander Mattison
23 Mike Boone
31 Ameer Abdullah

Fullbacks (1)
30 C.J. Ham

Receivers (7)
19 Adam Thielen
18 Justin Jefferson
81 Olabisi Johnson
12 Chad Beebe
11 Tajaé Sharpe
17 K.J. Osborn
85 Dan Chisena

Tight Ends (3)
82 Kyle Rudolph
84 Irv Smith Jr.
83 Tyler Conklin

Offensive Tackles (4)
71 Riley Reiff
75 Brian O'Neill
69 Rashod Hill
74 Oli Udoh

Guards (3)
78 Dakota Dozier

73 Dru Samia
72 Ezra Cleveland

Centers (2)
56 Garrett Bradbury
61 Brett Jones

Defense (25 Players)

Defensive Ends (5)
91 Yannick Ngakoue
95 Ifeadi Odenigbo
57 D.J. Wonnum
52 Eddie Yarbrough
90 Jalyn Holmes

Defensive Tackles (5)
93 Shamar Stephen
96 Armon Watts
94 Jaleel Johnson
51 Hercules Mata'afa
66 James Lynch

Linebackers (5)
54 Eric Kendricks
50 Eric Wilson
45 Troy Dye
57 Ryan Connelly

47 Hardy Nickerson Jr.

Cornerbacks (7)
21 Mike Hughes
20 Jeff Gladney
24 Holton Hill
27 Cameron Dantzler
29 Kris Boyd
38 Harrison Hand

32 Mark Fields II

Safeties (3)
22 Harrison Smith
41 Anthony Harris

44 Josh Metellus

Special Teams (3 Players)

Kicker
 5 Dan Bailey

Punter
 2 Britton Colquitt

Long Snapper
58 Austin Cutting

Practice Squad

  3 Jake Browning, QB
  7 Nate Stanley, QB
15 Alexander Hollins, WR
86 Brandon Dillon, TE
40 Jake Bargas, FB
76 Aviante Collins, G/T
68 Kyle Hinton, G
64 Blake Brandel, T

67 Albert Huggins, DT

     Abdullah Anderson, DT

48 Blake Lynch, LB

     George Iloka, S
26 Nate Meadors, DB

  7 Chase McLaughlin, K

Here are the players that have been placed on the various reserve lists:

Reserve Lists

Reserve/Physically Unable To Perform
42 Ben Gedeon, LB

Reserve/Injured

99 Danielle Hunter, DE

55 Anthony Barr, LB

65 Pat Elflein, G

79 Kenny Willekes, DE

46 Myles Dorn, S

Reserve/COVID-19
None!

Reserve/Non-Football Illness
59 Cameron Smith, LB

Reserve/Opt-Out
98 Michael Pierce, DT