Minnesota Vikings Roster Moves

Injuries. The Minnesota Vikings lost two players to significant injuries in the preseason opener against the Houston Texans. Receiver/punt returner Rondale Moore was lost to a serious knee injury. It was his second consecutive, season-ending, training camp injury. Last year, it was a right knee injury while he was with the Atlanta Falcons. This year, it’s his left knee. Moore was placed on injured reserve yesterday. Undrafted rookie center Zeke Correll was lost to a fractured ankle. He was waived with an injury designation yesterday. The injury designation means that if he clears waivers, he will revert to the Vikings injury list. 

The Vikings injury list is a growing list. If Zeke Correll clears waivers and is added to it, the list will contain four players. 

Rondale Moore

Matt Nelson

Alexander Musch Williams

Zeke Correll will likely be added to it. 

Making roster moves involving Rondale Moore and Zeke Correll were expected as we saw those injuries during the Texans game. They looked significant in real time and their season-ending nature was expected. 

What wasn’t expected was seeing linebacker Brian Asamoah II among the roster moves as he was waived. A third-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, Asamoah never grabbed the defensive role expected of him. It was assumed that he’d grab that role in his second season. Two things worked against him. An injury slowed his progression and undrafted Ivan Pace Jr. emerged. When Asamoah got back on the field, he was left with only a special teams role and being a backup at linebacker. He did make a consistent impact on special teams over the past two seasons but he never became the linebacker he was drafted to be. A lot of that had to do with opportunity. The play of Pace and Blake Cashman never gave Asamoah the opportunity at linebacker. The Vikings waived him now to give him an opportunity to catch on with a team before the mass cuts that will come in a few weeks. 

The first draft of Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has come under a great deal of criticism. That criticism has been building at a steady rate pretty from the moment the picks were made. 

The picks:

1. Lewis Cine

2. Andrew Booth

2. Ed Ingram

3. Brian Asamoah II

4. Akayleb Evans

5. Esezi Otomewo 

5. Ty Chandler

6. Vederian Lowe

6. Jalen Nailor

7. Nick Muse

Ty Chandler and Jalen Nailor are the only players from the Vikings 2022 draft still on the roster. Chandler might be on the wrong end of the competition for RB3. Nailor is playing for a nice free agent contract next offseason. It’s a nice free agent contract the Vikings probably won’t be able to pay. This time next year and there will probably be no players from this draft on the roster. 

The funny, not so funny, thing is that I really liked this draft initially. I thought that Ed Ingram was a bit of a reach in the second but that was my lone complaint. I was sure wrong. More importantly, Adofo-Mensah saw it as a significant learning experience. It was his first draft swing. Overall, he’s done a fine job in three years getting the Vikings out of a terrible salary cap situation and put together a deep and talented roster. A Super Bowl is always the measuring stick but it seems that the Vikings general manager has settled into the job since that early draft stumble. 

With the moves, the Vikings are now three players short of the roster maximum.