Fare Thee Well, Noble Myles: Vikings RB Gets Stolen Away by NFC Rival
A rival team in the NFC has stolen away a Vikings RB: Myles Gaskin (who was living on the team’s practice squad).
ESPN’s Adam Schefter offered the update: “More RB reinforcements on the way: the Rams are signing running back Myles Gaskin off the Vikings’ practice squad and on to their active roster, per source.” As some will recall, the Rams saw Kyren Williams leave their most recent contest with an ankle injury. The Gaskin add comes on the heels of that development.
Vikings RB Gets Stolen Away by NFC Rival
Rams writer Jourdan Rodrigue notes that it looks like Williams will need to miss some time. She relays some of Sean McVay’s words about Williams and RB2 Ronnie Rivers: “Initial prognosis, it looks like it’s gonna be challenging for those guys.”
Of course, many fans will think of the recent swap between the pair of teams. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah put together trade #17 by bringing Cam Akers over from the Rams. Getting the talented ball carrier to the Twin Cities cost just a swap of 6th- and 7th-round selections in 2026 (and there are even some conditions).
Put differently, Akers was basically free.
Furthermore, we think of the connection between the franchises given that the current head coach — Kevin O’Connell — was the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl Rams before getting hired by the Vikings. One also thinks of Minnesota OC Wes Phillips, who made the journey over alongside O’Connell.
The simple fact that Myles Gaskin has some appeal for both organizations is thus of little surprise. In LA, Gaskin will be tasked with similar responsibilities to the ones he had while in Minnesota.
With the Vikings, Gaskin was getting next to no opportunity. In fact, he has only been active for a single game — the Week 2 loss to the Eagles — but he didn’t see any playing time with the offense. He did pick up a pair of snaps on special teams, though.
Without Gaskin, the Vikings will move forward with a RB group consisting of Alexander Mattison, Cam Akers, Ty Chandler, and Kene Nwangwu. The final name on that list will spark some optimism in Minnesota due to his special teams prowess. There aren’t too many people in the NFL faster than Nwangwu, so seeing him activated from the IR in the not-too-distant future will inspire some hope for a more lethal crew for Matt Daniels.
On the practice squad, the Vikings still have 7th-round rookie DeWayne McBride to lean on if there are any injuries to the running backs on the active roster.
The Vikings and Rams aren’t scheduled to play each other in 2023. However, both teams are fighting for one of the limited spots as a wild card team in the NFC playoffs.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this piece.
K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and as a co-host for Notes from the North, a humble Vikings podcast.
