Vikings Announce 15 Roster Moves
The NFL roster cutdown deadline is fast approaching, with teams needing to finalize their 53-man rosters by 3 PM Central on Tuesday, August 29th.
The Minnesota Vikings have made a number of moves over the past 24 hours, and on Monday morning, the Vikings announced a large group of moves, including the release of 15 players.
The list of players who were released includes the four players whom we already knew about (Tanner Vallejo, Wilson Huber, Jarrid Williams, and Calvin Avery) while adding 11 new releases. This group of released players includes:
- CB Kalon Barnes
- CB C.J. Coldon
- OT Christian DiLauro
- CB Jameson Houston
- WR Garett Maag
- RB Abram Smith
- OL Josh Sokol
- QB Jordan Ta’amu
- TE Colin Thompson
- LB Jake Gervase
- CB Tay Gowan (injury designation)
Many of these moves are unsurprising. Players like DiLauro, Houston, Smith, Ta’amu, and Gervase were all added mid-training camp in order to take reps during practice and preseason.
Meanwhile, Coldon and Maag were part of this year’s UDFA class, and with the sheer amount of players at the CB and WR positions, their chances to make the final roster were always very slim.
Barnes, Gowan, and Sokol have spent time with either the Vikings or other NFL teams in previous years. Given Gowan’s injury designation, he would revert to IR if he goes unclaimed. Meanwhile, Barnes and Sokol could be candidates for the practice squad.
The release of DiLauro means the Vikings have just three players currently classified as tackles in Christian Darrisaw, Brian O’Neill, and Oli Udoh. However, Blake Brandel has spent the early portion of his NFL career at the tackle position. While he played guard throughout training camp and preseason, Minnesota can move him back to that tackle spot following these cuts.
Now, as the cutdown date inches closer, the Vikings have 75 players on their roster. 22 more moves must happen before Tuesday afternoon in order to get that magic number of 53.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.