Vikings Get 2 Players Off Injury Report, Put 1 Player On, & Waive Another
A minor flurry of moves, folks.
Earlier in the week, linebacker Troy Dye and punter Ryan Wright were on the injury report. Neither injury was believed to be serious since each was a full go at practice on Thursday; the report from today confirms the prognosis since neither are included in the latest injury report.
More concerning is the inclusion on Friday’s injury report: edge rusher Marcus Davenport. The 27-year-old pass rusher has a long history of injury troubles, so seeing his name on the list will cause some concern in Eagan and beyond.
The Roster Shuffle and The Latest Vikings Injury Report
Given the timing, the assumption is that Davenport tweaked his ankle on Thursday night or sometime on Friday.
Now, the Vikings tend to be fairly cautious when it comes to injuries. Kevin O’Connell is usually pretty up front in press conferences about player health. The team, moreover, isn’t shy about listing players on the official list. The main hesitation simply rests in Davenport’s history.
Since entering the NFL in 2018, Davenport has never played a full season. Last year’s 15 games was a career high. His 532 snaps in 2019 was a career high. Since then, he hasn’t gone above 500 snaps in a season.
So, at least a bit of reason for pause even as we remember that there’s no reason to go overboard. Just something to monitor as kickoff gets closer. If Davenport isn’t healthy enough to get onto the field, the Vikings will kick more snaps over to D.J. Wonnum and Patrick Jones. Andre Carter may even see a few snaps depending on how the game proceeds.
The other bit of news to remember is that the Vikings have waived recently-signed running back Myles Gaskin. Upon first glance, the decision makes very little sense, but various Vikings reporters were quick to offer an explanation for what’s occurring.
Ben Goessling of The Star Tribune notes, “The #Vikings released Myles Gaskin today, but the move is procedural. He’s expected to be back on the practice squad tomorrow, and elevated to the active roster on Sunday.” Goessling goes on: “Veterans on the active roster for Week 1 have their salaries guaranteed for the season, so releasing Gaskin is likely to avoid the guarantee.”
Gaskin’s job will involve taking some of the burden off of Alexander Mattison’s and Ty Chandler’s shoulders. He should be capable of doing a fine job in the role given his experience with Miami, where he picked up almost 1,200 snaps on offense across his four seasons as a Dolphin.
The Vikings get their season going on Sunday at noon when Baker Mayfield leads his Bucs into U.S. Bank Stadium.
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.