Vikings Axe 2 Young Players 2 Days After Cutdown Day
The Minnesota Vikings have said goodbye to a bunch of players this week in the wake of cutdown day. General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was asked to trim the roster from 91 players to 53 on Tuesday. He built the practice squad on Wednesday, consisting of 17 players, one more than the usual limit, as international player Sammis Reyes doesn’t count toward that total.
Vikings Axe 2 Young Players 2 Days After Cutdown Day
Among the 17 players on the practice squad were two guys who were shown the door just one day later: DeWayne McBride and Jeshaun Jones.
DeWayne McBride
McBride was a 2023 draft choice, Minnesota’s last pick that year. He entered a running back room with Alexander Mattison as the team’s starter and a vacant RB2 gig. Ty Chandler snatched that job in training camp while McBride was stashed on the practice squad. Cam Akers joined after the first two games.
Despite the terrible rushing attack all season long, the season-ending injury of Akers and Mattison missing a game late in the year, McBride still didn’t make his NFL debut, which is concerning.
In college, he was an ultra-productive player at UAB in the Conference USA, rushing for over 3,000 yards and 32 touchdowns in his final two seasons. After two preseasons, however, it has become pretty clear that his numbers don’t translate to the NFL.
Veteran Myles Gaskin outplayed him. McBride rushed 20 times for only 68 yards and an underwhelming 3.4 yards average. It should be noted, though, that the offensive line didn’t quite light it up. 3.3 yards per attempt came after contact, according to PFF.
At the age of 23, after two offseasons with the club, he has been ousted from the practice squad.
The Vikings replaced him by signing running back Zavier Scott, a 2023 undrafted free agent from the Maine Black Bears. After spending his rookie season with the Colts, he was released on August 27. Like McBride, he has not made his NFL debut yet.
Jeshaun Jones
Another young player, former Maryland wideout Jeshaun Jones, also landed on the chopping block. He is an undrafted rookie after a crazy college journey. He scored seven touchdowns from scrimmage and one passing score as a true freshman in 2018.
The expectations were high for him entering his sophomore season but a torn ACL forced him to sit out the 2019 campaign. In the shortened COVID-19 season, he played in only four games, and a second torn ACL followed in 2021. Jones has stayed healthy in the last two seasons, scoring four touchdowns in each season and tabulating 557 and 790 receiving yards, respectively.
Jones scored a touchdown in his three preseason games, catching five passes for 90 yards. PFF credited him with three dropped passes, an unacceptable number on only eight targets.
He made room for offensive tackle Ricky Lee III. The 2023 undrafted rookie played college football at North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T. He appeared in six games with the Panthers last season, exclusively as a special teamer.
Editor’s Note: Information from Sports Reference and PFF helped with this article.
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Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and prefers Classic rock over other genres. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt