Ex-Vikings Draft Pick Out for Season after Bounceback with the Patriots
The Minnesota Vikings have improved their defensive performance from last season by acquiring some talent in free agency. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores also went back to the drawing board, adjusting his exotic scheme after the final four games of the 2023 season went poorly.
Ex-Vikings Draft Pick Out for Season after Bounceback with the Patriots
The level of play from the defensive line has been quite surprising, an area most tabbed as a weakness as the Vikings failed to add any difference-makers next to steady veteran Harrison Phillips. It’s a rotational group of Jerry Tillery, Jonathan Bullard, Taki Taimani, and Jalen Redmond that is producing an elite rushing defense under the watch of coordinator Flores.
After the preseason, the Vikings had to part ways with a bunch of players to get under the roster limit of 53. Some of those cuts were players from Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s first two draft classes, including former first-rounder Lewis Cine. Not as much attention went toward the departure of 2023 fifth-rounder Jaquelin Roy.
The defensive tackle was waived after only 16 months with the franchise. Following his exit, he joined the New England Patriots practice squad. His new team promoted him to the active roster in October, and he has been a solid contributor ever since.
Now, however, his season is over as the Patriots placed him on IR with a foot injury, the team announced on their website: “The New England Patriots announced today that DT Jaquelin Roy has been placed on injured reserve.”
After only playing 96 snaps for the Vikings in 2023, he climbed to 141 defensive snaps in 2024 in only six games, logging two sacks and 17 tackles (three for loss). It was a nice bounceback year for the player the Vikings selected with the 141st pick of the 2023 draft.
Coming out of LSU, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compared the defender to former Viking Dalvin Tomlinson.
He then wrote about the LSU lineman: “The more you watch, the more you like the way Roy plays the game. He’s a little tight in his lower body, which prevents consistent gap leverage as a run defender, but he has outstanding upper-body power and plays with unbridled energy.”
Zierlein continued, “Roy has one-gapping snap quickness and two-gapping potential if he can become more consistent with taking on blocks. Despite limited starting experience at LSU, he already displays signs of a rush plan and the athletic talent to execute it. Roy is an ascending talent with the potential to become a quality starter.”
At the age of 24, he still has enough time to prove that his release was a mistake.
Roy is under contract for another season with the Patriots.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference helped with this article.
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