Axed Vikings Draft Pick Has Turned Into a Journeyman
Things haven’t looked pretty for the 2025 version of the Minnesota Vikings, a squad that hasn’t found its groove through the first seven games of the season. Skol Nation has started asking questions about the franchise’s leadership. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s draft record keeps resurfacing within the fanbase.
Axed Vikings Draft Pick Has Turned Into a Journeyman
Two things are certain about his track record: The 2022 draft was a disaster, and nobody will care about that if J.J. McCarthy can develop into the franchise quarterback the Vikings hope he’ll become.
From that 2022 class, only Ty Chandler and Jalen Nailor remain, while top picks Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth have long been gone. In the past preseason, the Vikings also said “goodbye” to linebacker Brian Asamoah, who has since traveled around the country (and league).
Recently, he was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s now a member of their practice squad, the team announced this week. Just a couple of days before that, Asamoah was released from the Las Vegas Raiders, where he spent the first half of the season on the practice squad.
When the Vikings waived him in August, the Tennessee Titans used a waiver claim to get their hands on the former third-rounder, but he was waived once again a couple of weeks later, as he failed to make enough noise in the preseason to earn a spot on the 53-man roster.
The Bengals are his fourth employer in just over three months. Throughout an NFL season, teams’ depth is constantly tested as players suffer injuries. And as long as he keeps getting chances from organizations around the league, he has the opportunity to stick with one.
The Vikings, meanwhile, have not gotten the desired impact out of the former University of Oklahoma defender they expected when they drafted him. Picked for Ed Donatell to be the successor for aging linebackers Jordan Hicks and Eric Kendricks, Asamoah actually showed some flashes in his debut season.
His best play was a forced fumble on Christmas Eve in the nailbiter over the New York Giants. He also recovered that fumble, and the Vikings ultimately won with a Greg Joseph franchise-record field goal (Will Reichard has broken that record this season).
In the final weeks of the season, the coaches said they would give him more playing time. Well, the season ended, and Donatell (and his scheme) was fired. Brian Flores was hired, and he had other plans. Ivan Pace Jr. was who he wanted in the lineup, and in recent years, the club acquired other veterans as backups, even demoting Asamoah to only special teams work.
This year, he was axed when rookies Austin Keys and Kobe King (who was surprisingly waived last week) usurped him on the depth chart.
The Bengals don’t have a particularly strong defense, including the linebacker group. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Asamoah get a call-up at some point. He might just be an injury away.
In his NFL career, Asamoah has played in 46 games (all with the Vikings), making 30 tackles in nearly 1,000 snaps, with most of them coming on special teams.
Asamoah will turn 26 next offseason.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.