Vikings Add 2 More Rookies to the Roster
Last week, the Vikings hosted rookie minicamp, giving all rookies a chance to get acclimated to TCO Performance Center, get to know the coaches, and run a few practice drills before meeting the veterans and remaining players on the roster this week.
Vikings Sign 2 Try-Out Guys
The rookie minicamp featured all the players the Vikings drafted, the undrafted rookies who were signed shortly after the draft, and try-out players.
Two of the latter showed enough to receive contracts and continue their journey with the purple franchise.
The Vikings noted on their website: “The Vikings rounded out their roster and added to their defense Monday with the announced signings of outside linebacker Matt Harmon and defensive lineman Elijah Williams. Both participated in Minnesota’s rookie minicamp as tryout players.”
The roster now has 91 players, one more than the usual limit of the 90-man offseason roster, because punter Oscar Chapman received a roster exemption as a player of the International Pathway Program. He is from Australia.
Matt Harmon
Harmon is a linebacker out of Kent State, and he spent seven seasons at that school. He’s already 25 years old. Last year, Harmon played in 12 games and made 56 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and a pair of sacks.
The Vikings added: “Harmon played in 49 games at Kent State from 2018-24, recording 105 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, seven passes defensed, an interception, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. During the 2024 season, he posted career bests in total tackles (56), tackles for loss (6.5) and sacks (2.0). A native of Rockwood, Michigan, Harmon attended Oscar Carlson High School.”
He managed to stick around at Kent State’s football program because of injuries and the extra COVID year, playing a total of 49 games.
Try-out players are always long shots to make the team, but sometimes they do. As with all depth players, his chance is to make the team could rest on making an impact on special teams. Using one of the valuable 53 roster spots is still a tough ask, though, so that means showing enough promise to earn a spot on the practice squad.
Elijah Williams
Another defender, the Vikings also added defensive lineman Elijah Williams out of Morgan State. In the last three seasons, he produced a total of 21.5 sacks.
The Vikings commented: “Williams played in 42 games at Morgan State from 2021-24, recording 216 tackles, 52 tackles for loss, 31 sacks, three passes defensed, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. In his final season with the Bears, Williams registered career highs in games played (12) and sacks (11), and his 15 tackles for loss were the second most in a season in his career, trailing only his total from the 2022 season (19). Williams, who logged 4.0 sacks as a freshman in 2021, tallied at least 7.0 sacks in each of his final three seasons from 2022-24. He is from Jersey City, New Jersey.”
In an interview in January, Williams said about the draft and his professional career: “I know I got to really lock in on my craft. The things I did in college, that doesn’t matter here. I have to create a whole new name for myself. That can only come about through prayer and hard work.”
The jump from Morgan State to the NFL is enormous. Like Harmon, his goal is to improve enough to show flashes to force the team into keeping him around.
Both Harmon and Williams have already beaten the odds by beating out various other try-out players. They will now compete with the remaining Vikings.