Vikings’ Stolen Preseason Playmaker Is Back
Takeaways have been hard to come by for the Minnesota Vikings. Just last year, Brian Flores’ unit led the league with 33 takeaways, but this season, it’s a totally different story. Through the first 11 games of the season, the unit has generated only nine. Just three franchises have fewer takeaways on their season resume.
Vikings’ Stolen Preseason Playmaker Is Back
On the interception front, this year’s crew has only caught three opposing passes. Josh Metellus has a couple of them, and Isaiah Rodgers has the other.
One guy with a knack for the ball just returned after a couple of months away from the franchise. Preseason standout Kahlef Hailassie was re-signed to the practice squad, the Vikings announced Wednesday.
The Jaguars stole the defender off the Vikings’ practice squad in September, but he was waived last week. He did not appear in a game with the AFC franchise.
Hailassie joined the Vikings in January, signing a futures contract once the franchise was eliminated from the postseason. He remained on the roster throughout the offseason, was cut on August 26th (cutdown day), and re-signed to the practice squad shortly thereafter. Three weeks later, the Jaguars poached him.
The versatile defensive back had quite the college journey, starting his career at Oregon in 2018, then spending two years at Independence Community College, and finishing at Western Kentucky for two seasons.
The 2023 draft prospect went unselected and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs following the event. However, he was waived on cutdown day. The Cleveland Browns claimed him off waivers. That’s where he spent the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, appearing in a total of ten games (105 snaps on defense and 110 on special teams). It’s noteworthy that the 2023 Browns defense, when all of the 105 snaps took place, had the best defense in football that year.
His most memorable Vikings day came in the preseason, when he intercepted a couple of passes against the Houston Texans, fresh off a move from cornerback to safety. That shift came out of necessity. The Vikings were a safety short and decided to give the third-year defender a shot.
After the first preseason game, head coach Kevin O’Connell was asked about his defender and said about the position change: “It really just jumped out to us with … whether it’s Josh [Metellus] working through what he’s working through with his foot, or whatever it was, it just seemed like some snaps were there, and he’s got corner coverage skills and a physicality and ball skills that seem to fit with how we play football here. Not surprised that he was around the football and made some plays. We talk a lot about tips and overthrows with what our defense can do, and that showed up tonight. I was really proud of him.”
His two picks were not outstanding athletic feats by any means. Still, he was in the right spot at the right time, something not many Vikings defenders can say this season.
It’s unlikely that Hailassie will suit up on Sundays in the near future. He’d need a few injuries in the secondary. It’s worth mentioning that the Vikings list him as a safety instead of moving him back to cornerback.
He turned 25 earlier this month. The opening on the practice squad was created on Tuesday, when the Vikings said goodbye to cornerback Shemar Bartholomew.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.