Vikings Sign 1 Player, Waive Another.
The Minnesota Vikings have been pretty quiet with their roster moves recently. The only notable moves in recent weeks were the placement of rookies Chaz Chambliss and Gavin Bartholomew on the PUP list, but the former is already back on the field.
Vikings Sign 1 Player, Waive Another.
On Wednesday, however, the waiver wire got a little purple when the Vikings signed a free agent and released one of their 91 players to make room for him.
The Vikings announced the move on their website. Craig Peters wrote: “The Vikings on Wednesday announced they have signed safety Gervarrius (pronounced ger-VAHR-ee-us) Owens.”
He added, “To make room on the roster for Owens, the Vikings waived LB Max Tooley.”
Let’s start with the departed player.
Tooley, a 27-year-old linebacker out of BYU, went undrafted last year. He was a classic older prospect out of BYU. The Texans signed him as an undrafted rookie, but he was waived following his first preseason. When the Texans released him from their taxi squad last September, the Vikings added him to theirs. He didn’t suit up in the regular season for either team. His next step, of course, is to find a new employer.
Now we move on to the new Viking. Gervarrius Owens is 25 years old and was a 2023 seventh-rounder. The safety spent his final four years in college at the University of Houston and was picked 254th overall by the New York Giants. Just five players went after him.
The Giants kept him around for roughly one and a half seasons before releasing him last year. The Titans then signed him to their practice squad for the remainder of the season. In those two stints, he appeared in a total of five games, logging one tackle and one fumble recovery on 41 special teams snaps and one on defense.
Owens is a phenomenal athlete. His pre-draft testing was pretty much elite.
Ahead of the draft, scout Lance Zierlein wrote: “Owens has the physical ingredients to play safety. The mistakes he put on tape should be a concern, though. His cornerback background shows with the way he matches route breaks from man coverage, but he lacks the field vision and instincts to become a consistent playmaker from man or zone. Owens is a willing and physical hitter, but he takes suspect angles to the football and has too many missed tackles after the catch and in run support. He has draftable traits, but the issues might be a difficult fix.”
The athleticism is intriguing. His way onto the 53-man roster or the practice squad is by putting on a show on special teams. At safety, the Vikings appear set with Harrison Smith, Joshua Metellus, and Theo Jackson, as well as former draft choice Jay Ward in the mix.
The team now employs six safeties. Undrafted rookie Mishael Powell is fighting for a spot, as well.
Editor’s Note: Information from PFF, Over The Cap, and Sports Reference helped with this article.