Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - VIKINGS ANNOUNCE 53-MAN ROSTER (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

Matthew Coller breaks down the Vikings initial 53-man roster including surprising cuts and players who made the squad, plus the moves that still need to be made. The Purple Insider podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Hey, everybody, welcome to the episode. We have waited a long time for the Minnesota Vikings have officially announced their 53-man roster. But this year, we have to really emphasize initial 53-man roster because going through it, there's a lot of areas where this thing should change. So I am going to call it up here and we're going to going to go position by position. Look at everybody on the initial 53, what the biggest surprises were for guys who made the team and some surprises for guys who did not make the team. So I'm not going to waste any time here. Let us get right into the Minnesota Vikings 53 man roster.

So the quarterbacks, unsurprisingly, J.J. McCarthy, Max Brosmer and Carth, Wence. Max Brosmer is, I think, the co-Mr. Mancato will get to the other guy that I think deserves that honor as well. But if you haven't seen JTO Sullivan's breakdown of Max Brosmer's final preseason game, the quote that stood out to me from Mr. O'Sullivan was that it warmed his football soul to watch Max Brosmer play in that game. So make sure you go check that out when you get a chance because his breakdown was excellent of all the anticipation throws, the smart plays that Brosmer made and deserves to be on the 53 and is a guy that I think can develop into next year being their QB2. So they keep three quarterbacks, four running

backs, Aaron Jones, Ty Chandler, Jordan Mason, and Xavier Scott. So Xavier Scott was absolutely another guy that we identified throughout this preseason and training camp that stood out for the Minnesota Vikings. He caught the ball really well. He ran hard. He made big plays in preseason. And it seemed like there was even a chance that they could cut Ty Chandler and just keep Xavier Scott as RB3. Now, there still is a chance that they could make a change of running back if they feel there's an upgrade. But, you know, something we talked about throughout every time Ty Chandler's name came up was why cut Ty Chandler when he has experience as a kick returner? And I think they're going to need Ty Chandler to be a kick returner this year.

There's extra emphasis on that play. They'll probably need somebody who has experience back there. And even though you could go around the league and say, are they going to sign Cam Acres again? He got cut. And maybe they will. I think Chandler for his explosiveness. for his special teams capabilities and if he has to go in the game he's been in this offense for several years so i was not shocked and i thought he had a pretty good overall training camp

that tie chandler was there and zavier scott somebody who definitely earned it as well and got some kick returning in also but i would say if there's one guy out of this group that if they make a change in another area of the roster zavier scott would probably be the guy who you would be able to get to the practice squad if they were to wave him after this because we're going to have to talk about that for every single position is, all right, who's definitely here and then who might not definitely be here. So C.J. Ham was banged up throughout the end of training camp. They placed him on injured reserve with a designation to return next week. So let's get to the wide receivers. Very interesting group here. Justin Jefferson, obviously Jordan Addison is on

the suspended list. That's why he's not listed. And Jalen Naylor, Ty Felton, Tim Jones, and Miles Price are the other wide receiver. So not Lucky Jackson, not Thayer Thomas. The two guys that probably took the most reps during training camp with J.J. McCarthy outside of Justin Jefferson and Jalen Naylor. Or I'm sorry, Jordan Addison and Jalen Naylor. It was Thayer Thomas and Lucky Jackson. And they don't make the team as they go with Felton.

Elton, Tim Jones, and Miles Price, but this is a spot that should be different within the coming days. So far, no Adam Thieland trade. We will dive into that and the other options at wide receiver. But as for right now, you could see either Jones or Price staying on because both of them stood out on special teams. I know Jones had a couple penalties. Jones also played pretty well at wide receiver, Miles Price, had a couple of big returns, huge kick return, huge pot return, but Miles Price is a guy that you could get to the practice squad if they let go. My expectation, though, is that even if an Adam Thieland trade, it does not happen, which it does not look like it's happening now, that they will still add a wide receiver

by tomorrow, I would think. Tight end three was a discussion quite a bit during this training camp, Ben Urisek, ends up making it as tight end three. Gavin Bartholomew was injured for the entire time. I would assume that he is going to end up on injured reserve and be out for the season. I guess it was a back injury and it must have been pretty serious. But Eurasek took the lead in the middle of training camp, never really looked back, was the guy who was out there first.

This is another area that could potentially change. But I also think that Eurasek being a former Stanford guy who caught a lot of lot of passes there turned into a blocker when he was at georgia i thought he played well enough to have potential as a tight end three and he kind of does remind you when you see him of somebody like johnny munn so uh uresec the undrafted free agent makes the 53 in that tight end three battle that never really was much of a battle overall it was kind of once bartholomew went down ursac was really the guy uh they brought in nick vennett for a bit but they they brought him in too in the game, really, to get into the competition there.

So Yurasek is your tight end number three. The offensive line features one surprise. And this was one where when I made my 53s, I was trying to make this happen. And every time I made a 53, I couldn't quite figure out a way to do it, but the Vikings did. And that was include Joe Huber, another undrafted free agent who had a flat out terrific training camp. I mean, Huber was one of their highest graded offensive linemen, especially in the first game. He made a great impression on this team. I want to pull up his PFF grades here for you for Joe Huber in the preseason because he just had a really, really solid preseason. I guess he didn't grade

quite as well in run blocking in the second game or quite as well as pass blocking. But overall, a 74 PFF grade, 88.6 run blocking, 73.1 pass blocking. And he was very good. in practice. So Joe Huber makes this team, along with Michael Juergens, Walter Rouse, Blake Brandel, Justin School, all the guys that we expected and the starters of the offensive line. So Huber becomes another one of those good stories for this team. And I would expect that they will stick with this with 10 offensive linemen and keep Huber. To the defensive line, one surprise is, I'm going to say ish, here is Elijah Williams, ends up making the team, along with Jonathan Allen, Jvon Hardgrave, and Jalen Redmond, the starters, Ty Ingram Dawkins, Levi-Drake Rodriguez,

and from Morgan State. To me, the co-Mr. Mancato, 2025, a guy who stood out in the HBCU bowl game, and then they get him in rookie camp, the identify some stuff about him that they like there, they sign him, and you think, and I know a couple of his family members who jumped into the live stream and said, what do you think of Elijah Williams? And my answer was, I really like what I see, but it's hard to see him making the roster because once again, every time we do the 53, it had Harrison Phillips on it. Once it didn't have Harrison Phillips, then Elijah Williams became possible. He's got some jolt to his game.

He was getting in the backfield, created a bunch of pressures and had a very, very good preseason and training camp. He ends up making the squad. And when you look at this roster, it's like, yes, they do have the two older starters. but Redmond, Ingram Dawkins, Rodriguez, and Williams, that's a bunch of younger guys with some potential there on the D-line. To the outside linebackers where we got our biggest surprise of the day, which was Chas Chambliss makes the team.

Now, I had mentioned that as a possibility because of his special teams work. Chambliss did a ton of special teams work during the preseason and in a season where they are going to have a lot going on in the kicker returns. You're going to need special teamers who are specifically out there to make tackles and make plays on those kick returns. And Chambliss did a really good job there. He played multiple positions inside and outside linebacker. We know they love the versatility. And he ends up making this team along with Bo Richter and of course Dallas Turner, Grenard Van Ginkle. But Chambliss over Gabe Murphy is the surprise of the day because

Gabe Murphy had an excellent game. against New England Patriots, and it seemed on a practice to practice basis that he was winning a lot of reps. He was creating a fair number of pressures and just appeared to be a guy that they were having as that Patrick Jones type of development player who might carve out a role for himself. And I remember one of our takeaways, I believe after the Patriots game, was that Gabe Murphy looked really good and looked like they might actually use him. Well, we got that one wrong. And, you know, preseason does tell us lies, but I thought he was good in camp, too. A few people had asked me, like, what are they doing? What are they thinking? And if I had to give

you a guess here, Richter and Chambliss are two guys who are really good on special teams. Richter had a quietly very good training camp, very good preseason, very solid for Bo Richter, again, for the second straight year. But Chambliss's versatility and special teams ability, may have put him ahead of Gabe Murphy. They also might believe that Murphy's a guy they can get back to the practice squad, where maybe with Chambliss they were concerned about him being picked up. I don't know. I thought Chambliss wouldn't be a guy they'd be worried about being picked up.

But if they really, really want him on the roster and they like his upside, another undrafted free agent here ends up making the team. Guys, if you watch the show all the time, you know that I'm a hat guy. But if you're wearing hats to cover up for your hair loss, then I've got something that can help you. It's called Hymns. If you've lost your hair, that doesn't mean you can't find it again. Try Hymns hair loss solutions,

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we don't know the exact explanation doesn't mean there's no explanation to gave murphy being cut i mean gave murphy is like 25 years old they've had two years to evaluate him and sometimes you just get to a point with a player like that where you might say okay but is there anything else that we're going to learn from him. And Gabe Murphy played five, no, I think it was seven snaps of special teams during the preseason. So clearly they didn't have a special team's role carved out for him. And that would make a difference.

I mean, you're going to play Grenard, Van Ginkle, and Turner. And these other two guys are very unlikely to get on the field on the defensive side. So it really does become about special teams. The inside linebacker, another big surprise here, though, I didn't. notice him a number of times was Austin Keyes. I thought Austin Keyes did play well. This could be a guy that they do cut and put on the practice squad if they are making additions. And we'll talk about those areas. But Austin Keyes showed some physicality. Again, special teams ability made a number of tackles in the preseason. So he ends up making

the 53. That was a guy that I don't think anybody had on the 53 because I assume that they could cut him and get him to the practice squad, but Cashman, Pace, Jr., and also Eric Wilson, naturally. Now, the cornerback position, this also featured a bit of a surprise. Throughout the entire summer, Zamaya Vaughn was CB, what do you want to call it? Four. He was on the field for all second team reps throughout the entire summer. And they must not have seen enough. And he really botched that play against Van Jefferson in the final preseason game, but they must not have seen enough. They must have loved the potential and wanted to get as many reps as possible to evaluate some I have on, but once they saw everything there was to see, they decide to cut him.

And he's a guy that could very well get to the practice squad. And I'll just say that about all players that you love who are getting cut. Just keep that in mind. What about this guy? What about that guy? oftentimes with practice squads this big, they are not picked up on waivers, and there's very good chances for them to get to the practice squad. But Zamea Vaughn being cut must be that kind of a play.

It must be that kind of a calculated risk to say if we cut Dwight McLeathern, someone might pick them up. Clearly, they already traded Mackay Blackman away. This is an area of the Vikings for sure must add somebody else at the court. cornerback position. They cannot go into the season with four corners and just three starters and then Dwight McLaughern. But Murphy Jr. Rogers, Jeff Okuda, ends up being one of the great stories of camp that Okuda is on the redemption tour here in Minnesota. That's something I'm still really, I would say, interested to see how it plays out. I thought he had a very good

camp and he earned it. And with Dwight McClother and there was a moment there where we thought that Vaughn might make the team over him. It ends up being McLeodern. He has more experience and we'll see if Vaughn ends up getting to the practice squad. But that was a big surprise for me because when somebody gets that many reps as CB4 or the second team outside corner, usually that guy is making the team. So they must have wanted as big of a sample size to evaluate as possible. And then they end up deciding to waive him.

Safeties, Josh Mattelis, Harrison Smith, Theo Jackson, Tavier Thomas is another key special teamer. So both of the special teamers, him and Tim Jones, the specialists end up making it and Jay Ward, who I thought overall Jay Ward had a pretty solid training camp and preseason. And if anybody goes down, Jay Ward should be able to step in. But Tavier Thomas is maybe the surprise here because they kept Tim Jones. So two special team specialists, you don't see that a ton, could be a guy that they move on from if they need to add somewhere to the roster. And yes, Ryan Wright makes the team.

They cut Oscar Chapman yesterday and Ryan Wright is your punter, at least for now. There are other punters being released around the league. And, you know, so maybe there's still an option there for those of you who are very concerned about Ryan Wright. But there are your 53 initial Minnesota Vikings and the breakdown of some of the biggest surprises. Now, let's go through it again and talk about the options for the Vikings where we stand now. And that has to begin with the wide receiver position. As I mentioned, Ty Felton, Tim Jones, Miles Price are the depth wide receivers. I don't know how you could go into week one with if Jalen Naylor is banged up.

how you could go into week one with basically just, just Jefferson. And then Jones has caught, I believe, 17 balls in his career. Felton is a third round draft pick, who I thought made significant progress through the offseason, but I don't know is ready to take on a big role. And then Miles Price looks like more of a returner, maybe an underneath type of wide receiver, but it has never played before in the NFL. So those guys, there's a lot of room for improvement there. The Adam Thielen trade, here is my understanding of where it stands right now.

It appears to be not likely, almost, I don't want to go farther than that. It appears to be very much not likely because the Carolina Panthers cut Hunter Renfro today. And all throughout training camp, I was reading from Carolina reporters that they were very happy with Hunter Renfro. and they were impressed by him and that his performance, and this might be a guy to look at for the Vikings, but his performance was so good that Carolina, a lot of the Carolina reporters, and I've chatted with some of them as well,

just, hey, what do you guys know? Where do we stand? Things like that. They thought that it was very possible that Renfro would make Adam Thielen expendable. Well, cutting Renfro is a pretty clear sign, and they might bring him back on their practice squad or whatever, but a pretty clear sign that,

they are set with their starting wide receivers, Coker, Leggett, McMillan, and Adam Thielen. And also from the Carolina reporters, Thelan was at practice today with Carolina, so they weren't holding them out of the practice. That thing appears to be on life support. And my feeling is that where they got to was the Vikings need a wide receiver really bad.

And Carolina doesn't need to get rid of a receiver really bad. They can use Adam Thielen. even if he is bumped down to wide receiver three or four and they want to get looks at the other guys. If one person gets hurt, then Adam Thielen is back to playing as much as he did the last two years. They don't have to do that. So if you are in a position where, as Carolina, you like Adam Thielen as a veteran wide receiver for you, your quarterback has had good connection with him in the past, you're going to have a pretty high price. you're not going to say, oh, yeah, just give us a sixth because we're trying to get rid of him anyway.

This is not a yard sale. This is a store. There are two situations when it comes to players being traded in the NFL. There's going to the store, which means you play the market price, or there's going to the yard sale, which means we're moving to Connecticut. We got to get rid of this stuff. And you see a lot of those trades that are a fifth or a sixth rounder or a pick swap. We're moving this guy anyway.

That's Harrison Phillips. that's Sam Howell. We're moving this guy anyway. We're moving to Connecticut. We got to just put everything out in the lawn. And if we give five bucks for it, that's great. But if you go to the store, they're going to have a price on it because they don't have to give it to you. And that's exactly what it was with Thielen, as far as I understand, which makes it less likely that it is going to happen.

I wouldn't say it's 100% RIP, but there is not good signs for the Vikings trading for Adam Eland at this point unless they come in at the last minute and say, all right, fine, we'll match your price. I don't know exactly what their price is, but that is my understanding of where this stands is if Carolina doesn't have anything in terms of incentive to do it, you have to reach a point as the Vikings to incentivize them to do it. You have to say, this is so much draft capital as Carolina, we have to accept. So if you had a glass of water and somebody else really needed a drink, but you were kind of thirsty, too. If they said, I'll give you 50 cents for your glass of water, you'd be like, no, I'm not

giving you that. I'm a little thirsty. If they said, I'll give you 50 bucks for your glass of water. Well, I'm not that thirsty. Here you go. That is a little bit of what I learned in economics 101, my friends. So football economics 101 sounds like to me the Vikings did not make it worth their while. So now we get on to what are the other options for the Vikings.

Now, two names stood out to me in particular for getting released today that would make by far the most sense for the Vikings to just sign these players and not have to give up anything. Number one, and we've talked about him a bit, is K.J. Osborne. Osborne just seemed to never really launch with Washington, had a tough year last year with the New England Patriots, and he ends up getting on the initial cut list of the Washington commanders. K.J. Osborne is a guy that has not seemed to stick with other teams, but when he was a Minnesota Viking and he was working with Kina McArdo, Osborne was a good wide receiver for this team. I thought that he struggled a bit in 2003, but overall had a good Vikings career. And at one point, we thought this guy's going to make a lot of money on the free agent market.

He had in 2021 his breakout season, 50 receptions, 60 catches in 2022. a 13 win season with Kevin O'Connell there and then 48 receptions in 2023, missed some time with injury, and was just always a pretty solid receiver, not somebody who is going to go up and win contested catches like he's Calvin Johnson, not somebody who's going to break 50 tackles like he's Debo Samuel, but can at least execute within an offense well enough to catch 50 to 60 passes. and I don't know where he's at right now with his career. I did wonder about the injury that he suffered against the Atlanta Falcons. Well, in 2023 during the Josh Dobbs game, if that impacted him negatively. Or if, because he's only 28 years old, there shouldn't be a collapse for K.J. Osborne.

And I don't know of any other serious injuries. It could just be that KJ. Osborne is a guy that does not really wow you in any way. He's not super fast. He doesn't, I mean, he's, I think, sizable, but he's not humongous. He's listed at 5-11, 203 pounds. Like, he's not enormously muscular where he's just going to, compared to me, he is, but not like other NFL receivers. He's not going to break 100 tackles.

He's not going to line up at running back in slot. He's not going to even be a good punt returner. But he's a very smart player, and he can make some plays with the ball in his hands. and he can make some plays down the field as he made several huge catches during his career as a Viking, the Colts game, the comeback game in 22 comes to mind. There was one in 20, 21, was it against the, or was it 22 against the Lions? I think it was 22, the first game against the Lions, where they missed a field goal. Osborne had a huge catch down the field.

He could do a lot of things well. I think he's a guy that is a C plus in a lot of areas. And with some teams, if you get him in a training camp, you're not the team that drafted him. You're not paying him a lot of money. And you go, well, where does he wow me? We're going to go with a younger player. I think that's probably what happened in Washington.

So Osborne is still a good option. Where he's at physically, I'm not sure because he hasn't whiled these other teams, but at 28 years old, still in his prime, KJ makes a ton of sense. The other guy is Robert Woods. And the fact that Robert Woods did not make the roster of the Pittsburgh Steelers is a little on the concerning side for Robert Woods. Now, he's had a great career. This is a 33-year-old wide receiver who has taken a lot of punishment during his career.

He was enormous for the Rams for several years, the emergence of Jared Gough. He was great in 2017, 2018. He had multiple thousand-yard reception seasons, went to the Super Bowl with the Rams, great blocker, toughness, got open, made plays. but in recent years with the Houston Texans, 40 catches in 2023 and only 20 receptions last year for him. And he played, uh, it looks like the entire schedule and only came up with 20 receptions. But in the situation the Vikings are in, they're really just waiting for their number two wide receiver to come back. So can you work your way through three games with Robert Woods

and then he becomes part of your depth. Or can you work your way through three games with KJ Osborne and then he becomes part of your depth? I think that Woods would fall under that category, especially with his previous experience with Kevin O'Connell. Now, there's a number of other guys who got cut as well that at least have been thrown out there. Marquez Valdez Scantling, which I, when I was just bored like everybody else.

So I'm tweeting like maybe for every guy who gets cut. And most of them got no reaction at all, except for when I said Baldes Scantling, who a lot of people basically just yelled no all at once. Baldess Scantling had a couple of big plays against the Vikings when he was with Aaron Rogers. And he had some plays for the Kansas City Chiefs in big moments, but has not really done a lot since then. with Kansas City in 2023 at 21 receptions and then last year 19 for 411 yards and four touchdowns though I mean there's that there's Gabe Davis is still out there as a possibility but with every receiving option that we talk about you just have to prepare yourself for like it's going to have flaws the Adam Thielen idea had flaws

Valdez Scantling would have flaws Robert Woods would have flaws KJ Osborne like none of these guys are going to make you super happy. But there is one that I think people would maybe be excited about. And that is Trey Palmer of the Tampa Bay Bucks. Because at very least, what you can talk yourself into with Trey Palmer is that he has been just pushed down the depth chart after an impressive 2023 season by the fact that Tampa Bay just keeps going out and getting wide receivers and they have a great receiver room. Palmer in 2023 had 39 catches for 385 yards, so only about 10 yards a catch,

was more of an underneath guy, was more of a Rondale Moore type of wide receiver, and then last year only had 12 receptions. Looks like he just got into a handful of games last year, but at very least, 24 years old and 433 speed for Trey Palmer. So there's some upside there. There's some potential intrigue there for somebody like Trey Palmer that might not exist so much in the old wide receivers. And the benefit of Trey Palmer is that last year he had 18 punt returns for 136 yards. So he was also a punt returner for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year. And thus ends the list of guys that you would be mostly interested in who got cut today.

Otherwise, it's going to be trade candidates. I saw Kendrick Bourne made the New England Patriots roster. That was somebody that was on my radar as a veteran wide receiver that could potentially come to the Minnesota Vikings if he got released, even though I think he's also banged up. But even then he, you know, ends up making their team. And there's not a lot of other players that jumped out to me that I ran to throw on my list of Minnesota Vikings potential wide receivers.

As far as corners go, I mean, that one, that is so wide open, but Rasul Douglas is off the table, and it looks like Mike Hilton is probably going to sign with the Colts. Douglas signed with the Dolphins. So there's two guys that would have been of interest that look like they are not going to be available as well. I don't know what Stefan Gilmore's situation is, but maybe they're making that phone call to Gilmore in a role where he doesn't have to play as much.

I think Stefan Gilmore, if he's just like last year, be probably fine or pretty good as a backup, but they need to do something at that spot. So when you look at the initial 53 and maybe you scratch your head at some of these and go, well, why did they keep this guy or what were they thinking there? Could be very different when we're doing an emergency podcast or tomorrow night's show at its typical time in the evening. So there you go, your 53 man roster for the Minnesota Vikings. I am curious about your reaction, and there's still things coming in on the, you know,

I'm still getting endless alerts from pro football talk and from, you know, Adam Schaefter. So if you see things coming in that you notice, please feel free to let me know. So, all right, what are you guys, what are you guys thinking? What do you guys want to know? I'm aware that, you'll see, this is, this is the worst, the worst comments that you can make are that a guy is old. like everyone knows. Everyone knows that someone's old. But last year, Stefan Gilmore played a bunch of snaps for them and was fine. So he remains old.

He was old last year. I bet you left the same comment last year and said, did you know that Stefan Gilmore is old? Yes, I did. I did when they signed him last year and they had a top five defense. So if they do it again and you have Byron Murphy and Isaiah Rogers and Jeff Okuda and then another veteran, that would be a good situation, I think, for them. But I don't know if Stefan Gilmore would want to come back and play for a team where he's not going to get as much work as he did last year.

So I'm not really sure. So let me just dive in to your comments here. Paul says no Renfro or Thielen. Well, if the Thielen thing is off the table, then I guess you get your dream there. As far as Renfro goes, we just don't know what Hunter Renfro looks like right now. the people who know are in Carolina covering that team and that camp because once upon a time like let's not forget he's not even 30 years old yet it wasn't that long ago when hunter renfro was good like he was a quality wide receiver and then he had this illness issue but he caught a

hundred and three passes in 2021 and then 36 and 25 as he you know faded there with the illness but I'm not saying that's a great idea. And just as I mentioned, that every single receiver idea is going to come along with, oh, I don't want that guy. He's not that great. You're not looking for the next Jordan Addison here. You're not looking for the next Chris Carter or Jake Reed here. You're looking for someone to come in for a couple weeks and then be wide receiver four.

To be able to give you reasonable NFL level football play. I mean, look, this team is down so bad at receiver. And I do want to talk about this. they are down so bad at wide receiver right now that the guy who took the most reps in the absence of Justin Jefferson by far with J.J. McCarthy got cut today. That's where they're at. Lucky Jackson got a ton of reps. He took almost all of them with the first team with Justin Jefferson out and he got cut. And he is a guy that they could probably get on the practice squad. They could probably elevate and get him into the game.

and, you know, maybe that's why they did this is that they know they can put him on the practice squad, but maybe someone might grab Miles Price as a punt returner. I don't know. That might factor into it. But when you're talking about a scenario that is so dim or grim, I guess, at wide receiver, that the guy who took the most reps when Justin Jefferson was out of camp got cut on the day that they do the 53, initial 53 roster, that's bad. So you are looking at guys like Hunter Renfro.

You're looking at trades like Adam Thieland. You're checking into maybe potentially someone like Valdez Scantling or KJ Osborne. And every single one of them, their recent resume is not good. I promise you, whoever they sign, whatever they get, what we will be talking about is, well, that guy's not that great. I think everyone would be happy with Trey Palmer because he runs a four or three and he's had punt returning success. He's caught some passes in the league. I think of all the options, I like the Trey Palmer option the most because I could actually see him continuing to contribute. But when I bring up names, you're not going to like them because

it's cut down day. And I can't remember another time where on cut down day, we were talking about filling out a position and you're like, whoa, Super Bowl. So, you know, Gabe Davis might still be out there. We'll see. Oh, and at the cornerback position, I did want to mention probably no coincidence that Asante Samuel Jr. There was an update from Jeremy Fowler on him. And if he can convince teams that he's in good shape, there was a CT scan that was mentioned. But that could be a potential option still for the Vikings.

And the day they sign him, I'll call him longtime Viking Asante Samuel Jr. But we'll see on that. That's another potential option out there. But it's just a PSA that Receiver Watch 2025 is not that fun. it's not because of the rash of injuries and we do have to take a second as this comes as this 53 comes out and it's Tim Jones and it's Miles Price we'll talk about Felton in a second we do have to ask like did they do enough in the last off season like was this foreseeable because

I think everybody and their brother knew that Jordan Addison was getting suspended and there was a certain talk show online, banging the drum for drafting a wide receiver high. Okay, happy with the Felton decision because they need that down the road. But there's a reason for that. There's a reason for talking about drafting a receiver high. And I'm not down on Donovan Jackson after this camp. So don't make it about that. But I think what that is is a little bit of you could see this.

And I liked the idea of Rondell Moore. and it was really unfortunate what happened to Rondale Moore. That was just a total bad break. It's also a total bad break that Jalen Naylor hurt his hand in joint practices. That was a random thing, just going down to try to make a catch and he hurts his arm. But when you knew that Addison was going to be suspended, and you knew that, you know, Jalen Naylor, I think they were overconfident anyway in Jalen Naylor's ability to step in.

It's really easy to forget the games that they won when Naylor was wide receiver two. They were ahead from the jump against San Francisco. They were ahead from the jump against Houston. Those are games where they didn't need their number two wide receiver. It wasn't a shootout against Atlanta or a shootout against Cincinnati, which are both possible for week two and week three. So hoping and dreaming that Rondale Moore leaning on a third round pick to try to be a guy. Like, it just wasn't enough.

They needed one more body just in case of this. situation. And, you know, I texted Kevin Sefer today. And I said, like, is it rational to criticize a team for getting rid of Trent Sherfield? And I think the answer today is, is yes, it is rational to criticize the team for getting rid of Trent Sherfield, or at least letting him walk and not matching whatever his price was because he did make a couple plays for them as a receiver. And he was an excellent special teamer. So now they may have to lean on a Tim Jones if they can't find another answer, I do expect them to have another answer shortly.

I don't know when. I don't know if that's going to happen now, but I do think that they will have one soon enough and that there's been one in the works. But, you know, Naylor's been, he got injured, what, 10, 12 days ago, and they knew about Addison for a long time and did not make a move yet. So they must have a plan here.

They must have an idea, which, by the way, that leads us to the fan dual question of the day, which is if the Vikings go into week one with Tim Jones as their wide receiver two, if they don't make another move, put it that way, at wide receiver, what's the over under for total points in that first game? What is the over under for total points if they go into week one without another significant receiver option? so it's just Jefferson, Tim Jones, Miles Price, and a heck of a lot of two tight-end sets. What would be your over-under for total points if that happened?

That is our fan duel question of the day. So let me get back to some of your comments here. Wallace says Addison sure caused the team a lot of problems and damage with his irresponsibility. No disagreement here, Wallace. And the only thing you can hope for there with Addison is that he learns from this. and that he will grow as a person after this, because you are absolutely right. If they were going into week one with Naylor hurt, you know, okay. All right, well, that's no problem.

Just have somebody else play Jaylen Naylor. That guy got, you know, a catch and a half per game anyway, right? That wouldn't be that big of a deal. But missing three games because you couldn't properly handle yourself behind the wheel or call an Uber. That should be a life lesson for Jordan Addison to never, ever let that happen again. Grateful Dad 78 is Felton that bad? No, I do not believe Ty Felton is that bad.

I think the reality of Ty Felton is he's that young. Felton, I mean, we can go look at this with his college career, but, you know, Ty Felton was a guy who developed for a couple years with Maryland. and then got some catches in 23, had a big breakout 2024, but a lot of it, because Maryland was not very good at football and didn't have a very good quarterback,

a lot of it was short passes, a lot of it was just, you know, goal routes. This is a system that asks a lot from its wide receivers in terms of details. If they had to play Ty Felton today, along with Jalen Naylor, I think they could do it.

He caught the ball. He made plays in camp. He made plays in the preseason. and he showed a lot of potential. I mean, clearly from them wanting him to be the kick returner, there's a lot of potential there. But just like once upon a time with KJ. Osborne, you can't draft a guy in the middle rounds and then just be like,

oh, why aren't you a star right away? You should be a star right away. What's your problem? I mean, this is a guy who I think needs to put on some muscle. I think he needs to be a little better at getting off the line of scrimmage, a little sharper coming in out of his breaks, needs to learn football more, but the potential is there. So, you know, I think that we just,

fall in love with the draft so much. And this goes for some undrafted free agents, too. We fall in love with the draft so much that we read about these guys and, oh, my gosh, this guy's got such a great background story or he's, you know, he's so exciting and he's got this number or that number at the Combine, and we forget that the guys who play a long time in the NFL, they got a lot going on upstairs in terms of knowledge of techniques and details and systems and all those things. Now, could you put him on the field for 15 plays in the first week?

yeah, I think you can't. So I wouldn't write off Ty Felton. I would just say that it's very hard to be ready to play in the NFL as a complete player and play 45 snaps or something right away if you're not Justin Jefferson or Jordan Addison who are freaks. First round draft pick freaks. That's a little bit different. I can't fully understand your very long name, but players over the age of 30 might as well

be in a wheelchair, the way some of you guys. talk. That is 100% true, right. Yeah, if someone has reached 30 years old, just get them the heck out of my face. What's wrong? Paul says, what's wrong with Deontay Johnson or Trey Palmer? I like Trey Palmer. I like him a lot. Here's the problem is that the waiver order is not ideal for the Minnesota Vikings. So their waiver order, they are 24th. And if you're trying to pick up somebody that a lot of teams might like and you're 24th, you're probably not going to get them.

And the reason for that is, you know, to help those bad teams get better by giving them the first waiver claims and Trey Palmer can help a team. So I'd be a little surprised if somebody doesn't claim him before the Minnesota Vikings, but if they can get to him,

then they should. Deontay Johnson, I just wouldn't touch that with a 50-foot pole. I mean, that guy has been on how many different teams? There was a story that he didn't want to go in a game when he was with the Ravens because he was cold. I think he was missing practices. He goes to Cleveland and can't make the roster. I mean, half of you guys could make Cleveland's roster.

So I don't know. I don't think that there's anything left there. Edwin, do we have anyone receiving punts? On the current roster, that would be Miles Price. Price clearly showed an ability with the football in his hands to kick and punt return. There's got to be some nervousness about actually catching the ball, which does not make you feel great going to Soldier Field, but at least it's not November going to Soldier Field.

They're going, it's probably going to be a beautiful evening for him to try to catch the ball if he's that guy. I still think you're looking at a DeAndre Carter. If you could get Trey Palmer, you're looking at somebody like him. I mean, I think that they are going to go outside the building for the punt return position. But Miles Price made the team on the fact that he was very good in that area. if he ends up being the odd man out who gets cut when they bring in somebody else,

I would assume that they put him on the practice squad and that he's a guy that they will continue to develop because look, even if it's preseason, it's not easy to make plays in the NFL. It's not easy to run over a guy to find lanes to be quick, to show your talent. And he was able to do that. So I think that he will be, I think he will be there in some capacity still. Evan says Felton isn't bad, just needs experience and development. Wouldn't be fair to put him at wide receiver two as a rookie. Yep, I agree with all of that.

It would just be, it would just be difficult. It would be difficult for him to do. Expoise says, a bit nervous on corner and wide receiver, even with the addition of wide receiver three is sketchy. If the running game isn't what we expected, do we worry about JJ forcing to Jefferson? Well, I mean, we can't forget. that they do have one of the best receiving tight ends in the NFL. They do have one of the best receiving running backs in the NFL.

And they have a second tight end who is probably one of the best tight end twos. I know that seems like a backhanded compliment. But I think Josh Oliver could start on 15 teams as a number one tight end. So it's not like McCarthy has nobody to throw to in the same way that Darnold didn't have nobody last year. some of this just depends on where nailer's at i didn't think it sounded great but if nailer ends up being okay well then it feels less dire it feels less grim if they have uh jalen nayler back and then it feels like you've got almost your entire lineup and look you know football teams miss players it happens sometimes Atlanta's tackle just went out for the year and they had to trade for a

tackle like that's that's life sometimes in the NFL but nailer getting hurt makes it a lot more difficult. Are you worried about enforcing it to Jefferson? I mean, you're, you're always a little concerned about that. But I think where McCarthy was good was even if it was Thayer Thomas out there and Lucky Jackson, if that's where the read took him, he threw the ball there during training camp. And at least that's, I think, a good sign for McCarthy still distributing the football, but you need somebody to catch it. You need somebody to be open and be able to make somewhat of a play if he's targeting anybody outside of Justin Jefferson. Like, that's where the experience factor and you're talking about, oh, well, this guy's

older, but if he's been in the league this long, he at least can catch the ball and be in the right spot, that was kind of the argument for Adam Thielen is at least he's going to be able to make a play if it's there where we don't know if Tim Jones can make a play. We don't know if Miles Price or Ty Felton can do it the guys currently on the roster. if they, you know, bring back Lucky Jackson and elevate him. I don't know if they'll do that. That all just leaves you pretty, pretty darn nervous. So, yeah, I think that that's, I mean, I think that's a legitimate concern, though,

is trying to force it to Jefferson too much. And Chicago does have a pretty darn good corner, Jalen Johnson, just talking about starting the season there. Robert Chas Chambliss was a surprise, but I'm guessing he won't be there for long. No, you know, I think he will. I think he will because of the. special teams ability and it's clear from this initial 53 that they valued that with Tim Jones, Tavier Thomas and Chambliss. Now, like you said, that could change by tomorrow,

but I think they really liked Chas Chambliss. And, you know, it's hard to know what they're going to do, what spots they're going to need. But six outside linebackers sounds right to me. Let me double check that. I think it was six, right? Or was it five? No, five, six defensive line five outside linebackers. Five outside linebackers seems right to me, unless they're going to make the, uh, the, Micah Parsons trade. Make the Micah Parsons trade right now. Not that trading with Dallas has ever worked out badly or anything for the Vikings and Jerry Jones, but maybe, you know, maybe, maybe Jerry's so crazy right now that you could be like, oh, it's just like Herschel Walker, man. Like here's, here's a couple UDFAs and some draft picks and like, are you happy? Okay. Micah Parsons, sure. Uh, I don't

don't think that's the case. Richter. I mean, they already have Turner there, Van Ginkle, Grinard. I mean, Richter and Chambliss, I think for a, for a fourth and fifth outside linebacker, those are, those are fine guys to have, but especially on the special teams, I just think that that's really important. So I don't know. I mean, you could be right that he might be one of the first guys to be cut, but I think they, they do care about that. And he's also got some positional flexibility. I think he did earn a spot there. John says, Noah Igman, beyond a be beyond uh man i thought i had it there the egg beyond an knee i think is that right the corner who he drafted in uh miami who's bounced around he was released today yeah i don't know

i mean familiarity might matter i think they've had other chances at getting that guy but i you know i don't know when you're talking about corners it's going to be a lot for them about fit and that makes it harder to figure out with wide receivers it's okay kj osborne you catch football sure come on to the team with corners it's a little more nuance duke shelley got released vikings legend duke shelley uh jason says i like the vikings to trade for a receiver in a corner vets are going cheap and we have lots of picks no i agree uh i agree if they if they can if they can make a deal I think it gets harder after today though with the initial 53 because usually those trades happen before the 53 because it's the yard sale theory where teams are just saying hey you know we got to get

rid of this and we're going to cut this guy so why don't you just take them as for whatever price so when you say like oh they're going cheap well that's that's why is because they are trying to get rid of those guys and they're making phone calls hey do you want like anything for this guy. Athena, what's the deal with Shaq Griffin? Is he available? I don't think so. I think he's, is he making Seattle?

Is he making Seattle's team? I have not checked up on Shaq Griffin. Scott Gilmore refuses to tackle. Not what his number said last year. I know there were a few ugly mistackles, but I think his tackling numbers were fine overall. I will check with our, with our PFF friends, where he ended up in tackling.

a 68.9 grade last year that's okay he had seven mistackles so it was a little bit above his usual average but it wasn't it wasn't horrendous by any means i mean he's a bigger corner he did there were a few ole type of plays but i mean look again when we're talking about this age so fabian morrow was released okay when we're talking about guys who are this age guys who are this available right now there's going to be a flaw when it comes to their background, their recent performance, but is that flawed player better than what you have? So just for example, if Jeff Okuda got hurt today,

would you rather have Dwight McLeathern or Stefan Gilmore? I think a lot of you would rather have McLeodern because you've never seen him before. But if you're trying to really win, Gilmore is a better option who's been with this Belichick-inspired Flores scheme forever and played well for them. I wouldn't want him playing as many snaps as he did last year, but I think it's a reasonable option if he wants to play.

Vegas Pro says, why I lose draft picks for Thielen? Plenty of old average wide receivers right now. I just implore you to look it up. I just implore you to look it up. Go compare their old receivers you're talking about. Compare Thelan's last two years to Robert Woods. Robert Woods has 60 catches in the last two years. Thelan has 151.

That's the difference. The difference is when Bryce Young threw the ball to Adam Thielen, he had over 100 quarterback rating when he threw it to anybody else he was nowhere close to that it's he's been good that's the point he's been good and so you know it's been days and days of people telling me feeling's old and fit there's better options but no one can prove it no one can prove that there's a better option on paper with what these guys have actually done recently but it just seems to me that they also feel that way Carolina also feels that way that they can't just give up somebody for not very much, that they're going to have to be convinced, and as of right now,

they have not been convinced. Matt says Renfro was pretty decent, not that long ago. If he helps for a stretch, then becomes a checkdown guy, fine with that. Yeah, at least from the reports from Carolina, it looked like he was making plays and he was getting open in their practices. And that's all I can really tell you. I can just tell you what the reports from Carolina said. but when we're down to these types of options,

Robert Woods getting cut off a team that needs wide receivers in Pittsburgh because I've seen their writers talking about, yeah, they could really use another receiver and then they're cutting Robert Woods. That's not screaming to me that that'll be just fine. Whereas the reports from Carolina camp were like they thought this guy would make it

because he's been pretty good. So that seems to be a little different. Is the Thielen trade officially off the table? Well, not not officially. Does it make sense for both? sides to wait until today's cut down day to assess the market. It's not officially, but them cutting Renfro made it a lot less likely, I think. If Renfro had made the team, then they would have had one too many cooks in the kitchen there, one too many guys needing

targets, and it would have felt like it was still possible. But if they're willing to part ways with Renfro, that to me says, now Adam Theelan's probably still on this team. Yes, that could change it's not a guarantee it's not over until it's over they could make it happen tomorrow it just feels like that idea is on life support at the moment unless the viking's coming at the last minute maybe mark wilf goes full jerry jones and he calls quacy and he's like quacy my kids all got their number 19 jerseys out we're all ready for thiel and bring him home uh but at least from shefter's reporting and what i've heard today just sounds like they're not willing to match the price Carolina is asking. So Roberts's lucky Jackson dropped a bunch of passes. And I think that that really

did hurt his chances in the preseason game and a couple of practices that if they couldn't trust him to catch the ball, that was where Tim Jones was a little more reliable catching the football. And Price is just a pure special teamer. But I think that that did hurt lucky. I agree. If he had stepped up in that preseason game and been great and made plays and so forth, I mean, look, after the first preseason game he was good and we were talking about like he's going to get catches right and it looked that way with all the reps and everything else but it just seemed like and this is so hard about football and it's what you take for granted with great players like Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison is there's so much pressure that these guys put on themselves and

I'm sure for lucky he felt the weight of his journey to get there going to the XFL and all that sort of stuff. And it's hard to continue to perform when you feel like you're on the edge of finally breaking through. And I think it kind of happened there in that preseason game. So that's a little tough. It's a little tough. Red Star says, I hope Jordan Addison looks at this and understands why we are in this position and why next year we should think about a first round wide receiver. Well, let's get, let's give Jordan Addison time here before they have to decide in next year's draft. Next year's draft is not, even though I'm always pro wide receiver, not something I'm

thinking a lot about at this moment. With Jordan Addison, I am perfectly willing to give him time to prove all the things that they've said about him. You are 100% right. He got them here with this. He got them to this position because if he wasn't out for three games, it would be fine. We wouldn't even be talking about it. We'd be like, oh, Miles Price.

That's cool. Like, whatever. They don't need to go. go get another wide receiver, no big deal. But now they, they feel like they do because of this three game stretch of three very important games. In my mind, you've got to come away at worst two and one. Three and O is ideal, two and one, because of what's next after that.

Two games overseas, you know, one of them is very winnable against Joe Flacco or Dylan Gabriel or whoever the heck is starting for Cleveland, but it's still London and it's still you never know. Pittsburgh's not going to be easy. They're never easy in any scenario. except for the first round of the playoffs, hey, yo, but that's been true. And then after that, then it's hell month after that. And it just, you know, everything goes crazy.

So you got to find ways to win these games that you're supposed to win that you're going to be favored for, going to be favored in Chicago, favored at home against Atlanta, and then we'll see where Cincinnati is and where their defense is. They do have Trey Hendrickson back. So that one might be a pick-um, depending on how things go. But those are games you have to win. and Addison put him in this position, but that was a year ago, there hasn't been any issues for a year. If there's not any issues for two years, I think you're going to feel very good

about where Addison is because let's not forget he is a great player, a very, very, very good player. So, let's see, Joe says, is it not concerning that we aren't discussing the recent third round pick as someone who can fill in for snaps in the first three weeks? You know, I still don't think that, no, because when you say third round pick, it makes him. sound like he was the first pick of the third round, he was the last pick of the third round. He was essentially a four. I mean, he's almost the hundredth overall player picked. So is it concerning to me?

Not really because I understand that players need development. I mean, if we go through the players who have become something for this team over the years, I mean, Ivan Pace is one that showed up as an undrafted free agent and started right away. But how many, how many did that? How about a Josh Mattelis, for example, somebody who was a, what, sixth round draft pick that needed to develop. KJ. Osborne was a fifth round pick that needed to develop. It's not unusual to have somebody who's drafted in the third round that isn't a perfect player right away. I do think from what I've seen from Felton, if he gets out there, that he can be a good player and he can contribute for them in a limited type of sample size of plays.

I just don't think he's ready to do that yet. I think he needs a whole year as an NFL player to be really ready to be wide receiver three next season and he's got to show them behind the scenes that they can believe in him. But it's just a lot to ask. You draft a guy who is supposed to develop behind Naylor and then be the next man up. He was even, I think, probably going to be behind Rondale Moore and get that time and be a returner and play in the league. That's how you would ideally want to do it. Now, if he has to get in, then we'll find out. But I don't think it's concerning for Felton yet. I think it's much more along the lines of normal that that would

be the case. It's just that you just expect every draft pick to step right in and be great because you get sold on their their skills and everything else on draft day. But there's a lot. There's a lot that needs to be learned for somebody like Ty Felton. And then we'll see how it plays out. Timothy, maybe the Vikings take a look at McCole Hardman. Did he get released today? I suppose. I've never been all that wild by him, but, you know, I mean, guys who only succeed in Kansas City certainly are concerned. Kind of like guys who used to only succeed with Tom Brady in New England.

Let's see. More concerned about DB depth than wide receiver.