Beloved Vikings QB Lands on His Feet Again
Dustin Baker
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A preseason Minnesota Vikings god goes back on his throne – in the USFL.
The folklorish Kyle Sloter was drafted this week by the New Orleans Breakers in the USFL’s 2022 Draft.
The USFL was active for three years in the 1980s, going dormant for almost 40 years thereafter. Now – at least for a while – it’s back and fringe NFL players are filling out the rosters.
The league has eight teams:
Birmingham Stallions
Houston Gamblers
Michigan Panthers
New Jersey Generals
New Orleans Breakers
Philadelphia Stars
Pittsburgh Maulers
Tampa Bay Bandits
And Sloter will lead New Orleans.
Undrafted from the University of Northern Colorado, Sloter found his way to the neighboring Denver Broncos in 2017. With the Broncos, Sloter was tremendous in the preseason but was ultimately cut before the 2017 regular season started. After that, Sloter joined the Vikings, remaining on the roster for two years. To date, Sloter has never thrown a regular season pass – in six NFL seasons – but fans absolutely insist he is the real deal. As a preseason participant, Sloter owns an 11-touchdown to one interception split, totally dazzling the Broncos and Vikings fanbases.
But NFL coaches never concurred. Sloter bounced around after departing the Vikings, auditioning with the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, and Las Vegas Raiders. Again, just like the circumstances with the Broncos and Vikings, he never really caught on during the regular season.
Thankfully for Sloter, he gets to take his god-like status to the USFL, a league hoping to emulate the XFL but with staying power. Other down-on-their-NFL-luck quarterbacks were drafted, too. Shea Patterson, Clayton Thorson, and Kyle Lauletta, for example, found new USFL homes this week.
Here’s how Fox Sports described the choice of Sloter to the Breakers:
“Sloter initially signed with Southern Miss but transferred to Northern Colorado after the Golden Eagles moved him to receiver. Northern Colorado also played the athletic Sloter at other positions, but once he became the QB, he passed for 2,656 yards and 29 touchdowns against just 10 interceptions. That landed him a job with the Denver Broncos in 2017, who eventually cut him despite his passing for 413 yards in the preseason that year.”
– Fox Sports
Sloter’s selection by the Breakers is an easy rootable marker for Vikings fans. For Vikings faithful who wish to give the USFL a fair shake, cheering for the 28-year-old Sloter seems like an obvious choice. So, for once in their lives, Vikings fans are in cahoots with a New Orleans sports product.
The USFL kicks off on April 16th.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sally from Minneapolis. His Viking fandom dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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