Wyatt Davis Found a New Home
The Vikings selected offensive guard Wyatt Davis in the third round of the 2021 draft. He was a ballyhooed draft prospect after three years playing for Ohio State.
In 2019, Davis became a full-time starter at guard for the Buckeyes and was recognized as one of the best interior linemen in the country. He also became a consensus All-American.
In his next season, Davis played through a knee injury and still was named a unanimous All-American and also won the Rimington-Pace award for the best offensive linemen in college football.
Of course, the Vikings went into the draft with dreadful players at guard, and therefore, fans were excited when the team brought in an elite guard in the draft.
The struggles of Dakota Dozier and Dru Samia were over in the minds of many. He went into training camp as the expected starter but lost the job to Oli Udoh. Davis was inconsistent in the preseason.
Udoh struggled all year at right guard. He gave up the most penalties of all NFL players. Not only that, but he also gave up a lot of pressures and sacks. Despite his struggles, the Vikings apparently never considered Davis to be an upgrade. He even was inactive for a bunch of games.
One year later, a new regime came to the Vikings, and Davis had a new chance to show his talent and compete. However, new GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah signed two veteran options at guard and drafted Ed Ingram.
Ingram was running away with the job, but Davis didn’t get any chances. Ultimately, the Vikings waived him during the final cutdowns to bring the roster down to 53.
He was signed to the New York Giants practice squad. However, he didn’t spend much time there, as the Saints picked him up and signed him to their active 53-man roster.
Davis will join six Buckeyes on the Saints roster — Chris Olave, Michael Thomas, Nick Vannett, Pete Werner, Marshon Lattimore, and Bradley Roby.
The Saints take a chance on a talented and once highly regarded prospect and try to turn around his career.
If Davis can stay on the roster, he’ll face the Vikings in Week 4 in London. The Vikings seem to have found their new starting guard, Ed Ingram. The second-round pick looked great at times in training camp and during the preseason. His emergence made veteran guard Jesse Davis expendable, and the Vikings subsequently traded him to the Steelers for a conditional 2025 seventh-round pick. The move saved more than $1 million in cap space.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
Vikings Territory Also Read: Vikings Quietly Added an Interesting Defender
You must be logged in to post a comment.