Purple Rumor Mill: Mond Rostered over Josh Rosen, TE a Vikings Weakness, Limited Cap Space

Purple Rumor Mill: Mond Rostered over Josh Rosen, TE a Vikings Weakness, Limited Cap Space
Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports.

VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the September 4th edition.

Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.


Rumor: Kellen Mond is on the Browns active roster, and Josh Rosen is not.

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Kellen Mond

This is correct. Rosen was in camp this summer with the Browns, while Mond was obviously in Minnesota. But then the Vikings waived Mond, and Cleveland dropped Rosen.

Then, Kevin Stefanski and the Browns signed both men, plopping Mond as QB3 behind Jacoby Brissett and Joshua Dobbs. For now, Rosen lives on the practice squad.

This will all change in November when Deshaun Watson returns around Week 13. However, it seems Mond is the candidate for QB3 for at least a couple of months. Overall, yes, Mond is in a better roster spot than Rosen.

Rumor: The Vikings TE room is a depth chart weakness.

Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Compared to what Vikings fans have been used to since 2019, TE is indeed a weakness. Ordinarily, the Vikings have some combination of Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith or Irv Smith and Tyler Conklin to tout on a roster heading into the regular season.

In 2022, with a new coaching staff, the “big two” are Smith and Johnny Mundt. As the Los Angeles Rams, Kevin O’Connell’s former employer, headed into the 2021 Super Bowl-winning season, they employed Tyler Higbee and Johnny Mundt as TE1 and TE2.

This is how O’Connell and Sean McVay prefer the TE room. And it seemed to work last year — to the tune of a championship.

Rumor: Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is basically out of cap space.

About the Vikings Next 'Big Move'
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah

Yes, Minnesota has around $2.2 million in cap space as of September 3rd — or sixth-least in the NFL.

Every time Adofo-Mensah is asked about the cap, he says it’s a “challenge,” all but confirming he inherited an up-against-it situation in January. He’ll continue to navigate cap waters but probably cannot “get it the way he likes it” until 2023, 2024, or 2025.

The Vikings don’t have much money to add new folks on the depth chart, so this roster is likely “what you’re gonna get.” The last resort would be restructuring Eric Kendricks’ contract. But they probably would’ve done that by now.


Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. 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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