Oct 10, 2021; Landover, Maryland, USA; New Orleans Saints players' helmets on the bench against the Washington Football Team at FedExField. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Minnesota Vikings shaved their 2023 roster to 53 players on Tuesday — and then added veteran running back Myles Gaskin while waiving wide receiver Jalen Reagor on Wednesday.
The NFL’s roster movement is fast and furious this week, including three former Vikings who departed the New Orleans Saints roster — Jake Bargas (FB), Ryan Connelly (LB), and Storm Norton (OT).
The Saints and Vikings share identical Super Bowl odds in 2023, per sportsbooks, with a +4,000 moneyline to win the chip in February.
Bargas played for the Vikings in two seasons, mainly as a practice squad participant. He did, though, play a handful of regular season snaps in Minnesota in 2020 versus — you guessed it — the Saints on Christmas Day and then in 2021 against the Lions in an infamous road defeat.
Unearthed as an undrafted free agent from North Carolina after the 2020 NFL Draft, Bargas was usually the Vikings “other fullback” behind C.J. Ham. As a Tarheel from 2016 to 2019, Bargas played TE. At North Carolina, Bargas was a target for current Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Fullback Adam Prentice remained on New Orleans’ roster over Bargas.
An Eden Prairie native, Connelly joined the Vikings in 2020 after getting drafted by the New York Giants in 2019 and released by Joe Judge’s team in September 2020. The linebacker became a Viking soon after and remained in Minnesota’s roster orbit for three full seasons.
With the Vikings, Connelly was primarily a special teams contributor, participating in 427 plays in 27 games. He logged 16 defensive snaps in three years with the organization and had hoped to carve out a special teams role in New Orleans, to no avail. Connelly logged 30 total tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and a sack in Minnesota. Connelly was injured last summer, activated when healthy in the fall, waived in October, and re-signed to the practice squad a day later. Such is life for an NFL practice squad personality at times.
Linebackers Demario Davis, Peter Werner, Zack Baun, Nephi Sewell, and D’Marco Jackson made the cut for the Saints.
Norton latched onto the Vikings roster in 2017 and stayed through the 2019 campaign. He spent most of his tenure on the team’s practice squad and appeared in one game during the 2018 season. Thereafter, he joined the Los Angeles Chargers from 2020 to 2022 and the Saints this offseason.
All told, Norton has played in 36 career games around the NFL, starting 18, and banking 1,473 snaps on offense. The 29-year-old will hope for a fresh start as a reservist offensive tackle sometime this season.
The Vikings host the Saints on November 12th at U.S. Bank Stadium. Minnesota notably canceled New Orleans playoff plans in 2017 and 2019, two rather memorable contests, especially in a good way for Vikings fans.
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 Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.