Vikings Waive Candidate for Practice Squad

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Tuesday is cutdown day in the NFL, and teams must get under the roster limit of 53 players by 3 p.m. CT to comply with league rules. That means almost 40 players in Minnesota will lose their jobs and more than 1,000 leaguewide.

Vikings Waive Candidate for Practice Squad

The Vikings waived 17 players on Monday and had to do even more than that on Tuesday to get under the limit. One was offensive guard Alan Ali. Alec Lewis tweeted on X: “The Vikings have waived OL Alan Ali, per a source. Definitive practice squad candidate.”

Vikings Waive Candidate for Practice Squad
Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

He will now have to go through the waiver process, and all other teams can claim him to bring him to their rosters. If he goes unclaimed (the more likely scenario), he will be eligible to sign with the Vikings to be a part of their practice squad.

The advantages are obvious for the Vikings. In case of an emergency, they could call him up to the gameday roster and have someone with knowledge of the scheme and familiarity with his teammates so the line could just continue to function.

For Ali, it is a no-brainer as well if he can’t make a 53-man roster, as he would get paid on the practice squad and can continue to develop to have another chance to make the team one year from now.

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The former TCU lineman is an undrafted rookie and joined the Vikings right after the draft in a group with a dozen other players, including Ivan Pace, who is set to make the team. Ali couldn’t carve out a role in his debut season but still had a lot of run with the second-team offense in training camp and the preseason and figures to be a nice depth piece on the practice squad.

Ali also offers versatility, as he played center in college but exclusively worked as a guard with the Vikings. In the preseason, no Vikings player logged more than his 171 snaps on offense, split between left and right guard.

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He was called for four penalties and allowed 8 pressures but has still shown some talent in the run-blocking aspect of the game. Ali just experienced the usual growing pains of rookie linemen. He is not a finished product and needs some time to improve, but the Vikings appear to trust him and gave him a lot of reps for that reason.

The interior offensive line has been a disaster for quite a while now, and the front office didn’t add a single meaningful competition to the group. They bank on improvement through continuity and familiarity with each other, and Ed Ingram could encounter a second-year jump like Christian Darrisaw, although not to the same extent.


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