Vikings Say Goodbye to Last Year’s Trade Prize
About 18 hours after finalizing a 53-man roster for the 2023 season, the Minnesota Vikings shook up the offense.
The franchise added free-agent running back Myles Gaskin of Miami Dolphins fame Wednesday morning and waived wide receiver Jalen Reagor.
Vikings Say Goodbye to Last Year’s Trade Prize
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted, “Vikings are waiving former first-round draft pick Jalen Reagor, per source.”
Reagor produced a resurgent training camp and preseason this summer, but it evidently wasn’t enough to remain on the roster for a second season. The former 1st-Rounder will now hit the NFL’s waiver wire and can be claimed by a team in order of last year’s win-loss standings.
Vikings general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah traded a 2023 7th-Round draft pick and a 2024 conditional 5th-Rounder for Reagor to the Philadelphia Eagles last August, hoping to squeeze untapped potential from the playmaker. To hedge the bet on the deal’s pricetag, Adofo-Mensah conducted a trade during the 2023 NFL Draft that netted a 2024 5th-Rounder from the Kansas City Chiefs, making the original Reagor deal next to free when the ledger balances.
After the Reagor waiver, here’s the Vikings WR room as of 9:00 am CST on August 30th:
WR1: Justin Jefferson
WR2: K.J. Osborn
WR3: Jalen Nailor
WR4: Jordan Addison
WR5: Brandon Powell
Minnesota also reportedly attempted to trade Reagor on Tuesday, to no avail.
Reagor tabulated 8 catches for 104 yards and a touchdown in 2022. And of all 31 NFLers who returned 15+ punts in 2022, Reagor’s 6.2 yards per return ranked 31st in the league. The return on investment, at least in 2022, was underwhelming.
Furthermore, Minnesota signed Diet Reagor this offseason, a man named Brandon Powell. The former Los Angeles Ram was a free agent this offseason, joined the Vikings, and has grabbed the WR5 gig over Reagor.
The 24-year-old authored an impressive training camp and preseason for the Vikings, plopping him smack dab in the middle of Minnesota’s roster bubble. Most Vikings fans believe he did enough this summer to make the regular season roster, while some national voices have speculated a possible waiver. In the end, he didn’t have quite enough oomph for a second act in purple.
Reagor is expected to latch onto a new team immediately, although the destination is unknown.
The cut leaves $2.4 million in dead cap money on the Vikings books for 2023 if Reagor is unclaimed on waivers.
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.
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