Vikings Drop 2 More Players to Round out Monday’s Cuts
Since late Sunday afternoon, the Minnesota Vikings have parted ways with 17 players, needing to offload 20 more by Tuesday’s roster trimdown deadline at 3:00 pm CST.
Vikings Drop 2 More Players to Round out Monday’s Cuts
Two of those moves occurred late Monday night, as NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweeted, “The Vikings cut defensive linemen Ross Blacklock and Sheldon Day, per sources.”
Those cuts were actually more noteworthy than the previous 15 because Blacklock and Day lived on the roster bubble and could’ve reasonably found a spot on the regular season roster. But now Blacklock, 25, will hit the NFL’s waiver process, and Day, 29, will hit open free agency.
This is the complete list of cuts from the last couple of weeks, updated with Blacklock and Day’s departure:
- Calvin Avery (DT)
- Kalon Barnes (CB)
- Ross Blacklock (DT)
- Jacky Chen (OT)
- C.J. Coldon (CB)
- Sheldon Day (DT)
- Christian DiLauro (OT)
- Jake Gervase (S)
- Tay Gowan (CB)
- Wilson Huber (LB)
- N’Keal Harry (WR)
- Jameson Houston (CB)
- Wilson Huber (ILB)
- Vederian Lowe (OT) | Trade
- Garett Maag (WR)
- Chim Okorafor (OT)
- Jack Podlesny (K)
- Abram Smith (RB)
- Josh Sokol (C)
- Jordan Ta’amu (QB)
- Colin Thompson (TE)
- Tanner Vallejo (LB)
- Curtis Weaver (OLB)
- Jarrid Williams (OT)
The good news? Blacklock and Day are somewhat well-known veterans and shouldn’t remain unemployed for too long. Both have a better chance of latching onto a roster sometime in 2023 than a player like Wilson Huber, for example, who is relatively anonymous in NFL-speak.
The Vikings traded a 6th-Round pick to the Houston Texans last year for Blacklock, but he didn’t catch on in purple as planned. He played in 11 games, starting none, with 139 defensive snaps as a meh 46.4 Pro Football Focus grade. The TCU alumnus will need a career renaissance at his next NFL destination to effectuate his 2nd-Round draft stock from three years ago.
For Day, he’ll hope to join his sixth team in eight seasons this year. To date, he’s played for the Jaguars, 49ers, Colts, Browns, and Vikings. He lived on the Vikings practice squad in 2022 and saw no regular season action. Day did, however, play quite well at training camp and in the preseason, leading some Vikings analysts to believe he could steal a roster spot.
These are the Vikings remaining DTs before final roster cuts on Tuesday:
- Harrison Phillips
- Dean Lowry
- Khyiris Tonga
- Jonathan Bullard
- Jaquelin Roy
- Esezi Otomewo
- T.J. Smith
- Junior Aho
Minnesota is expected to keep five or six DTs on the active roster for Brian Flores’ new defense.
The Vikings ranked 30th in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed last year under defensive coordinator Ed Donatell.
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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