Former Viking Lost for Season … in Game vs. Vikings
Injuries are brutal in the NFL — Minnesota Vikings fans can tell you all about it after last week, losing rookie passer J.J. McCarthy for all of 2024 to a torn meniscus.
Former Viking Lost for Season … in Game vs. Vikings
The Cleveland Browns encountered a similar situation with a backup lineman, Hakeem Adeniji, also a former Viking, last weekend in a preseason game between Cleveland and Minnesota. Play-by-play announcer Brendan Gulick tweeted Saturday, “Sure feels like bad news for Browns offensive tackles … right after James Hudson went out with an ankle injury, Hakeem Adeniji got hurt trying to make a tackle on the 90-yard INT return. He’s in the medical tent right now.”
Fast forward to Monday, and The Orange and Black Report’s Fred Greetham posted on X, “The Browns re-signed O T Chim Okorafor and LB Brandon Bouyer-Randle. OT Hakeem Adeniji (knee) to injured reserve.”
Like the aforementioned McCarthy, the move indicates Adeniji will be lost for the season, as players placed on injured reserve before August 27th cannot return for that team this season.
Without Adeniji in Cleveland, the Browns will turn to these offensive tackles:
- Jedrick Wills Jr.
- Jack Conklin
- James Hudson III
- Dawand Jones
- Germain Ifedi
- Roy Mbaeteka
- Lorenzo Thompson
- Chim Okorafor
It’s also worth noting that Wills Jr. and Conklin are on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list right now.
Adeniji joined the Vikings’ roster last October when injuries arose, and he stuck around for the rest of the season. The 6-foot-4, 315-pounder didn’t play any offensive snaps in purple but saw some action on special teams. In Cleveland, Adeniji was battling for a 53-man roster spot, which was nullified with the knee injury Saturday.
He played for the Cincinnati Bengals for three seasons, was a 6th-Round draft pick in 2020, and appeared in Super Bowl LVI. He saw action in 39 games for the Bengals, starting 15 and tallying 1,008 offensive snaps in three seasons. His playing time was at its highest in 2021, fielding 556 offensive snaps in Cincinnati.
Here’s Adeniji’s Pro Football Focus resume to date:
- 2020: 51.6
- 2021: 48.3
- 2022: 54.1
- 2023: n/a
The Browns’ offensive line ranked fourth-best in the NFL last season, according to PFF, so they’ll probably generate a wise solution at backup offensive tackle without Adeniji.
Cleveland employs four other former Vikings: Wyatt Davis (OG), Jordan Hicks (LB), Za’Darius Smith (DE), and Dalvin Tomlinson (DT), in addition to head coach Kevin Stefanski, who spent 14 seasons in Minnesota.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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