Long-Time Viking Dropped amid Roster Cuts
After valiantly battling back from a torn ACL he suffered in the summer of 2023, defensive tackle James Lynch won’t be a part of the Minnesota Vikings roster in 2024, at least not the initial 53-man depth chart.
Long-Time Viking Dropped amid Roster Cuts
The Vikings began trimming their roster from 91 players to 53 on Monday, continuing into Tuesday, and Lynch was apparently an odd man out.
The Athletic‘s Alec Lewis tweeted, “The Vikings are releasing DT James Lynch, per source. Logjam at defensive tackle, and some younger options in Levi Drake Rodriguez & Taki Taimani.”
Minnesota also plans to drop or trade Lynch’s defensive tackle teammate, Jaquelin Roy, a 2023 5th-Round draft choice. So, with the roster deadline mere hours away, these are the purple team’s DTs:
- Harrison Phillips
- Jerry Tillery
- Jonathan Bullard
- Jonah Williams
- Levi Drake Rodriguez
- Jalen Redmond
- Taki Taimani
The group will either remain as-is above or undergo one more cut/waiver. Stay tuned.
The Vikings reunited with Lynch in May, about three weeks after the 2024 NFL Draft, a team he’s belonged to since 2020. The defensive lineman has spent his entire career in Minnesota after starring at Baylor. In 2019, he earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors. He was also named unanimous first-team All-American after recording 13.5 sacks in his junior season.
Coming into the NFL, Lynch was considered undersized to be a true nose tackle, and there were doubts that his production would translate to the NFL at the defensive end position. The Vikings still gave him a shot, and he played for them in his first three seasons.
In 37 contests (three starts), Lynch made 53 tackles, two sacks, and four tackles for loss. While he only logged 59 snaps on defense in his debut season, his role grew in years two and three to a total of 581 plays on defense, almost evenly distributed.
Potentially on tap to claim a starting spot in 2023 or a significant role on the underwhelming defensive line rotation, Lynch tore his ACL in training camp. The Vikings placed him on IR in August, and his season ended before it even began.
Considering the state of the Vikings defensive line now — it’s pretty average, to put it kindly — Lynch had a reasonable chance of making the 53-man roster this summer, to no avail.
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah failed to acquire high-profile DT help in the draft and free agency, so Phillips, Tillery, Bullard, Williams, Drake Rodriguez, and possibly Taimani will have to do the trick this season.
Jalen Redmond is expected to be released like Roy and Lynch, though that is not official at the time of this article’s publication.
Lynch turned 25 in January.
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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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