Purple Rumor Mill: Stephon Gilmore, New WR on the Market for Vikings, Robert Tonyan Mystery
VikingsTerritory’s Purple Rumor Mill is a two-day chronicle each week. All the week’s rumors are lassoed and plopped in two spots — articles on Saturday and Sunday — for review. Today is the August 11th edition.
Purple Rumor Mill: Stephon Gilmore, New WR on the Market, Robert Tonyan Mystery
Remember — rumors are rumors. What you read on weekends in these pieces is what the world is talking about pertaining to the Vikings, not necessarily items that will come to fruition.
Here’s the second batch of the week. Yesterday’s can be read here.
Rumor: Five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore will meet with the Vikings on Monday.
According to Josina Anderson, five-time Pro Bowl corner Stephon Gilmore will chat with the Vikings brass next week. She tweeted Saturday, just hours before Minnesota’s first preseason game: “NEWS: Free agent CB Stephon Gilmore tells me he’s flying out on Sunday to visit with the Vikings on Monday.”
Adding Gilmore would represent significant roster change at cornerback for the Vikings in the last five weeks after Khyree Jackson’s tragic passing, Blackmon on the shelf, and Andrew Booth’s trade adventure to the Dallas Cowboys.
And let’s face it — Vikings fans have been asking for Gilmore’s addition to the roster for a few months, mainly because he has ties to defensive coordinator Brian Flores from the New England Patriots days. That — and Minnesota could obviously use cornerback help.
Gilmore to the Vikings could finally be real.
Rumor: JuJu Smith-Schuster is available and would make a wonderful addition to the Vikings’ roster.
Minnesota parted ways with K.J. Osborn this offseason, and he signed with the Patriots in March. For now, most believe Brandon Powell or Jalen Nailor will win the WR3 gig, with a dark horse of a player like Jeshaun Jones, an undrafted free agent, perhaps emerging out of nowhere.
However, JuJu Smith-Schuster became available this week, and he can sign anywhere in the NFL.
Generally speaking, amid the landscape of the NFL, Minnesota is one of the few teams that really needs a WR3 if Nailor doesn’t morph into the real deal. This one makes sense — Smith-Schuster to the Vikings — but the only caveat is that folks have said this about Minnesota all offseason: “They should sign Hunter Renfrow.”
Would Minnesota start adding WRs after ignoring other veterans all offseason? Perhaps not.
Rumor: Robert Tonyan is buried on Minnesota’s first depth chart release.
This is the team’s current TE pecking order:
- TE1: T.J. Hockenson (PUP)
- TE2: Josh Oliver
- TE3: Johnny Mundt
- TE4: Nick Muse
- TE5: Robert Tonyan
- TE6: N’Keal Harry
- TE7: Trey Knox
- TE8: Sammis Reyes
But when one navigates to Minnesota’s depth chart on the website — not the article that detailed the first depth chart … here — Tonyan is listed as TE2.
This one will remain a mystery for a while, but Tonyan closer to the top of the depth chart seems more accurate.
Vikings Trade Andrew Booth
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 MIN 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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