The Vikings Made 3 Roster Moves This Week
It’s Week 13 in the NFL, and the Minnesota Vikings made three roster moves this week to prepare for a date with the Seattle Seahawks. Minnesota will face Sam Darnold’s team at 3:05 pm CST on Sunday.
The Vikings made three roster moves this week, reshaping depth on both sides of the ball as the team adjusts heading into Week 13.
The purple team notably added an emergency quarterback and practice squad safety, in addition to cutting ties with a little-known cornerback.
3 Roster Transactions Highlight Week 13 for Vikings
Here’s the roster maintenance for the week.
CB Shemar Bartholomew Out
Bartholomew’s stint in Minnesota ended Tuesday. The Vikings tweeted, “The Vikings have released CB Shemar Bartholomew from the practice squad.”
Most fans focused on how short his stay was and questioned the team’s thin cornerback depth. Minnesota originally added Bartholomew earlier this month after Jeff Okudah landed on injured reserve with his second concussion of 2025.
Bartholomew is expected to clear waivers and should be free to sign elsewhere by the end of the week.
He entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2024, signing with the New York Jets late in April. He flashed right away in the preseason — enough that several Jets analysts and fans convinced themselves he was a 53-man lock. That didn’t hold through cutdowns. New York moved on before Week 1.
The league took notice. Four teams submitted waiver claims on Bartholomew the next day, with Carolina winning the priority battle. Bartholomew went on to appear in five games for the Panthers, logging 17 defensive snaps and 34 on special teams, giving him a foothold in actual NFL work.
He stayed with Carolina through the 2025 offseason and into camp, but the pattern repeated. When roster decisions were finalized, he again missed the active squad and slid to the practice unit. Even that was temporary. The Panthers released him on August 27th. Now Minnesota has followed suit, closing another brief stop on Bartholomew’s path around the league.
Fabian Moreua is now the Vikings’ CB3 beyond the shadow of a doubt, with Bartholomew waived and Dwight McGlothern living on the practice squad.
S Kahlef Hailassie In
Hailassie is back.
Vikings.com‘s Craig Peters wrote this week, “The Vikings (4-7) on Wednesday announced the signing of safety Kahlef Hailassie to their practice squad ahead of visiting the Seahawks (8-3) during Week 13. Hailassie is returning to Minnesota, where he spent the 2025 offseason after signing in January.”
“After initially entering the NFL as an undrafted cornerback with Kansas City in 2023, Hailassie spent time with Cleveland in 2023 and 2024. He played in nine games and made one start in his first season with the Browns and appeared in one game on special teams last season.”
Hailassie was an unexpected bright spot during the preseason, hauling in a couple of interceptions and turning heads as someone who might make the 53-man roster. That theory did not materialize, but Hailassie is back nevertheless.
Our Janik Eckardt on Hailassie: “The 2023 draft prospect went unselected and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs following the event. However, he was waived on cutdown day. The Cleveland Browns claimed him off waivers.”
“That’s where he spent the 2023 and 2024 campaigns, appearing in a total of ten games (105 snaps on defense and 110 on special teams). It’s noteworthy that the 2023 Browns defense, when all of the 105 snaps took place, had the best defense in football that year.”
Vikings safeties Theo Jackson and Josh Metellus carried Questionable statuses into the week — probably why the purple team fired up the Hailassie reunion.
“His most memorable Vikings day came in the preseason, when he intercepted a couple of passes against the Houston Texans, fresh off a move from cornerback to safety. That shift came out of necessity. The Vikings were a safety short and decided to give the third-year defender a shot. His two picks were not outstanding athletic feats by any means,” Eckardt continued.
“Still, he was in the right spot at the right time, something not many Vikings defenders can say this season. He turned 25 earlier this month.”
Desmond Ridder Re-Signed
Back in mid-September, when J.J. McCarthy suffered a high ankle sprain, Minnesota signed Ridder as its emergency quarterback. He stuck around for about three weeks while McCarthy’s ankle healed enough that he could serve as the emergency quarterback on gamedays.
Now, with McCarthy again ailing due to a concussion, Ridder is back. He’ll presumably serve as the QB3 on Sunday at Seattle and likely be released when McCarthy exits the league’s concussion protocol.
You must be logged in to post a comment.