Head-to-Head Vikings Competition Sees One Player Left Standing
Unless Minnesota opts to bring someone else in, Ryan Wright appears to have won the Vikings competition that stood out for being a head-to-head battle.
The team’s own social media announced the news that punter Oscar Chapman — an undrafted addition following the 2025 NFL Draft — was shown the door. Check out the update: “The #Vikings have waived P Oscar Chapman and T Leroy Watson IV.”
Vikings Competition Sees Mr. Wright as the P1
Start off with the player who is also included in the news: Leroy Watson.
Earlier in the day, news emerged of the Vikings’ desire to trade the depth tackle. Sounding the alarm so publicly is basically a GM’s version of a Hail Mary. The chances are low that someone will send over a draft pick, but there’s some merit in getting word out in a manner that refuses to be hindered by subtlety.
Apparently, the approach didn’t work, so Adofo-Mensah has decided to allow the NFL to have a shot at Watson through the waiver system.
When it comes to the punting battle, things are now looking like it’s Mr. Wright — as Matt Daniels is so keen to call him — unless there ends up being an 11th hour addition.
Wright, himself an UDFA add once upon a time, is now entering his fourth season in the NFL. The punter was brought back to Minnesota in the offseason after agreeing to a single-season deal that’s coming in at $1,750,000. Not huge money, but a bit of a raise for the specialist who made $2,565,000 within his initial three-year contract.
Chapman, meanwhile, will be looking for his next opportunity.
Quite possibly, the Vikings could be that next opportunity. Ben Goessling of The Star Tribune notes that Chapman’s status as an international player — he’s Australian — means there’s an exemption for an extra spot on the practice squad: “If Chapman clears waivers, the Vikings can use the NFL’s International Player Pathway program exemption to claim him with an extra practice squad spot.”
In other words, the Vikings may be able to have their cake and eat it too: keep the young punter developing inside TCO Performance Center while rolling with the more established Ryan Wright, someone who has had mixed results at the NFL level.
As a rookie, Wright only had a single, lonely touchback. He took a step back, though, as a sophomore by having 7 touchbacks. Things stabilized as a third-year player, finishing up at 5 touchbacks but finishing the season with a career-high 48.2% of his punts landing inside the 20. His career average is 47.6 yards per punt with a career net yardage average sitting at 41.6.
For now, Minnesota appears ready to keep Ryan Wright punting the ball. He is a reasonably strong option at that spot and is a capable holder on field goal. Very notably, Oscar Chapman bobbled the ball in the final preseason game, contributing (causing?) a missed field goal from Reichard.
Stay tuned, folks. More roster news to follow as Minnesota works toward descending to 53 players in time for the Tuesday deadline.
Editor’s Note: Information from Pro Football Reference and Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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