Vikings Confuse Everyone with Weird Roster Cut
Right before the Minnesota Vikings lost to the Los Angeles Chargers in nauseating fashion, the team released rookie linebacker Kobe King from Penn State, ending his stint in Minnesota after just six months.
The Minnesota Vikings cut ties with linebacker Kobe King last week before Week 8, and when King landed elsewhere, everyone became rather puzzled.
The next day, the New York Jets pounced, adding King off the waiver wire, meaning King will not return to the Vikings. The hope of a practice squad reunion is dead. Cooked.
Vikings Drop LB Kobe King; King Scooped by Jets
The end of the road for King in the Twin Cities
The Jets Claim Kobe King
Fans wondered if King would simply clear waivers and rejoin the Vikings — a fair question. The answer is no.
NewYorkJets.com‘s Susanna Weird wrote Friday, “The Jets have claimed LB Kobe King. King (6-1, 236) was selected by the Vikings in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. The Penn State product appeared in 5 games for Minnesota this season, playing 77 snaps on special teams and 3 snaps on defense.”
“King appeared in 46 games for the Nittany Lions, recording 200 tackles, 18.5 TFLs and 4.5 sacks. He was waived by the Vikings on Thursday.”
So that mystery is solved. King is gone for good.
Practice Squad Theory Dead
Often, the Vikings will waive or release a player, only to add him back to the practice a day or two later. That felt like the plan for King because — what could the man have done so poorly in just six months? Rookies need time to develop, and King isn’t excluded.
However, the practice squad plan and theories are toast. If general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah thought he could finesse King through waivers just to add him back to the roster orbit in the next few days, he got that wrong. The Jets lived at the very top of the waiver wire and made King one of their own.
No cigar on the practice squad tactic. It didn’t work.
Austin Keys a Better Option?
Why would Minnesota say sayonara to King? Well, undrafted off-ball linebacker Austin Keys made the 53-man roster in August, and he has apparently impressed coaches more than King. The proof? It’s straightforward: not a single person on the planet would have cared if the Vikings waived Keys on Thursday. That would’ve caused no outcry.
Waiving a player drafted with 6th-Round draft stock 27 weeks later did cause an uproar.
So the only evidence to explain the King roster waiver is that the Vikings’ coaching staff views Keys as a much better and more promising player.
A Wasted Draft Pick, Albeit a 6th-Rounder
When the dust settles, King likely won’t be an impact player, and nobody will care too much that Minnesota kicked him to the curb in October 2025. That’s the way it goes for most 6th- and 7th-Rounders; they don’t amount to much.
Still, in theory and with a bit of Monday morning quarterbacking, Minnesota could’ve drafted a player like Brashard Smith, Kyle Monangai, Tez Johnson, or Jacory Croskey-Merritt with the King pick. Those players went off the board after King to Minnesota.
While cutting King or missing on him as a draft prospect isn’t a doomsday scenario, Adofo-Mensah basically lit a draft pick on fire.
Janik Eckardt on King
Our Janik Eckardt noted on King last weekend, “It’s quite possible that the decision-makers hoped they could sneak him through waivers and stash him on the practice squad, but the Jets said “no” to that idea. Adofo-Mensah vouched for the defender right after the draft.”
“His initial praise created some buzz for obvious reasons. King made 200 tackles in his college career, with 97 of those coming in 2024 alone. He also secured three sacks and nine tackles for loss that year. King was a force at the line of scrimmage, one of those guys that’s always around the ball.”
King is currently on the Jets’ active roster, not the practice squad.
Eckardt added, “However, his coverage skills certainly leave some room for growth. Well, he did not turn out to be a starter for the Vikings, although he might for the Jets, considering he’s still only 22 years old. Either way, the Vikings also found Austin Keys as an undrafted rookie. It looks like the club prefers him over the defender with the draft pedigree.”
“Keys showed some talent in the preseason and has been active in six games, making four tackles and one sack on 112 snaps on special teams and eight on defense. The Auburn alumnus has been a force in kickoff coverage. Besides Keys, the Vikings also employ linebackers Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace Jr., and Eric Wilson.”
Here’s to hoping the rest of the 2025 draft picks stay on the roster for many years. The King pick is a gaffe.
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