The Vikings Made 3 Roster Moves on Tuesday
The Minnesota Vikings are navigating choppy waters after a Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, battling poor performance in that contest and oodles of injuries.
After losing on Sunday Night Football, the Vikings had a busy Tuesday, firing off a few transactions to prepare for Week 3 and beyond.
Accordingly, the start to Week 3 was not quiet, and the club fired off three roster moves on Tuesday, five days before a home meeting with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Vikings Tweak Roster after Injury Barrage
General manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah moved pieces around.
Aaron Jones to IR
Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy sprained his ankle on Sunday night, and that dominated the news cycle on Monday and Tuesday — rightfully so. In the backdrop a bit, though, Aaron Jones, the team’s RB1, received an IR fate, and the veteran tailback will miss the next four games. He’ll be eligible to return in Week 8 at the Los Angeles Chargers, a Thursday Night Football game against one of the NFL’s best teams so far in 2025.
Without Jones, Minnesota will turn to Jordan Mason, who may have been heading toward the RB1 job anyway, sans the Jones hamstring injury. Mason has banked a decent 4.1 yards per rushing attempt through two games, and all signs point to bellcow work for him in the next month.
The team also has a hungry runner in the waiting named Zavier Scott, who spent the 2024 campaign on the practice squad and might get a look in Kevin O’Connell’s offense as soon as this Sunday.
CBS Sports‘ Cameron Salerno on the Jones IR trip: “Jones has rushed for only 46 yards on 13 carries through the first two games of the season. Jones hauled in three catches for 44 yards — including a 27-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 — that helped his team pull away for good.”
“He ran for a career-high 1,138 yards in 2024 after signing with Minnesota last offseason following a seven-year stint with the Green Bay Packers to open his career.”
Jones will turn 31 in December.
“Jones signed a two-year, $20 million extension through the 2026 season earlier this offseason. Jordan Mason is in line for bigger role for Vikings. With Jones out, Jordan Mason will step into the lead back role in Minnesota. Mason, 26, was acquired via trade from the San Francisco 49ers in March after he ran for a career-high 789 yards during the 2024 campaign. Mason has 98 yards on 24 carries this season for the Vikings (1-1),” Salerno concluded.
Desmond Ridder as Temp QB3
With McCarthy out for a game, two, or three, Minnesota evidently needed depth and insurance at the QB position, scouring NFL teams’ practice squads and landing on the Cincinnati Bengals as the target. There, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah plucked Desmond Ridder, a passer with 18 career starts, for emergency quarterback duty, and Ridder will live on the active roster indefinitely.
Fans heard the news of Ridder’s arrival to the roster and groaned — he’s not known for upper-echelon productivity.
Still, the team was forced to sign a quarterback with McCarthy on the shelf, and Ridder is the guy. Some believe that Adofo-Mensah stole Ridder from Cincinnati’s practice squad to pick his brain about the Bengals’ offense, as the two teams meet at U.S. Bank Stadium in four days.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said about McCarthy’s injury on SNF: “He just kind of got rolled up on. In the moment, we didn’t necessarily think it was that significant when we came off after that series. There was somebody in the blue medical tent, so he got it evaluated right there, got it taped up and went back in the game.”
“Hearing from our medical staff, it’s one of those things that tends to be much worse today than it probably was in the moment, with adrenaline and everything.”
Carson Wentz will start on Sunday versus Cincinnati, with rookie Max Brosmer ready and waiting, too.
Cam Akers to the Practice Squad
Finally, a tradition like no other: The Masters of Minnesota. Adofo-Mensah signed Akers from free agency, after trading for the man in back-to-back seasons: in 2023 with the Los Angeles Rams and 2024 with the Houston Texans.
Akers spent the summer with the New Orleans Saints, vying for a roster spot at training camp and in the preseason. When the rubber hit the road for roster cuts, however, the Saints chose Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, and Devin Neal over Akers, sending him back to the open market.
Akers already knows Minnesota’s offense, and now a practice squad member, could be called upon for regular season duty as early as Sunday versus the same Bengals. He tabulated 349 yards from scrimmage in Minnesota last season, with 4.7 yards per touch.
Among Jordan Mason and Zavier Scott, Akers will likely nestle in the depth chart as an RB2-RB3.
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