Vikings Roster Upsets That Could Be Coming
In 10 days, the Minnesota Vikings will slash their roster from 90 players to 53, preparing for the start of the regular season on September 8th.
Several Minnesota Vikings players are emerging as surprise contenders for roster spots, setting the stage for unexpected moves before final cuts are revealed.
As always, a few upset candidates lurk on the horizon, players who could surprise the masses by earning a roster spot against all odds.
So, these are those players listed in alphabetical order.
Vikings Who May Have Locked Up a Spot: Upset Specials
These men might’ve done enough to score the upset.
1. Lucky Jackson | WR4
When the summer arrived, Jackson was listed on the Vikings’ depth chart — sports websites’ interpretation of it — around WR7. All of a sudden, Jackson is the WR4, detailed by Minnesota’s preseason depth chart release.
There will be no Jordan Addison for three games to start the regular season, and there will be no Rondale Moore at all due to a terrible knee injury.
Jackson basically surpassed his competition on the roster. With no Brandon Powell or Trishton Jackson in his way this time, a WR4 or WR5 job appears to be his.
A to Z Sports‘ Tyler Forness wrote about Jackson on Thursday, “As things sit, Lucky Jackson is the team’s first-team punt returner. That’s interesting for a couple of reasons. First, there was a lot of talk about Silas Bolden, the UDFA out of Texas, being the guy who could win the punt returner job.”
“He’s currently listed as the backup to Jackson. Second, Jackson did catch punts for the Vikings last year in the preseason and he’s got past experience in doing so as well. If the Vikings do keep Jackson as the punt returner, it helps the math when building out the initial 53-man roster, as Jackson has seemingly locked up the WR4 job going into the final weeks of training camp.”
Jackson had 4.36 speed coming out of college in 2020.
“Punt returner is still one of the biggest question marks on this team, and it will be interesting to see how things continue to develop,” Forness added.
2. Gabriel Murphy | OLB4
Back when Jackson was a WR7, Murphy checked in the EDGE room around OLB5 or OLB6. He, Bo Richter, and Tyler Batty were slated for a summer battle to determine the Vikings’ fourth pass rusher this season.
After training camp, Murphy climbed the depth chart to OLB4, blazing past Richter, and in his first preseason game of 2025, he dialed up 5 quarterback hits and 1.5 sacks on just 29 snaps.
He’s firmly in line to win the OLB4 job. Fans would riot if he didn’t.
3. Jeff Okudah | CB3
After the draft, when Minnesota selected no rookie corners, Vikings loyalists wondered who might win the CB3 job in 2025. With little fanfare or suspense, Okudah did precisely that at training camp, running with first-teamers, almost as a no-brainer ordeal.
Okudah seems to have bested third-year CB Mekhi Blackmon on the roster. If one thinks back to March or April, Okudah winning a starter’s job beyond the shadow of a doubt would seem like an upset.
The Viking Age‘s Ryan O’Leary noted on Okudah earlier this month, “We now know from practice what Flores’ vision for Okudah was all along — slot corner. The Vikings have guys like Murphy Jr. and Josh Metellus who can help in that role, but with Murphy now earning CB1 money, and Metellus poised for a more full-time job at safety following Cam Bynum’s departure, the need was there.”
“You have to give the Vikings credit for finding a cost-effective solution they actually believed in. Okudah has always been an intriguing prospect. He’ll have to start producing on the field for this to be scored a win for GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and crew.”
The 2025 season is likely Okudah’s final chance to latch on as a long-term starter in the NFL.
Leary concluded, “But the Vikings have a knack for finding hidden gems in free agency, and based on his ‘phenomenal camp’ so far, as head coach Kevin O’Connell recently put it, Okudah could be their latest bullseye.”
4. Zavier Scott | RB3
Scott carefully bided his time last year on Minnesota’s practice squad, and he’s about a week and a half from learning if he’ll scor
e the upset for RB3 over Ty Chandler.
Chandler showed flashes of promise a couple of times in 2023, but the team just doesn’t seem overly high on him overall. It’s why Cam Akers came aboard via trade — twice — in 2023 and 2024.
Scott stood off the page in the first preseason game last weekend. His training camp production, size, and upside might be enough to grab the RB3 title for 2025.
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