After being activated from the injured reserve yesterday, Pat Elflein is now a free agent. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that the Vikings have released the offensive lineman. The 26-year-old is now fully healthy and hopes to get an opportunity for “some real playing time elsewhere.”
The former third-round pick earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team in 2017 after starting 14 games at center for the Vikings. He played the same role in 2018, but he was switched to guard in 2019 after Minnesota drafted Garrett Bradbury in the first round of that year’s draft.
Elflein started 15 games at guard in 2019, and he started the 2020 season opener before tearing a thumb ligament. That injury forced Elflein to land on the IR, and after returning to practice three weeks ago, his IR-DTR window had recently come to an end. Therefore, the Vikings had no other choice than to activate Elflein.
As our own Sam Robinson noted yesterday, the Vikings have used veteran Dakota Dozier as a guard starter all year, and they recently moved second-round rookie Ezra Cleveland into their starting lineup at guard. Considering the recent performance of Dalvin Cook and the Vikings running game, the coaching staff apparently thought it was better to roll forward with their current grouping.
Dont expect him to be on the market too long. Played pretty well at Center his rookie year and now has experience at guard. Plenty of teams looking for interior line help.
He had back surgery after his rookie season and hasn’t been close since. Trust me, he isn’t the same player and is a liability on whatever line he plays for.
Not really sure why they would do this. They already know Samia is not ready to play, so wouldn’t Elflein be a good backup for the rest of the season? I think this only saves them about $1 million in cap space. I do understand that cap space can be carried over to next year and they are really up against it next year as well…but I don’t really see how this really helps them all that much.
Bears? Ryan Pace? Hello?
Amen. Right now the Bears need bodies on the OL. No one expects that the team can fill that need at this point in the season with top-flight players. They have to look for hidden gems, players with a history of potential who might find renewed life in a different system.
Anyone would be better than Coward and Ifeld (sp?).
Chiefs could use him, we have some injuries on the O-line
Seattle could use him
You guys act like he is even a quality lineman. He was easily the worst player on a terrible Vikings line the last two seasons.
Bengals could certainly use him
He was due to be a free agent after this season anyway and the Vikings clearly had no intention of bringing him back. Just time for both player and team to move on.
Seahawks; please call this guys agent now!!
The guy was TERRIBLE in year 2. A bad lineman on a horrible line. He’s a warm body…that’s it.
The guy sucks Skol
Ravens need him o line is banged up
He’s a decent center not a guard. The bears should be all over this guy!