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Minnesota Vikings News & Rumors

Josh Jones To Meet With Vikings, Lions

September 5th, 2019 at 2:35pm CST by Zachary Links

The Josh Jones free agency tour continues. The former Packers safety will meet with the Vikings tomorrow and will also sit down with the Lions next week, Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com tweets. 

[RELATED: Vikings Sign Josh Doctson]

The 2017 second-round draft pick started 12 games over his first two years in the league for the Packers, but he fell out of favor in 2018. The advanced stats at Pro Football Focus ranked him 70th among 93 eligible safeties.

Recently, Jones also met with the Bills. With a need for safety help across the league, Jones probably won’t be out of work for long.

Vikings Notes: Vedvik, Fields

September 2nd, 2019 at 8:12pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Lions also scheduled a Kyle Sloter workout, but the recently waived Vikings passer ended up signing with the Cardinals’ practice squad. Sloter drew interest from several teams, Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets. Jackson left the University of Buffalo a year early, then went undrafted. He’s widely regarded as having impressive physical tools, but still being far too raw to play anytime soon.

  • The Vikings made a minor trade with the Chiefs for cornerback Mark Fields over the weekend, and now we have the details. The 2021 seventh-round pick Minnesota sent is conditional, a source told Ben Goessling of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Twitter link). Gooessling writes that it’s “based on Fields being on the Vikings’ roster for an agreed-upon number of games,” and that if Fields isn’t on the roster long Minnesota won’t have to give up anything. Fields was an undrafted rookie from Clemson who the Vikings reportedly had interest in right after the draft.
  • Speaking of Vikings trades, Minnesota caught some flak for trading a fifth-round pick for kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik and then cutting him a few weeks later. Vedvik struggled during the preseason, and Minnesota opted to stick with Dan Bailey as their kicker. The Jets ended up claiming Vedvik off waivers, but Minnesota apparently wanted him back. The Vikings had offered him a spot on the practice squad and he was likely going to accept before New York claimed him, Tomasson tweets.

Vikings To Sign Josh Doctson

September 2nd, 2019 at 3:16pm CST by Zachary Links

The Vikings have agreed to sign Josh Doctson, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The Vikings initially elected to keep four receivers on their roster, but Doctson will occupy the fifth spot to support Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, Chad Beebe, and Olabisi Johnson.

Fun fact: Doctson was selected one spot ahead of Laquon Treadwell in the 2016 draft. The Vikings dropped Treadwell over the weekend and, effectively, swapped him for Doctson.

Doctson has history with Kirk Cousins, which suggests that he could be in line for more targets than your average WR5. On the other hand, they didn’t exactly set the world on fire either – in 18 games with Cousins at QB, Doctson caught just 37 balls for 568 yards and six scores.

Doctson has started 26 games over the past two years for Washington, but this has only resulted in 79 total catches for 1,034 yards and eight touchdowns. Last year, he placed 96th out of 107 qualifying wideouts in yards per route run last season, according to Pro Football Focus.

In a corresponding move, Minnesota released center Brett Jones, though Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tweets that the Vikings could end up re-signing Jones at some point if he is not signed by another club.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/2/19

September 2nd, 2019 at 11:33am CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of Monday’s practice squad moves here:

Atlanta Falcons

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Signed: WR Davion Davis

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Oakland Raiders

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers 

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Cardinals Add QB Kyle Sloter

September 2nd, 2019 at 10:38am CST by Zachary Links

Kyle Sloter, a preseason standout of the last few years, wasn’t out of work for long. The quarterback has agreed to join the Cardinals’ practice squad, according to Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. Sloter has since confirmed the move on social media.

The Vikings dropped Sloter and elected to go with just two quarterbacks in starter Kirk Cousins and backup Sean Mannion. Meanwhile, they added an additional layer of backup by adding UDFA Jake Browning to the practice squad.

Sloter’s latest preseason heroics came in the Vikings’ 20-9 win over the Cardinals, so the team saw what he’s capable of first hand. In the fourth quarter, alone the QB connected on six of his seven passes and threw for 102 yards and a TD.

The Cardinals weren’t the only team to show interest in Sloter – six teams called, Tomasson hears, including the Lions. Sloter will work to impress Arizona brass as he looks to make his first career regular season appearance.

Sunday NFL Transactions: NFC North

September 1st, 2019 at 4:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Listed below are the Sunday roster moves for the four NFC North teams. Following the 53-man roster cutdown deadline yesterday, many teams will make slight tweaks to their rosters, claiming players off waivers or signing guys who clear waivers. Those transactions for the Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings are noted below.

Additionally, teams can begin constructing their 10-man practice squads today. You can check out our glossary entry on practice squads to brush up on those changes, as well as all the other guidelines that govern the 10-man units, whose players practice with the team but aren’t eligible to suit up on Sundays.

Here are Sunday’s NFC North transactions, which will continue to be updated throughout the day.

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings

Vikings To Sign Britton Colquitt, Cut Matt Wile

September 1st, 2019 at 4:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

More Vikings special teams maneuvering. They are signing veteran punter Britton Colquitt and cutting incumbent Matt Wile, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Wile and Dan Bailey survived Minnesota’s initial cuts, despite dual-threat punter Kaare Vedvik‘s arrival, but Wile will lose his roster spot to the more experienced Colquitt. Colquitt had been with the Browns, but he lost out to undrafted rookie Jamie Gillan, aka “The Scottish Hammer.” Minnesota traded a fifth-round pick for Vedvik a couple weeks ago, but ended up cutting him after he struggled in the preseason.

A Michigan product, Wile entered the league as an undrafted free agent back in 2015. Four games split between the Cardinals and Falcons in 2016 had been his only regular season action, until he won the Vikings’ job last year. He punted in all 16 games for Minnesota in 2018, but clearly didn’t make that strong of an impression. Colquitt has plenty of experience, having served as the Broncos’ punter for six years and winning Super Bowl 50 with them. He’s spent each of the past three years with Cleveland.

Jets Claim Kicker Kaare Vedvik

September 1st, 2019 at 12:06pm CST by Zachary Links

This has been quite the weekend for the Jets. On Sunday, they piled up even more transactions by claiming four players off waivers:

  • K Kaare Vedvik (Vikings)
  • WR Braxton Berrios (Patriots)
  • DE John Franklin, (Bears)
  • DB Bennett Jackson (Ravens)

The Vikings traded a fifth-round pick to acquire kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik just a few weeks ago, but dumped him on Saturday. The Jets, meanwhile, have been looking hard for kicking solutions and they appear to have found their guy with days to go before the season opener. To make room, they cut kicker Taylor Bertolet.

The Jets, naturally, will have to release more players to conform with the 53-man maximum.

Vikings Announce Cuts To Make 53

August 31st, 2019 at 5:16pm CST by Zachary Links

The Vikings have trimmed their roster down to 53 players. Notably, the team waived kicker/punter Kaare Vedvik, who they just traded a fifth-round pick for a few weeks ago. They also sent packing quarterback Kyle Sloter, who has starred in the preseason the past couple of years and earned a lot of fans. Finally, the team cut their losses with first-round bust Laquon Treadwell. Minnesota drafted the former Ole Miss receiver 23rd overall back in 2016, and he never topped 200 yards with the team.

Here’s the full list of moves:

Waived:

DE Ade Aruna (Injured)

WR Jeff Badet

FB Khari Blasingame

QB Jake Browning

LB Reshard Cliett

T Aviante Collins

DT Curtis Cothran

WR Davion Davis

LB Devante Downs

C Cornelius Edison

RB De’Angelo Henderson

TE Cole Hikutini

WR Alexander Hollins

CB Craig James

DE Stacy Keely

C John Keenoy

LB Greer Martini

CB Nate Meadors

WR Dillon Mitchell

T Storm Norton

DT Tito Odenigbo

DE Anree Saint-Amour

DE Karter Schult

QB Kyle Sloter

LB Cameron Smith

S Derron Smith

CB Duke Thomas

WR Laquon Treadwell

P/K Kaare Vedvik

T Nate Wozniak

S Isaiah Wharton (Injured)

WR Brandon Zylstra

Placed on Reserve/PUP:

TE David Morgan

Placed on Reserve/NFI:

DE Tashawn Bower

Vikings To Cut Kaare Vedvik

August 31st, 2019 at 2:42pm CST by Sam Robinson

Kaare Vedvik’s shaky preseason work with the Vikings will lead to his new team cutting him. The Vikings traded a fifth-round pick for the promising Ravens kicker, but after these recent struggles, Minnesota will keep Dan Bailey as its field goal specialist, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets.

Following his trade from Baltimore, Vedvik made 1 of 4 field goal tries with Minnesota. This came after he went 4-for-4 in his Ravens finale. Vedvik retains practice squad eligibility, should he pass through waivers. But this could represent another squandered fifth-round pick on a kicker.

The Vikings drafted Daniel Carlson in the 2018 fifth round but waived him after two games last season. Vedvik did not make it that far. Matt Wile will remain the Vikings’ punter, with Bailey — Carlson’s replacement last season — staying on as the kicker.

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