The Minnesota Vikings have been in process of getting down to 53 players on the active roster and will need to be at that number by 3 pm central on August 30th.
As they continue to work towards finalizing their active roster, there are a lot of moving parts, including using injured reserved to get there.
The Viking will likely claim players on waivers to finalize their roster when other teams make their roster cuts and, as we’ve seen in past years, a trade might happen to get there.
Be sure to bookmark both our Facebook and Twitter pages as we track all the roster moves the Vikings will make.
Types of roster moves
In the process of the Minnesota Vikings making roster cuts, they can make numerous transactions to get down to 53 players.
- Released: When a vested veteran (those who have accrued six seasons in the NFL) is cut from a team, they’re considered released. They’re not required to pass through waivers and can immediately become an unrestricted free agent and sign with another team.
- Waived: Players who have not accrued six seasons in the NFL are waived instead of being released. 31 NFL teams will have a chance to claim waived players on their 53-man roster by 11:00 a.m. CT on August 31. If players are not claimed on waivers, they become unrestricted free agents. Waiver priority this time of year is determined by team records from the previous season. The team with the worst record will get the top waiver priority, in this case, the Jacksonville Jaguars. That gets updated weekly, whereas before the conclusion of week one the order is the draft order.
- Waived/injured: If these players clear waivers they will revert to the Vikings’ injured reserve list. They can opt to spend the season with Minnesota on IR or reach an injury settlement with the team, becoming a free agent.
- Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list: This changed for the 2022 season. What stayed the same is players on the Active/PUP list can be placed on the Reserve/PUP list in a move to get the roster down to 53 players. Players who are moved to the Reserve/PUP list can attend team meetings, use team facilities for rehab, but are not allowed to practice. The time frame used to be the first six weeks. For the 2022 season, they are required to be placed on the list on August 23rd and they can return to practice after only four weeks. After four weeks, a six-week window opens up during which the player can practice and be activated. If they’re not activated in that six-week period, they must be placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season.
- Injured reserve: If a player is placed on injured reserve and is not on the 53-man roster on September 1, they are not allowed to be designated to return from injured reserve during the upcoming season. If they are placed on injured reserve after September 1st, they can return after missing a minimum of four games.
- Non-football injury (NFI) list: Players placed on the non-football injury list have to go through the same process as players on the Reserve/PUP list. They can go to team meetings and use facilities for rehab, but they’re not allowed to participate in practice for six weeks. After that period, another six-week window opens where they can return to practice and the team can choose to activate the player. If the player isn’t activated at the end of the second six-week period, they’ll remain on injured reserve for the rest of the season. The big difference with the NFI list is that they cannot be added to the active roster until the team has played in 8 games. Along with that, teams can withhold a portion of a player’s salary if they’re placed on the NFI list.
85-man roster moves
The Vikings made three types of roster moves to get down to 85 players.
Waived:
- FB Jake Bargas
- OLB Andre Mintze
Waived/Injured
- Tyarise Stevenson
- Thomas Hennigan
Contract terminated/Vested veteran
- Tye Smith
80-man roster moves
The Vikings made their moves over the course of two days, including a trade.
Traded for
Released
Waived/Injured
Waived
Reserve/Physically unable to perform
Released
Re-signed
- CB Tye Smith
