We're two weeks away from the boom.
And a week away from knowing who the first 53 are.
Typically there would have been loads of media reports from camp after every practice and those pesky preseason games to help get a handle on which players are shining.
This year, there's pretty close to bupkis.
But to start putting the Purple back in P.B.S, I'm going to take a blind dive into the roster to try and identify who's in & who's out anyway!
First up, the obvious players
💠 Dan Bailey 💠 Anthony Barr 💠 Garrett Bradbury 💠 Ezra Cleveland 💠 Britton Colquitt 💠 Dalvin Cook 💠 Kirk Cousins 💠 Cameron Dantzler 💠 Dakota Dozier 💠 Jeff Gladney 💠 CJ Ham 💠 Anthony Harris 💠 Holton Hill 💠 Mike Hughes 💠 Danielle Hunter 💠 Justin Jefferson 💠 Olabisi Johnson 💠 Eric Kendricks 💠 Alexander Mattison 💠 Brian O'Neill 💠 Ifeadi Odenigbo 💠 Harrison Smith 💠 Kyle Rudolph 💠 Irv Smith Jr. 💠 Adam Thielen 💠 Yannick Ngakoue 💠 Austin Cutting 💠
That's 27 guys that it's safe to say will still be under contract at this time next week. See what I did there, safe. 😏 Of that group, Rudolph was the one I'm least sure about as a lock. I think that if the team were going to move on from him though that they would have made that move sooner out of respect for his tenure in MN.
The next group of players isn't quite on that threshold but I would say they are on the right side of the keep or cut bubble - but again, I'm operating in the dark. Some of these guys may be just good enough to have not been replaced already but aren't good enough to have a real chance.
We just don't know.
But anyway, onto the next group
💠 Eddie Yarbrough 💠 DJ Wonnum 💠 Eric Wilson 💠 Armon Watts 💠 Oli Udoh 💠 Shamar Stephen 💠 Dru Samia 💠 Hercules Mata'afa 💠 Sean Mannion 💠 James Lynch 💠 Jaleel Johnson 💠 Alexander Hollins 💠 Rashod Hill 💠 Pat Elflein 💠 Tyler Conklin 💠 Aviante Collins 💠 Kris Boyd 💠 Chad Beebe 💠 Ameer Abdullah 💠
There is another 19 players that I think are likely to be on the roster
That's 46 of a total 53, in case you didn't feel like doing the math.
So the gladiators have seven spots to battle over. In this most unusual year, I expect that veterans will be the call in the event of a tie - especially for the first few weeks.
Quartney Davis, for example, could turn out to be another steal of the post-draft but with no public tape on him, MN will have a better than normal chance to stash him for a season. Obviously every team will have that advantage so I don't expect much activity on the wire next Saturday as cuts are announced, but I'm staying focused on the Purple side of the topic.
Tajae Sharp, KJ Osborn & Steven Parker are three players that I'm the most curious about from the guys who are left. Osborn has returner talent which could give him a leg up on others while Sharp could very well supplant Beebe if they choose to only keep five WRs. I went with Don's kid since Kubiak has been complimentary about him while there hasn't been much public mention about Sharp. As for Parker, Safety is so thin that the two-time castoff may be the third one for this team.
And I haven't even mentioned Mike Boone or a handful of other rookies who could be doing so well right now that the team still doesn't risk losing them to a different organization.
In classic Vikings fashion, it feels like they have too much talent to possibly condense down to only 53 guys. Which leads me to the last thing that I have confidence about - this year's practice squad will turn out to be the best one in the history of the franchise. Give it a few years and then circle back!
Agree or disagree?
Hit the comment box with your thoughts!
Comments