With Ezra Cleveland stepping into the right guard role and playing well there, the Vikings ended up waiving guard Pat Elflein, the starter before getting hurt.
Elflein might not have been the starter upon returning, but now, that position group could have used the depth that Elflein would have provided had he not been released.
That’s because Dru Samia will be out for the Bears game with an illness, the team announced on Sunday.
Samia was probably not going to be a starter again this season after he struggled in the right guard role earlier. However, losing him makes that position group pretty thin.
Interior lineman Brett Jones was elevated to the Vikings’ 53-man roster, per Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press. That marks the third time the team has done that, so Jones is now signed to the 53-man team.
Earlier this week, the team announced that tight end Irv Smith Jr. would be out for the Bears game as well, due to injury.