Category: Practice Squad

Raiders sign TE Jacob Hollister off Vikings’ practice squad

The Vikings lost a player on their practice squad

The Minnesota Vikings will be looking to fill a spot on their practice squad after the Las Vegas Raiders signed tight end Jacob Hollister off of the Vikings practice squad.

The Vikings signed Hollister to their practice squad shortly after they placed tight end Ben Ellefson on injured reserve. With Ellefson having been designated to return, the need for Hollister is lessened, as they have Nick Muse also on the practice squad.

With the Vikings, Hollister appeared in two games and did not record a stat. He goes to a Raiders team that just placed both tight end Darren Waller and wide receiver Hunter Renfrow on injured reserve on Thursday afternoon. He spent training camp with the Raiders so he should be caught up to speed quickly.

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Jaguars sign former Cardinals S Deionte Thompson to practice squad

The Jaguars filled the empty spot on their practice squad with a veteran safety.

A day after the Tennessee Titans scooped up rookie safety Josh Thompson from the Jacksonville Jaguars’ practice squad, the Jaguars replaced him on the roster with former Arizona Cardinals safety Deionte Thompson.

Deionte Thompson, 25, was the Cardinals’ fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and started six games in his first two seasons while contributing most on special teams. After making Arizona’s 53-man roster again this season, Thompson was waived by the team near the end of September.

In three games this season, Thompson played only six defensive snaps and 49 on special teams.

Thompson has recorded 54 career tackles with two quarterback hits and three passes defended. Following the addition of Thompson, the Jaguars practice squad is as follows:

  • WR Kevin Austin Jr.
  • OLB Rashod Berry
  • OT Coy Cronk
  • CB Gregory Junior
  • DL Jeremiah Ledbetter
  • K James McCourt
  • WR Jaylon Moore
  • OL Jimmy Murray
  • S Ayo Oyelola
  • QB E.J. Perry
  • TE Gerrit Prince
  • RB Mekhi Sargent
  • LB Ty Summers
  • DT Nick Thurman
  • S Deionte Thompson
  • OL Darryl Williams
  • WR Seth Williams

TE Ben Ellefson to IR among four roster moves for Vikings

The Vikings made four roster moves ahead of Sunday’s game

With the Minnesota Vikings taking on the Chicago Bears on Sunday, there were a few likely roster moves that were going to occur.

On Saturday afternoon, the Vikings made four roster moves, including putting tight end Ben Ellefson on injured reserve.

Ellefson hasn’t had the best week. He injured his groin on Thursday and was quickly ruled out of Sunday’s game. The active roster was in need of one more safety with Lewis Cine having officially put on injured earlier this week. Dorn getting the roster spot is consistent with how the Vikings have done their practice squad call-ups, as he got the call when Cine missed week one against the Green Bay Packers.

With Ellefson missing the game, they needed one more tight end, and with Jacob Hollister having only been in the building for less than a week, the Vikings 2022 seventh-round pick Muse will make his NFL debut.

Also being elevated is Chisena which is a signal that wide receiver Jalen Nailor, who is questionable with a hamstring injury, will not suit up on Sunday.

The Vikings kick off against the Bears on Sunday afternoon at 12 pm central time.

Viking add LB Ryan Connelly to the practice squad

The Vikings added Connelly to the practice squad just a day after waiving him

The Minnesota Vikings have made quite a few roster moves so far this week including both activating linebacker Ryan Connelly from the Physically Unable to Perform list and waiving him from the roster.

After suffering a torn ACL last December, Connelly needed some extra time to recover which landed him on the PUP list to begin with.

Despite the Vikings waiving him earlier this week, they added him back to the practice squad on Thursday night.

The Eden Prairie native spent time with the New York Giants after they selected him in the fifth round before joining the Vikings in September of 2020. He has played in nine games for the Vikings in mainly a special teams role.

With the Vikings current linebacker situation, expect Connelly to stay on the practice squad unless an injury occurs to a linebacker or a core special teams player.

Vikings officially sign Khyiris Tonga among four roster moves

The Vikings make four roster moves, including making the signing of Khyiris Tonga official

After news broke that the Vikings were going to sign former Chicago Bears seventh-round pick nose tackle Khyiris Tonga off the Atlanta Falcons practice squad, the Vikings made it official on Wednesday morning.

Along with the signing of Tonga, they officially made three other roster moves as well, including waiving linebacker Ryan Connelly who the Vikings just activated from the Physically Unable to Perform list on Tuesday.

Ryan Connelly was activated yesterday by the Vikings and they officially moved on from the fourth-year linebacker from Wisconsin.

Blake Proehl having his practice window activated gives the Vikings 21 days to make a decision on if they want to keep him on the roster. With Travis Toivonen being released from the practice squad, that is the likely spot for Proehl. However, the Vikings only have five wide receivers on the active roster so they could keep Proehl.

The Vikings bring back Mike Brown whom they signed as an undrafted free agent from Miami OH. They moved on from Brown during roster reductions this August and decided to bring him back with the injury to Lewis Cine.

Vikings make 5 roster moves: Lewis Cine officially to IR

The Vikings did some roster shuffling

The Minnesota Vikings were busy on Tuesday afternoon. After word came through that rookie first-round pick safety Lewis Cine had successful surgery on the compound fracture in his left leg, they placed him on injured reserve, officially ending his season.

Along with Cine ending up on IR, they made four other roster moves, including signing NT Khyiris Tonga off of the Atlanta Falcons practice squad.

The activation of Ryan Connelly from the PUP list means that he enters a 21-day practice window before he has to be either put on season-ending injured reserve, the active roster or placed on waivers.

Jaylen Twyman had a tough route back from being shot in the abdomen prior to the start of the 2021 season after the Vikings selected him in the sixth round. He struggled during the preseason and it pushed him to the practice squad.

Travis Toivonen was a receiver that had bounced around the NFL after spending some time in the Fan Controlled Football League. He ended up being on the practice squad for just over a month.

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Vikings add TE Hollister to practice squad: release CB Nickerson

The Vikings make a change to the practice squad on Tuesday

The Minnesota Vikings have made a roster move by signing tight end Jacob Hollister to the practice squad.

The sixth-year tight end has played for three teams in his NFL career. In that time, he has played in 57 games with 12 starts. Known most for his time in Seattle when he ended up staring after a bunch of injuries, Hollister has seen success in the NFL. On 129 targets, Hollister has 83 receptions for 707 yards and seven touchdowns.

His style of play is a depth play as Hollister can play both a receiving and blocking role.

By adding him to the practice squad, the Viking had to make a corresponding move in releasing cornerback Parry Nickerson. The fifth-year cornerback has played in 25 games in the NFL with four of them as a Vikings in 2021. He has 25 tackles, one pass defended and one tackle for loss in his career.

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Vikings sign former Rams OLB Chris Garrett to practice squad

The Vikings fill the spot on the practice squad vacated by Janarius Robinson

After losing Janarius Robinson off of their practice squad to the Philadelphia Eagles active roster, the Minnesota Vikings replaced him quickly by signing former Los Angeles Rams OLB Chris Garrett. They had hosted Reggie Roberson and Khalil Davis on a visit and tryout, respectively, on Tuesday in hopes of adding them to the practice squad.

A seventh-round pick of the Rams in 2021, Garrett was a star pass rusher for local Concordia-St. Paul and became their second-ever NFL draft pick.

The draw in signing Garrett is what we have seen with a lot of the players general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has been bringing in. He has a great 10-yard split. That and his 20-yard split both were in the 94th percentile but the rest of his athletic testing was average or slightly below.

Over 28 games for Concordia-St. Paul, Garrett accumulated 36.5 sacks including a career-high 16.5 in 2018. His 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.

With the addition of Garrett, the practice squad is now full at 16 players.

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Vikings elevate S Myles Dorn from practice squad for Sunday’s game

The move likely signals that the rookie first-round pick will miss Sunday’s game against the Packers

With Lewis Cine having been on the injury report the last two days, the Minnesota Vikings made the move to elevate safety Myles Dorn from the practice squad.

This doesn’t 100% confirm that Lewis Cine will be out on Sunday but it sends a strong signal that he will miss the season opener against the Green Bay Packers.

Cine has been dealing with a knee injury that he aggrevated this week. It is something that hopefully won’t impact him long term and this could likely be a precautionary measure.

Dorn had a fantastic final preseason game against the Broncos and seemingly earned himself a roster spot but they gave it to Metellus over him due to his special teams acumen. Barring something drastic, Dorn will be active against the Packers on Sunday.

7 Minnesota Vikings get their jersey numbers

Multiple player numbers were announced on Thursday

Seven Minnesota Vikings, whether new or tenured, got their new jersey numbers on Thursday.

  • The most anticipated jersey number change was rookie punter Ryan Wright who went from 66 to 14, which was previously worn by Sean Mannion.
  • New Vikings wide receiver Jalen Reagor will be wearing number 5.
  • New Vikings defensive tackle Ross Blacklock will wear number 96.
  • Defensive tackle Jonathan Bullard goes from 79 to 93 previously worn by Jaylen Twyman.
  • Defensive tackle Twyman, now on the practice squad, goes from 93 to 51.
  • New practice squad wide receiver Travis Toivonen will wear number 87.
  • New practice squad cornerback Tay Gowan will wear number 31.

With new quarterback David Blough just added to the practice squad, there will be at least one more number announced in the coming days.