Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
After the injury to Dean Lowry on Sunday night, the Minnesota Vikings made four roster moves on Tuesday to fortify the roster
Due to the injury to defensive end Dean Lowry on Sunday night against the Denver Broncos, the Minnesota Vikings made some roster moves on Tuesday afternoon to fortify the roster.
On Monday afternoon, they lost outside linebacker Benton Whitley to the New York Giants, who signed him to their active roster.
Let’s take a look at the four roster moves made by the Vikings on Tuesday.
The New York Giants are reportedly signing LB Benton Whitley off of the Minnesota Vikings practice squad.
The New York Giants are adding linebacker Benton Whitley to their 53-man, reports Art Stapleton of USA TODAY.
#NYGiants are signing OLB Benton Whitley off Vikings practice squad, per source.
Whitley was an UDFA from Holy Cross and spent time with Rams and Chiefs as a rookie last year before landing with Vikings.
Giants lost OLB Justin Hollins to Chargers from PS last week. Whitley on…
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) November 21, 2023
The 24-year-old Whitley signed with the Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Holy Cross in 2022. He also spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Minnesota Vikings.
Whitley (6-foot-4, 250 pounds) has played in just one NFL game, coming this year for the Vikings.
The Giants lost Justin Hollins to the Los Angeles Chargers and are seeking to replenish their linebacker corps. It remains to be seen where Whitley fits in other than depth or special teams at this point.
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With the elevation of Benton Whitley, could this be bad news for Marcus Davenport?
Going into Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Minnesota Vikings made multiple moves. The team announced that they signed running back Myles Gaskin to the practice squad and released wide receiver Lucky Jackson.
They also elevated both Gaskin and outside linebacker Benton Whitley going into Sunday’s game. Both will be eligible to play on Sunday.
Gaskin was released from the roster on Friday afternoon in a procedural move. That would ensure the Vikings didn’t have to guarantee his entire salary for the 2023 season and could go week by week.
Jackson had a good preseason and training camp after spending the spring with the D.C. Defenders. With Gaskin likely going back to the 53-man roster, Jackson may end up back on the practice squad.
Whitley was elevated along with Gaskin. That likely says something about Marcus Davenport’s availability, as he was added to the injury report on Friday with an ankle injury. His status will be made official on Sunday morning.
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Our countdown to the start of the 2023 regular season continues, as we look at every player to wear No. 51 for the Minnesota Vikings.
It’s the final countdown…
Well, sort of.
The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 51 days at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.
From now until then, we will take a trip down memory lane and count each day by revisiting the players that have worn that specific jersey number.
Benton Whitley currently wears the number for the Vikings, but it’s changed hands a few times in team history. Jim Hough was among those to wear it for an extended period, wearing it for nine seasons.
With 51 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 51 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):
The Minnesota Vikings traded Za’Darius Smith and signed Marcus Davenport to replace him. Will the production be the same in 2023?
The 2023 season is inching closer and closer by the day and we here at Vikings Wire are previewing the season from every angle. Today, we continue profiling the Minnesota Vikings roster on the defensive side of the football.
We are currently writing player profiles on each Viking on the roster with projections for what their 2023 season could look like. How things look projecting forward is where the real intrigue lies.
Leading up to training camp, we will be looking at each position from a more in-depth perspective. Today, we will be looking at the edge rushers.
After fighting his way on the practice squad last season, Benton Whitley hopes to earn a 53-man roster spot.
Welcome to the beginning of our 2023 season preview content!
Over the next few weeks, we will be looking at each player on the roster in-depth with backgrounds and how they currently project forward on the Minnesota Vikings roster.
What is the best-case scenario? What is the worst-case scenario? What should we expect from them during the preseason and beyond? We will break all of that down here.
As a staff, all of us at Vikings Wire ranked the entire 90-man roster 1-90 and will be releasing player profiles in reverse order.
Futures contracts keep the player in the building to compete for a spot on the roster next year
When the season is over, teams take some time to sign their practice squad players to what is called a futures contract. That is essentially keeping them under contract for the offseason so they can help them develop and go through the offseason program and training camp.
Most players from a team’s practice squad will end up signing one of these at the end of the season, but some choose to wait it out and see what other opportunities exist elsewhere.
On Monday, the Minnesota Vikings inked six players to futures contracts with five of them coming from the practice squad and the other coming from injured reserve.
The #Vikings have poached a player from the #Chiefs’ practice squad.
Every time that rookie Benton Whitley has been on a team’s practice squad this season, he’s ended up signed to another team’s 53-man roster.
After Willie Gay Jr. was suspended, the Chiefs poached the former Holy Cross defensive end from the Los Angeles Rams’ practice squad. He was on the 53-man roster in Kansas City for a few weeks, but he never actually appeared in a game.
The team waived him a week ago today in order to make room for DT Taylor Stallworth on the 53-man roster and promptly re-signed him to the practice squad once he cleared waivers. That, of course, meant he’d eventually be poached by another team.
The Minnesota Vikings announced on Wednesday, that they’d signed him to the 53-man roster
The #Vikings have signed OLB Benton Whitley (@Bxnwhitley) to the 53-man roster. pic.twitter.com/6qPAPDiVlY
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 19, 2022
Vikings LB DJ Wonnum has been dealing with an undisclosed illness and missed the team’s game against the Dolphins last week. It seems that Whitley will be a depth piece at the edge rusher position for Minnesota. His role will be a bit different there as they run a 3-4 defensive scheme.
Signing him from the Chiefs’ practice squad means that he must remain on the 53-man roster for three weeks. The earliest they could release him is after the conclusion of Week 9.
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The Vikings filled their final roster spot with a former Los Angeles Ram
The Minnesota Vikings made three roster moves on Tuesday, including releasing wide receiver Blake Proehl who was entering the third week of his practice window coming off the Physically Unable to Perform list. What was intriguing was that the Vikings didn’t immediately fill Proehl’s roster spot.
On Wednesday afternoon, they did just that by signing outside linebacker Benton Whitley to the active roster.
The #Vikings have signed OLB Benton Whitley (@Bxnwhitley) to the 53-man roster. pic.twitter.com/6qPAPDiVlY
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 19, 2022
Whitley was an undrafted free agent out of Holy Cross this past April and signed with the Los Angeles Rams. He was waived in final cuts and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs to be on their practice squad.
By adding him to the active roster, the Vikings are now up to six edge rushers and seven defensive lineman.
In his career at Holy Cross, Whitley played in 42 games accruing 111 tackles, 26.5 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks, two passes defended and one forced fumble.
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The #Chiefs had an open spot on the 53-man roster and poached a defensive end from the #Rams practice squad.
Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid announced one roster move on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Reid, the Chiefs have poached former Holy Cross defensive end, Benton Whitley, from the Los Angeles Rams practice squad. Kansas City had an open roster space on the 53-man roster after the Willie Gay Jr. suspension became official.
“We have Benton Whitley that joined our teams from the Rams,” Reid said at the start of his press conference. “Previously from Holy Cross, (a) defensive end.”
Whitley (6-4, 260 pounds) is an undrafted rookie out of Holy Cross. He played in all three preseason games recording four total tackles and six pressures per Pro Football Focus. In five seasons at Holy Cross, Whitley recorded 111 total tackles and 15.5 sacks while appearing in 42 games.
This signing may give some indication that Mike Danna will be out for some time with his calf injury. Danna suffered a calf injury late in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Chargers and isn’t practicing on Wednesday.
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