Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The Vikings are getting healthier heading into the stretch run
The Minnesota Vikings are set to take on the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon with Josh Dobbs getting his first start for the franchise.
Throughout the week, the injury report saw multiple names on it with significant starters in limbo for Sunday’s game.
The final injury report is out and the Vikings injury report is extensive.
The Vikings roster saw some changes on Saturday
Heading into Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, the Minnesota Vikings have made multiple roster moves and changed distinctions that could make a real impact.
Saturday afternoons are a day where these are common, as you have to elevate players from the practice squad by 3 p.m. C[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]entral time in order for them to play on Sunday.
Here are the seven roster moves and distinctions made by the Vikings on Saturday.
The final injury report for the Minnesota Vikings matchup with the Atlanta Falcons has been released with multiple players out
The Minnesota Vikings are set to take on the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday afternoon with quarterback Jaren Hall getting his first start in the NFL.
The injury report for both teams is out and is much cleaner for the Vikings than it is their counterparts.
Wednesday’s roster moves further explain the decision to trade Ezra Cleveland
The Minnesota Vikings made three roster moves on Wednesday morning.
The move to trade Ezra Cleveland makes more sense now, as Reed was a solid contributor for the Colts and Vikings over the last few years. He hasn’t practiced at all with the Vikings this year.
Williams spent training camp with the Vikings before they added him to the practice squad. The Bears shortly after signed Williams to the active roster. He was released after the Bears loss to the Chargers on Sunday night.
Coldon spent time in training camp with the Vikings and immediately signed to the practice squad.
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O’Connell had plenty to say about the Vikings moves at the trade deadline
The Minnesota Vikings had a very active trade deadline by acquiring quarterback Josh Dobbs from the Arizona Cardinals and trading left guard Ezra Cleveland to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
What they didn’t do was trade Danielle Hunter or acquire a big name at the trade deadline.
As things currently sit, the Vikings are 4-4 with a beeline for a wild card spot and a plausible chance to win the NFC North. That will come down to either fifth-round pick Jaren Hall or Dobbs leading the way.
After the trade deadline, head coach Kevin O’Connell spoke to the media about the direction of the team and where things stand with multiple players.
We seem to have clarity on the status of Reed moving forward
Offensive lineman Chris Reed hasn’t practiced since the beginning of training camp due to injury. He was placed on the non-football injury list to start training camp. According to The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, Reed is expected to stay on the non-football injury list and miss the first four games of the season.
This appeared to be the pathway for Reed because he hadn’t practiced all of training camp and that direction was made even more clear when it was reported that he restructured his contract recently.
Reed was scheduled to have a base of $1.4 million with $600k guaranteed. The restructure dropped his base salary down to $1.165 million but that is now fully guaranteed.
With the Vikings keeping Reed on the NFI list, the offensive line will have another open spot on the 53-man roster.
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Kwesi Adofo-Mensah created $250k of cap space with the restructure
The Minnesota Vikings have once again restructured the contract of offensive guard Chris Reed. The news was reported by The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling.
Reed had previously restructured his contract back in March. That restructure dropped his base salary from around $1 million to just over $1.4 million. It also guaranteed Reed $600k where his previous contract had nothing guaranteed.
His new contract has his full salary guaranteed at $1.165 million with a cap hit of $1.5 million. His cap hit dropped $250k which it previously sat at $1.75 million.
This move likely signals that the Vikings were considering moving on from Reed since he was injured all of training camp. They make a mutually beneficial move where Reed gets more money guaranteed and the Vikings save cap space.
One thing that needs to be considered is whether or not Reed will be placed on the season-ending NFI list. This could be a way for the Vikings to maneuver with the salary cap.
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Heading into the first Minnesota Vikings training camp practice, they placed Chris Reed on the non-football injury list.
Heading into training camp, the Minnesota Vikings are shaping up the roster. After waiving wide receiver Malik Knowles, the Vikings placed guard/center Chris Reed on the non-football injury list.
Currently, the reason why is unknown. In order to be placed on the non-football injury list, the injury has to occur outside of the game of football and facility.
Reed restructured his contract this offseason, taking a pay cut in exchange for guaranteed money. He spent the season last year learning the center position and ended up starting week 18 against the Chicago Bears.
Reed can come off of the list at any time before the 53-man rosters are finalized without missing any games.
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The Minnesota Vikings have some continuity on the interior offensive line. We discuss what that looks like on The Real Forno Show.
As we continue to work through the Minnesota Vikings roster for the 2023 season, the interior offensive line offers a lot of intrigue.
Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram are back together for the second-consecutive season and that kind of continuity is extremely valuable on the offensive line.
Last season, Cleveland and Ingram started all 18 games with Bradbury missing five due to a back injury that was aggravated by a fender bender.
After the starters, the group of reserves has some intrigue. Austin Schlottmann is coming off of a broken ankle and Chris Reed struggled with the transition to center. Josh Sokol is entering his second season and UDFA Alan Ali offers a versatile interior player with really good size.
What should we expect from the interior offensive line group? Can they improve from last season? How will Ingram grow from his oftentimes brutal 2022?
All of that and more on the latest episode of The Real Forno Show, airing Monday and Wednesday nights at 6 pm central on the Vikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel.
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Can the Minnesota Vikings see improvement from Ezra Cleveland, Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram 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.
We are currently writing player profiles on each Minnesota 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 interior offensive line.
