Chris Reed was a backup in 2022 and started at center in week 18. Can he earn the backup job behind Garrett Bradbury?
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.
After breaking his ankle in week 17 against the Green Bay Packers, center Austin Schlottmann is re-signing with the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings are continuing to add to the depth of their roster. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Vikings have re-signed backup center Austin Schlottmann. Details of the contract were not disclosed, but it’s likely a one-year deal at the league minimum or close to it, just like last year.
Schlottmann ended up starting in four games after center Garrett Bradbury ended up going down with a back injury. He played admirably, but didn’t show anything more than a backup center.
His PFF grades reflected that. Schlottmann had an overall grade of 48.7 with blocking grades of 46.1 (pass) and 55.3 (run). In his fourth start, Schlottmann broke his ankle in week 17 against the Green Bay Packers and was placed on injured reserve.
With the Vikings guaranteeing money with Chris Reed earlier this week, don’t be surprised if this deal doesn’t have any full guarantees and Schlottmann will have to fight for a roster spot.
The Minnesota Vikings have been busy at work getting under the salary cap and the detals from Chris Reed’s pay cut have been revealed
The Minnesota Vikings have been working dilligently on getting under the salary cap and the details from Chris Reed’s reported paycut are in.
Per our friends at Over The Cap, Reed accepted a paycut of $1 million in exchange for the Vikings guaranteeing $600k of his base salary.
Reed will have a base salary of $1.4 million. He has a pro-rated bonus of $250k from his signing bonus and $100k in workout bonuses for a total cap hit of $1.75 million.
With the unknowns of the structure of both Jordan Hicks and Marcus Davenport, the Vikings are currently $9,939,549 over the salary cap. They need to get under that threshold before 3:00 pm on Wednesday, March 15th.
The Vikings continue to work on their salary cap issues with the contract of Chris Reed
Despite it being Saturday, the Minnesota Vikings haven’t stopped trying to get under the salary cap. According to ESPN’s Field Yates, the Vikings have renegotiated the contract of guard Chris Reed, saving around $1 million on the cap.
Reed was set to enter the 2023 season with a cap hit of $2.75 million and a base salary of $2.45 million. Saving around $1 million signals that his base salary will have dropped to around $1.5 million. That number will soon be confirmed.
That will drop the Vikings to only $6.5 million over the cap with decisions to make on players such as Za’Darius Smith, Dalvin Cook and Harrison Smith among others.
The Vikings will have some hard decisions to make with the salary cap
With the Minnesota Vikings season over, it’s time to face realities about where this team is going.
The Vikings decided to go somewhat all-in on making the 2022 team competitive for a playoff spot and they won the NFC North division title. Unfortunately, they now sit in a less-than-ideal spot with the salary cap. They are projected to be $24,431,507 over the salary cap for next season.
In order to get under the salary cap and make some moves in free agency, the Vikings will have to get creative. Here are 10 players they can cut to make their salary cap situation better.
The second team got some extended play on Sunday. Here are five of them who stood out.
Prior to Sunday’s game versus the Chicago Bears, there was an expectation that the Minnesota Vikings would pull their starters during the game and the Vikings did just that after halftime. Kirk Cousins hit wide receiver K.J. Osborn for a 66-yard connection on the teams’ opening drive and then followed that up with a touchdown to wide receiver Adam Thielen.
After going up 16-6 at the end of the first half, head coach Kevin O’Connell pulled his starters as the second half commenced. The decision allowed O’Connell to ensure his starters would stay healthy with the playoffs right around the corner, but it also allowed for the Vikings coaching staff to get a look at the backups.
Here’s a look at some of the backups who played today and how they fared.
After a rough outing on Sunday, Reed gets another chance
When the Minnesota Vikings take the field on Sunday versus the Chicago Bears, they’ll be starting their third center this season under Kirk Cousins. Head Coach Kevin O’Connell announced on Friday that third-string center Chris Reed will get the start this Sunday versus the Bears while the Vikings wait for Garrett Bradbury to return from a back injury.
Kevin O'Connell says the Vikings will activate DL Jonathan Bullard tomorrow, in addition to Irv Smith. Chris Reed will start at center. Sounds like the starters will open the game but probably not finish it.
Reed struggled this past week filling in for backup center Austin Schlottmann against Green Bay. Sunday will be a good opportunity for Reed to get additional live reps and it will help the Vikings coaching staff identify if they can trust Reed heading into the playoffs or if they need to pivot to newly signed center Greg Mancz until Bradbury is ready to go.
In addition to the announcement of Reed starting on Sunday, it sounds as if O’Connell is prepared to have all of the normal starters start but then rotate out.
Sounds like the Vikings are sticking with their plans to open Sunday’s game with their regular starters, but Kevin O’Connell indicated there is a plan to potentially rotate them out to protect health and get reps for others.
We saw O’Connell play it safe with his starters throughout the preseason. So it comes as no surprise that he plans on making the smart decision Sunday to pull the starters at some point in the game. There is no need to risk any injury to your starters with the playoffs already secured.
After the injury suffered to center Austin Schlottmann, the Vikings signed veteran Greg Mancz to fortify their depth at the position. What raised some eyebrows is what happened during media availability of Friday’s practice. Mancz was snapping to Cousins and Chris Reed snapping to backup quarterback Nick Mullens.
During the part of early warmups I saw, QB Kirk Cousins was taking snaps from new center Greg Mancz. Backup Nick Mullens was working with C Chris Reed. I don't know what that could mean, if anything, but we'll have access to coach Kevin O'Connell later this afternoon.
Here are five players to watch for in this week 18 matchup
The Minnesota Vikings are headed to Soldier Field this Sunday to take on the Chicago Bears in the regular season finale. The Vikings have already secured a playoff berth by clinching the NFC North, but with a win over the Bears on Sunday combined with a loss by the San Francisco 49ers, the Vikings could move into the second seed in the NFC.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell has yet to say whether or not he’ll treat this game any differently with the playoffs already secured, but the expectation is that starters will play in some capacity. Let’s take a look at some players to watch in this weekend’s matchup.
