Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The No. 37 has been worn often for the Vikings, with 15 players wearing it since 1966.
It’s the final countdown…
Well, sort of.
The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their 2023 regular season in 37 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.
With 37 days until kickoff, here’s a look at every player to wear No. 37 with the Vikings (via Pro Football Reference):
The Minnesota Vikings are reportedly poaching a safety off of the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad.
Minnesota is thin at safety, but the team went about fixing that this week, according to a report.
The Vikings are reportedly signing safety Curtis Riley off of the Cardinals practice squad, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.
The move comes after safety George Iloka went down with a torn ACL. Iloka slotted in at safety vs. the Texans when Harrison Smith was ejected.
For the most part, it seems unlikely that Riley will earn serious playing time for the Vikings, unless the team ends up trading either Harrison Smith or Anthony Harris. But if not, those two will play the majority of snaps, so Riley will only probably be used in emergencies or on the rare occasion Smith or Harris need a break.
Despite being on Arizona’s practice squad, Riley has been playing for the team.
The Cardinals originally poached him from the Steelers practice squad after Arizona safety Jalen Thompson went down with an injury. The team later released him and signed him to the practice squad. After that, the Cardinals elevated him to the active roster for Week 5.
This year for the Cardinals, he has started one game and played in three.
Riley and Baylis give the Cardinals options as Chris Banjo and Darrell Daniels are questionable for Sunday.
The Arizona Cardinals have depth concerns at safety and at tight end in Week 5, as both safety Chris Banjo and right end Darrell Daniels are questionable for the game against the New York Jets.
Just in case they are unable to go, the team announced it elevated safety Curtis Riley and tight end Evan Baylis from the practice squad.
Riley actually started last week for Arizona when both Banjo and Budda Baker were out with injuries.
With his elevation, the Cardinals will have five safeties on the roster — Baker, Banjo, Deionte Thompson, Charles Washington and Riley.
With Baylis’ promotion, the Cardinals now have four tight ends on the roster — Dan Arnold, Darrell Daniels, Jordan Thomas and Baylis.
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The Cardinals now have four safeties on the active roster, three on the practice squad and one on injured reserve.
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Safety Curtis Riley is back. After being released on Tuesday, the Arizona Cardinals announced two practice squad moves. Riley was re-signed to the practice squad, where he was originally signed.
Riley started for the Cardinals in Week 4, had six tackles but struggled.
The Cardinals also reinstated safety Kentrell Brice from the practice squad injured reserve to the practice squad. He suffered an ankle injury at the beginning of the year.
This gives the Cardinals a number of safeties. They now have four on the active roster and three on the practice squad (Riley, Brice and T.J. Ward, whom they added last week), as well as Jalen Thompson on injured reserve.
Budda Baker is expected to be back in the lineup after missing one game.
The Cardinals had vacancies on the practice squad after Jonathan Ward was signed to the active roster. Defensive lineman Jonathan Bullard is no longer listed on the practice squad roster. It is likely he signed with another team.
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The move signals a possible return of one of the teams’ three safeties.
The Arizona Cardinals announced a roster move on Tuesday, signaling the potential return of at least one of their injured safeties. The team announced the release of safety Curtis Riley, who struggled mightily in the Cardinals’ 31-21 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Riley finished with six tackles but missed several others and was in the middle of multiple miscommunications.
To replace him on the roster, the Cardinals elevated running back Jonathan Ward from the practice squad. He had been elevated the last two weeks to play on special teams.
Riley’s release potentially means the return to action of one of the Cardinals’ three injured safeties. Budda Baker had thumb surgery last week, Jalen Thompson is on injured reserve with an ankle injury but is eligible to return this week if he is healthy and Chris Banjo missed Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury.
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury said on Monday he was hopeful at least two of the injured safeties could play this weekend against the New York Jets.
They also have veteran T.J. Ward on the practice squad they could elevate as well.
The Cardinals return to practice on Wednesday.
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The Arizona Cardinals may be in panic-mode following an embarrassing loss to the Carolina Panthers. The team has fallen to 2-2 on the year.
Arizona Cardinals fans were on cloud nine following the team’s impressive 2-0 start. They had gone into Levi’s Stadium and taken down the defending NFC champion 49ers (before their entire defense went on injured reserve). Following that victory, they killed Washington in their home opener.
Two weeks later, the Cardinals are back at .500 after losing to two mediocre teams. Had the Cards played to their potential to this point, they would likely be 4-0.
Their loss to the Detroit Lions was supposed to be a wake-up call. It was a close game that came down to a few turnovers by Kyler Murray. Those were supposed to be cleaned up, and the team needed to learn from that loss.
Instead, they were embarrassed by the Carolina Panthers led by Matt Rhule, who was coaching his fourth NFL game.
What was most concerning about Sunday’s loss? Everything.
Arizona wasn’t effective in any phase. The offense, which features Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk, failed to get going against a bad Panthers secondary.
First off, what is going on with the offense? The first two games felt as if they were ready to explode into a top-five unit in the league. The talent is certainly there, and they showed flashes to start the year. Even against Detroit, the team could move the ball. The game just came down to a few mistakes by Murray.
Kliff Kingsbury’s game plan was interesting to say the least. There was no attacking the ball downfield, outside of missed first-quarter opportunities to Larry Fitzgerald and Andy Isabella. After being labeled an MVP candidate, Murray looks off. It is quite concerning, given that we know Murray has the potential and talent to be an elite NFL quarterback. Kingsbury, on the other hand, showed his ability to adjust and scheme his players open last season. Both of them are plenty capable, so what is happening here?
Secondly, the defense was picked apart by Teddy Bridgewater in the short passing game. Carolina, who featured two backup offensive linemen, completely shut out Arizona’s pass rush. The Cardinals had three pressures on the day and zero sacks. Outside of Devon Kennard’s absence, the defensive line was intact.
Where is Chandler Jones? Where is Jordan Phillips?
Vance Joseph seemingly gave the Panthers first downs at will, playing ten yards off-the-ball soft zone coverage. The concerning part here is Carolina’s offense thrives off the short and intermediate passing game. So why are they playing so far off the ball? There were no adjustments made all day.
I understand that having two starting safeties out makes it difficult to play press man-to-man, especially given the way Curtis Riley played yesterday. There’s no reason to be angry with the soft coverage game plan going into the game. But, if you’re still being picked apart at halftime, change something.
Isaiah Simmons, the 2019 Dick Butkus Award, hasn’t seen the field on a struggling defense. How is that plausible?
At this pace, the Arizona Cardinals are free-falling in the league’s best division. Even if they turn things around, these two losses will come back to bite them unless they can make up for it by beating two of the very good teams on the latter part of their schedule.
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T.J. Ward has not been on the team long enough to contribute.
The Arizona Cardinals will be without starting safeties Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson this weekend against the Carolina Panthers. Baker had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. Thompson is on injured reserve currently with an ankle in injury. He is not eligible to come off until next week.
Chris Banjo, who started in place of Thompson the last two games, is also injured. He is not expected to play on Sunday.
That means two new starters. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph told reporters on Friday it would be Deionte Thompson and Curtis Riley. Thompson is in his second season and Riley was signed last month.
“We feel good about that,” he said. “We have certain packages were we can put other guys at similar positions, but right now we feel very comfortable with those two guys who have been in camp with us and have run this system.”
Earlier in the week, Kliff Kingsbury said it was possible that rookie linebacker Isaiah Simmons could play some safety, as he played the position in college.
Joseph would not say but Simmons very well could be one of the “other guys” he referred to.
The team added veteran T.J. Ward to the practice squad. Joseph said he wouldn’t be ready to play.
So against Carolina, they will roll with Thompson and Riley and publicly are confident.
“I think we are in good shape at safety.”
We will find out if that is actually the case.
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The Cardinals add Curtis Riley to the active roster, signing him off the Steelers practice squad.
The Arizona Cardinals will be without one of their defensive starters for at least three weeks. Safety Jalen Thompson, who left the season opener after the second play of the game with an ankle injury, was placed on injured reserve.
Because of new rules about IR in the NFL this year, he is able to come back after a minimum of three weeks and there is no limit to the number of players a team can bring back from injured reserve.
Thompson had one tackle in the opener, getting hurt on the play.
With Thompson now out, fellow second-year safety Deionte Thompson likely will slide into the starting lineup.
The Cardinals also announced the addition of another safety to the roster. They signed safety Curtis Riley off the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad. It was a signing reported earlier in the week.
Riley is in his sixth NFL season.
He has been in the league since 2015 when he entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Fresno State. He has played for the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and the then Oakland Raiders.
He was a starter in 2018 for the Giants, starting all 16 games. He had 75 tackles and four interceptions. He plays a lot on special teams.
Riley gives them another option off the bench and also special teams depth if the Cardinals decide to use Chris Banjo in the starting lineup instead of Deionte Thompson.
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The Steelers are down to one safety on their practice squad after Curtis Riley signed with the Arizona Cardinals.
The Steelers are down a practice squad safety after, according to NFL Draft Diamonds, the Arizona Cardinals snapped up Curtis Riley this week.
Though the Cardinals have not yet announced his signing, Riley terminated his contract with Pittsburgh on Wednesday, per the NFL transaction wire. Riley has also changed his Instagram bio to “Arizona Cardinals safety” and shows photos of him exiting a plane in Phoenix.
Currently, the only remaining practice squad safety is 2020 NFL draft sixth-round selection Antoine Brooks.
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This could signal that Jalen Thompson will miss some time with his ankle injury.
The Arizona Cardinals appear to be preparing to have their depth at safety tested. Starting safety Jalen Thompson suffered an ankle injury after only two plays of the team’s 24-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers and did not return.
It is possible he will not be able to play for a bit and the team has reportedly added a safety to the roster.
According to NFL Draft Diamonds, they have signed safety Curtis Riley off the practice squad of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Riley also changed his Instagram account bio to show he is an Arizona Cardinals safety with No. 35.
Riley was one of the Steelers’ protected practice squad players for Week 1.
He has been in the league since 2015 when he entered the league as an undrafted rookie out of Fresno State. He has played for the Tennessee Titans, New York Giants and the thean Oakland Raiders.
He was a starter in 2018 for the Giants, starting all 16 games. He had 75 tackles and four interceptions. He plays a lot on special teams.
The Cardinals have not announced any signing, but if Thompson’s ankle injury is serious enough, he could be placed on injured reserve, which would mean he would be out at least three weeks.
