Tag: T.J. Smith

6 biggest winners from Panthers’ preseason loss to Jets

A couple of young safeties stepped up for the Panthers defense on Saturday night.

The Carolina Panthers couldn’t jump off the schneid on Saturday night—falling to the visiting New York Jets, 15-12, in their second preseason outing of the summer. But that doesn’t mean every Panther left the field with a big ol’ L.

Here are the six biggest winners from the exhibition:

RB Dillon Johnson

(Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports)

Johnson was the Panthers offense, as his game-high 83 rushing yards accounted for over half of the team’s output. Plus, his 2-yard touchdown as time expired was Carolina’s first visit to the end zone in their last four games.

Unfortunately for Johnson, his chances of making the initial 53-man roster are still essentially non-existent given how crowded the backfield is. But the undrafted rookie put together some eye-opening tape for a potential opportunity elsewhere.

WR Terrace Marshall Jr.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

The fourth-year wideout followed up a productive (and pugnacious) practice against the Jets with a fine sample-sized outing. Marshall Jr. reeled in grabs of five and nine yards during the offense’s second possession, moving the chains on the latter.

Oh, and he didn’t show up the defense on his receptions either. So it may be safe to say that he played smart football this time around while vying for a regular-season spot in the team’s receivers room.

TE Ja’Tavion Sanders

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Sanders led Carolina with 22 receiving yards on two catches. (Yes, the leading receiver accumulated just 22 yards.)

Anyway, the rookie looked solid on his pair of snags—utilizing his strong hands and, on his first, impressively absorbing a bit of contact from Jets cornerback Brandin Echols. This latest offering from Sanders is further proof that his development to this point is very encouraging.

DL T.J. Smith

Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Smith was one of two Panthers to record a sack in last week’s preseason opener. And on Saturday, he was one of one.

S Jammie Robinson

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Robinson was all over the turf on Saturday night, racking up a game-high seven tackles. With the Panthers searching for depth in their secondary, especially after the recent injuries to cornerback Dane Jackson and safety Xavier Woods, last year’s fifth-rounder is making a case for himself.

S Demani Richardson

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

The undrafted rookie continued his defense’s stingy vibe from the past week, recording the only takeaway of the contest. Richardson picked off an overthrow from Jets quarterback and 2024 UFL MVP Adrian Martinez and ran the interception back for a 29-yard return.

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Vikings make 6 roster moves, distinctions

Ahead of Sunday’s game, the Vikings made six roster moves and distinctions to sure up their roster.

Sunday afternoon will be a major matchup for the Minnesota Vikings’ playoff push as they take on the New Orleans Saints.

Both teams currently sit at 5-4 with a wild card berth a possibility as well as a division title. These two teams could be looking at a possible tiebreaker scenario for their playoff lives.

Heading into Sunday’s game, the Vikings made multiple roster moves and cleared up some distinctions. Let’s take a look at all six and what they mean for the team.

Vikings make 7 roster moves, distinctions

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.

Vikings state of the roster: Defensive line

After losing Dalvin Tomlinson, can the Minnesota Vikings defensive line take a step forward with Harrison Phillips and Dean Lowry?

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, begins 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 defensive line.

Vikings 90-man roster player profile: DT T.J. Smith

After spending two years on the practice squad, can T.J. Smith make the leap to the main roster?

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.

Vikings elevate two from practice squad ahead of Week 17 game vs. Packers

The Vikings fortified the trenches with this move

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The Minnesota Vikings are not only dealing with injury issues, but they are also trying to give their players a modicum of rest. They are doing so by rotating players in and out for a series at a time.

In order to help with that, along with some needed depth, the Viking are elevating center Kyle Hinton and defensive lineman T.J. Smith.

Hinton was elevated last week ahead of the Christmas Eve matchup against the New York Giants but they ended up deactivating him. He was there to provide depth due to the back injury to Garrett Bradbury.

Smith has yet to be activated this season. He played in one game with the Vikings in 2021.

Vikings make a couple roster moves

The Vikings made some moves.

With Minnesota’s safety depth in question, the Vikings made a sensible practice squad elevation.

The team elevated S Myles Dorn via COVID-19 replacement. The Vikings also elevated DT T.J. Smith. Minnesota ruled safeties Camryn Bynum and Josh Metellus questionable for the Week 12 game, which it announced on Friday.

The Vikings are shoring up depth at a key position by signing DT T.J. Smith. Minnesota had to place DT Dalvin Tomlinson on the COVID-19/Reserve list earlier this week. He has yet to be activated off the list.

The Vikings need Armon Watts to have a big day in the absence of both Tomlinson and Michael Pierce. Sheldon Richardson could also use a breakout performance in San Francisco.

Both the Vikings and 49ers are 5-5. Minnesota is an underdog heading into the matchup. But the Vikings have pulled off upsets before. Just look at the last two weeks.

12 Kansas State players to know ahead of matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners

Get ready for Oklahoma’s matchup with Kansas State by getting to know these 12 Wildcats ahead of Saturday’s game.

When the Oklahoma Sooners kickoff Saturday’s game with the Kansas State Wildcats, they’ll be looking to avenge losses from each of the last two seasons. In 2019, it was their only blemish heading into the College Football Playoff. In 2020, the loss attempted to derail their Big 12 title defense.

The Sooners recovered and won the Big 12, but their back-to-back losses to Kansas State continue to hang over their head. Is this the year Lincoln Riley overcomes Chris Klieman in an intriguing Big 12 matchup?

Kansas State is once again a solid team. There are still some questions as to who will play quarterback. After sources indicated Skylar Thompson might play earlier in the week, Chris Klieman stated it was unlikely he would play. Tim Fitzgerald of GoPowercats on 247Sports still leaves some possibility that Thompson could play, but also leaves quite a bit of doubt in his update yesterday.

If Thompson is unable to play Kansas State will likely go with Will Howard as well as Jaren Lewis.

The biggest threat is running back Deuce Vaughn who our own Bryant Crews discussed in this profile ahead of Saturday’s matchup. If the Sooners can slow him down, then they’ll have a great chance at slowing down the Kansas State offense.

Let’s dig deeper than Deuce and get you ready for this pivotal Big 12 matchup by taking a look at six Kansas State players on offense and six on defense you should know.