While the rookies and some recent free agents reported to camp on Sunday, the bulk of the team and most of the veterans didn’t have to report until Wednesday afternoon. The theory to this was to build on the OTA and rookie mini-camp experiences for the younger players, and those new to the Vikings organization this season, before the full team practice sessions began. The team is holding their final training camp at Minnesota State University in Mankato after 52 years, and next year’s training camp will be held in their new team facilities in Eagan, MN.
Here is the current team roster, as best I’ve been able to keep track:
| Position | Starter(s) | Backup(s) | On the bubble | Notes | IR/PUP/NFI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OL |
LT Riley Reiff 71 (FA) LG Alex Boone 75 C Nick Easton 62 RG Joe Berger 61 RT Mike Remmers 72 (FA) |
RT Jeremiah Sirles 78 RG T.J. Clemmings 68 C Pat Elflein 65 (R) LG Danny Isidora 63 (R) LT Rashod Hill 69 |
G Zac Kerin 67 G Willie Beavers 64 T Austin Shepherd 74 T Reid Fragel 79 T Aviante Collins 76 (UDFA) T Freddie Tagaloa 66 (UDFA) |
Reiff signed on first day of free agency. Remmers signed on second day of free agency. Elflein drafted in third round. Fett waived to make roster space for wide receiver Michael Floyd. Tagaloa signed, 16 May. Arturo Uzdavinis signed 24 July, waived 26 July. | |
| QB | Sam Bradford 8 |
Case Keenum 7 (FA) Teddy Bridgewater 5 (IR in 2016) Taylor Heinicke 6 |
Wes Lunt 3 (UDFA) | Bridgewater injured 30 August, 2016 in non-contact drill during practice. Placed on IR 31 August. Appeared at first OTA in May, but not medically cleared. Placed on PUP, 26 July. If he spends the first 6 weeks of the regular season on the PUP, his contract will toll for 2018 (but the union may contest that, if it happens). | |
| TE | Kyle Rudolph 82 |
David Morgan 89 Bucky Hodges 84 (R) |
Kyle Carter 86 Nick Truesdell 85 (UDFA) Josiah Price 87 (UDFA) |
Truesdell signed after veteran’s combine, 30 March. | |
| RB | Jerick McKinnon 21 |
Dalvin Cook 33 (R) Latavius Murray 25 (FA) |
Bishop Sankey 42 Terrell Newby 44 (UDFA) |
Cook drafted out of Florida State with the 41st pick overall (2nd round). Murray had ankle surgery before the draft, won’t be able to practice until training camp. | Murray placed on the PUP list to start training camp, 24 July. |
| FB | C.J. Ham 30 | Ham switched from RB to FB to start the first rookie minicamp. It’s not clear if the team plans to keep a fullback on the regular season roster this year. | |||
| WR |
Stefon Diggs 14 Adam Thielen 19 |
Jarius Wright 17 Michael Floyd 18 (FA) Laquon Treadwell 11 Isaac Fruechte 15 Rodney Adams 12 (R) |
Stacy Coley 13 (R) Moritz Böhringer 81 Cayleb Jones 16 R.J. Shelton 83 (UDFA) |
Matthews signed 30 March, released 30 May to open roster spot for safety Tommy Armstrong. Floyd signed 10 May on a 1-year, $1.5M contract (could increase to $6M with incentives). Floyd will serve a 4-game suspension to start the 2017 season and won’t count against the 53-player limit for that period. | |
| DL |
RDE Everson Griffen 97 NT Linval Joseph 98 UT Tom Johnson 92 (IR in 2016) LDE Danielle Hunter 99 |
LDE Brian Robison 96 DE Datone Jones 95 (FA) DT Jaleel Johnson 94 (R) DE Stephen Weatherly 91 UT Sharif Floyd 73 (IR in 2016) |
NT Shamar Stephen 93 DT Will Sutton 90 (FA) DE Ifeadi Odenigbo 60 (R) DE Tashawn Bower 64 (UDFA) DT Dylan Bradley 63 (UDFA) DT Sam McCaskill 66 (UDFA) DT Jarrod Clements 76 (UDFA) |
Jaleel Johnson drafted in the fourth round. Chrichton waived 24 March. DuBose waived, 16 May. Sutton signed, 17 May (Toby Johnson waived to make roster space for the signing). Kidder waived, 21 July. Clements signed 21 July. | Sharif Floyd placed on the NFI list to start training camp, 24 July. |
| LB |
MLB Eric Kendricks 54 SLB Anthony Barr 55 WLB Edmond Robinson 51 |
WLB Emmanuel Lamur 59 MLB Kentrell Brothers 40 LB Ben Gedeon 42 (R) |
LB Elijah Lee 56 (R) Shaan Washington 57 (UDFA) Eric Wilson 50 (UDFA) |
Washington added to PUP list, 24 July. | |
| CB |
LCB Xavier Rhodes 29 RCB Trae Waynes 26 NCB Terence Newman 23 |
NCB Mackensie Alexander 20 (IR in 2016) LCB Marcus Sherels 35 RCB Jabari Price 24 (IR in 2016) |
RCB Tre Roberson 36 CB Terrell Sinkfield 37 (UDFA) Horace Richardson 38 (UDFA) CB Sam Brown 31 (FA) |
Sinkfield signed 30 March (former Vikings WR, switched positions after CFL experience). Brown signed, 26 July. | |
| S |
FS Harrison Smith 22 SS Andrew Sendejo 34 (IR in 2016) |
FS Anthony Harris 41 SS Jayron Kearse 27 S Jack Tocho 39 (R) |
FS Antone Exum Jr. 32 (IR in 2016) |
Armstrong signed 30 May, released 16 June. Tocho was drafted as a CB, but switched to S for OTAs. Exum has been getting reps at nickel corner at the start of training camp. | |
| P | Tyler Symmank 9 | Ryan Quigley 4 (FA) | |||
| K | Kai Forbath 2 | Marshall Koehn 1 (FA) | |||
| LS | Kevin McDermott 47 | ||||
| PR | Marcus Sherels 35* |
Adam Thielen 19* Jarius Wright 17* |
|||
| KR | Rodney Adams 12* |
Marcus Sherels 35* Adam Thielen 19* |
Retired jersey numbers: 10 (Fran Tarkenton), 53 (Mick Tingelhoff), 70 (Jim Marshall), 77 (Korey Stringer), 80 (Cris Carter), 88 (Alan Page).
* Already listed on roster at main position.
Colour coding: Free agent signing (or acquired in trade), Drafted in 2016, Undrafted free agent in 2016, NFI, PUP or IR, Waived, cut, or left team.
With Teddy Bridgewater still unable to take full part in team practices, Matthew Coller asks if the team should sign Sam Bradford to a long-term contract:
For every position except quarterback, contracts work on the same scale: The better you are, the more you get paid. But for quarterbacks, it’s closer to this: If you’re a franchise quarterback, you get paid as much as every other franchise quarterback.
Among other factors (a la Teddy Bridgewater’s health), the current QB contract formula is what makes the Minnesota Vikings’ decision on 2018 free agent Sam Bradford so complicated. Even deals with low guaranteed money like Ryan Tannehill or Andy Dalton still come with big cap numbers at least at some points during the deal. Tannehill carries a $20.3 million cap number this year and Dalton has a $15.7 million hit.
Those deals were signed a few years ago. The price to play poker has gone up even more with Derek Carr’s $125 million offseason deal.
But the alternative to paying a quarterback huge dollars is risking the possibility of having crippling incompetence at the position in the form of a rookie – which of course means spending a high draft pick – or journeyman like Josh/Luke McCown, Ryan Fitzpatrick etc.
So what should the Vikings do? Let’s have a look at some key factors that will play into the decision…
I’m glad I’m not in Rick Spielman’s shoes over this decision. I’m still hoping that Teddy will recover and get back on track to being our long-term franchise quarterback, but Sam has done a good job for the team in very difficult circumstances and doesn’t deserve to be just shuffled to the curb as soon as Teddy is healthy again. But there’s no guarantee that Teddy will be able to play as well as he was doing before his knee injury … and the team can’t afford to pay franchise quarterback money to two players.
Speaking of Teddy, yesterday was the first time he’s addressed the media since his injury:
Mike Zimmer has said multiple times since that day that he believed Bridgewater would be the only QB he’d ever have as a head coach. But the Vikings now go into the 2017 season with Sam Bradford under center and Bridgewater on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
Since tearing his ACL and dislocating his knee in practice, the former first-round pick has been almost completely silent, only releasing occasional clip of his workouts on Instagram.
On Thursday in Mankato, he spoke for the first time about his recovery and explained his silence.
“I told myself I wanted to do everything I could to get better,” he said. “No offense to you guys, but doing interviews and different phone calls doesn’t help me get better.”
During OTAs and Minicamp, Bridgewater threw during warm-ups and spent practices on the sidelines working with trainers. He will start camp on the sidelines as well.
“We all understand it’s going to take some time,” he said.
Bridgewater has been widely praised by teammates this offseason for maintaining a positive outlook. The 24-year-old quarterback says he believes that he will play again.
“I’ve always had faith,” Bridgewater said. “Faith has gotten me this far.”
Bridgewater also said that doctors have not told him that he will never play again. He has reached out to other players who have gone through severe injuries like Frank Gore and Willis McGehee, who told the Vikings’ QB to take his time and not try to come back too early.
In other news from camp, the team agreed an extension to Everson Griffen‘s contract, keeping him with the team for an additional four years through the 2022 season:
The Minnesota Vikings and defensive end Everson Griffen agreed to a whopping $58 million, four-year contract extension that includes $34 million in guarantees, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Per Spotrac, Griffen’s current deal runs through 2018 and pays him an average annual salary of $8.2 million.
