Getty Head coach Kevin O'Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Minnesota Vikings have begun trimming their training camp roster down to the final 53 players who will begin the 2023 season with the team, including 25-year-old quarterback Jordan Ta’amu.
Ta’amu was among 15 players cut on Monday, August 29, per the league transaction wire.
Signed on August 19, Ta’amu was considered a fill-in for the final preseason game as the team opted to rest veteran backup Nick Mullens. Ta’amu proved to merely be a contingency plan as rookie Jaren Hall played all 60 snaps against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday. Ta’amu was the XFL Offensive Player of the Year last season.
Another notable release among the first wave of roster cuts was veteran linebacker Tanner Vallejo, a six-year veteran special teamer who has appeared in 82 regular-season games and has over 1,500 snaps on special teams.
Other players cut by the Vikings were DL Calvin Avery, CB Kalon Barnes, CB C.J. Coldon, Jr., T Christian DiLauro, CB Jameson Houston, LB Wilson Huber, WR Garett Maag, RB Abram Smith, OL Josh Sokol, TE Colin Thompson, T Jarrid Williams, LB Jake Gervase and CB Tay Gowan.
The Vikings must have their 53-man roster finalized by August 29 at 3 p.m. Central time.
Kevin O’Connell Tips Hat to Vikings Rookie QB Jaren Hall After Preseason Finale
Like many rookie quarterbacks, Hall had plenty of ups and downs throughout his first NFL training camp.
But on Saturday, he showed plenty of reason for head coach Kevin O’Connell to keep him on the 53-man roster.
#Vikings rookie QB Jaren Hall showed some flashes in the preseason finale.
Hall completed four of his first five pass attempts and led his first two drives for touchdowns. He finished 16-of-27 passing for 178 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception. Hall added 21 rushing yards via six carries.
“Things that stuck out to me, his athletic ability, and how he applied it,” O’Connell said after the game, per Vikings.com. “So many guys, you have to coach that out of them. But he’s a guy that we don’t want to coach that out of him. But it’s all about the application of that as part of his skill set because I thought he threw the ball really well today. [He was] efficient in and out of the huddle with the operation all the way really down to the end of the game.”
The game slowed down for Hall, who may have secured a spot on the final 53-man roster.
The NFL introduced the third quarterback rule that allows a third quarterback to dress for games without it counting against the active game-day roster. The emergency third quarterback, to be named as part of the active list required one hour, 30 minutes before the game, must be on the 53-man roster before the game. The emergency quarterback would then not count against the 46-man gameday total.
It remains to be seen if that’s enough to gain for teams to start rostering a third quarterback, but O’Connell made it clear he wants Hall around — hopefully on the 53-man roster, where he’d be allowed to develop much more than he would on the practice squad.
“I would definitely like to keep him around. My philosophy when you’re going to draft the quarterback, you’ve got to pour into him on a daily basis. Development is a huge word, but I love the fact that we got him as many reps as we did,” O’Connell said. “So I feel like Jaron, you know, has a really, really good understanding of our offense, where he can grow, where his comfort level can grow. And hopefully, I hit the ground running the next opportunity that he gets.”
Vikings Roster Cut Tracker
After 15 players were cut and backup tackle Vederian Lowe was traded to the New England Patriots, the Vikings roster sits at 74 and will need more work to get down to 53 players by Tuesday afternoon.
Here’s the full 90-man roster with cuts as of August 28 at 1 p.m. Central time.
Offense
QB: Kirk Cousins, Jaren Hall, Nick Mullens, Jordan Ta’amu
RB: Ty Chandler, Aaron Dykes, Alexander Mattison, DeWayne McBride, Kene Nwangwu, Abram Smith
FB: C.J. Ham
WR: Jordan Addison, Jacob Copeland, Lucky Jackson, Trishton Jackson, Justin Jefferson, Garrett Maag, Jalen Nailor, K.J. Osborn, Brandon Powell, Blake Proehl, Jalen Reagor, Thayer Thomas
TE: T.J. Hockenson, Johnny Mundt, Nick Muse, Josh Oliver, Ben Sims, Colin Thompson
C: Garrett Bradbury, Austin Schlottmann, Josh Sokol
G: Ezra Cleveland, Ed Ingram, Jack Snyder, Oli Udoh
OT: Blake Brandel, Christian Darrisaw, Christian DiLauro, Vederian Lowe (traded to New England Patriots), Brian O’Neill, Jarrid Williams
OL: Alan Ali
Defense
DL: Calvin Avery, Ross Blacklock, Jonathan Bullard, Sheldon Day, Dean Lowry, Esezi Otomewo, Harrison Phillips, Jaquelin Roy, T.J. Smith, Khyiris Tonga
LB: Brian Asamoah, Abraham Beauplan, Troy Dye, Jordan Hicks, Wilson Huber, Ivan Pace Jr., Troy Reeder, Tanner Vallejo
OLB: Andre Carter II, Marcus Davenport, Danielle Hunter, Patrick Jones II, Luiji Vilain, Benton Whitley, D.J. Wonnum
CB: Kalon Barnes, Mekhi Blackmon, Andrew Booth Jr., C.J. Coldon Jr., Akayleb Evans, Tay Gowan, Jameson Houston, Byron Murphy Jr., Najee Thompson, JoeJuan Williams, Jaylin Williams
Safety: Camryn Bynum, Lewis Cine, Jake Gervase, Theo Jackson, Josh Metellus, Harrison Smith, Jay Ward
Special Teams
K: Greg Joseph
P: Ryan Wright
LS: Andrew DePaola
Non-Football Injury List
OL Chris Reed
Roster Exemption (International Player Pathway Program)
DL Junior Aho