Lewis Cine, Kene Nwangwu Headline Minnesota Vikings 53-Man Roster Cuts

the 53 man roster is here at least the initial one and a few very notable names not on it we'll go into it on lock on Vikings you are locked on Vikings your daily Minnesota Vikings podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hello hello hello everybody Welcome to the locked on Vikings podcast where we're always trying to learn something new it's part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day thank you so much for making locked on Vikings your first listen of the day each and every day appreciate you all so very much if you want to find this show anywhere you can just search out lockon Vikings wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts including Amazon Fire and Roku and YouTube as well as SiriusXM where you can also find live broadcasts of all Vikings games Hometown broadcast go listen to Paul Allen and the crew just search out Vikings there today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off of your P your first purchase terms apply download game time today what time is it game time the 53 man roster is out so we're going to go over all the interesting things that happened here a lot of chalk of course a lot of more predictable moves but probably the biggest headline coming out of it is that Lou is seen released not even traded released which takes which which gives the Vikings a $5 million dead capap hit if he is not claimed on waiver so the way this works now for all of these players um you'll see in the Vikings press release about it that some were waved and some were contract terminated contract terminated means it's over they're free agents it's that's it uh they can go sign wherever they want right away for waved uh that means that they go through a waiver process if a player like louen or any of the waved players are claimed their contract resumes for that Team all of the Dead cap from signing B from pro rated signing bonus and all that stays with the Vikings it's kind of like you traded him contract wise um so if scene does get waved and there were a couple teams interested apparently there were some attempts to trade him if he does get waved or if he does get claimed on waivers um that will Less in the dead cap that the Vikings have to deal with but now another team has to like decide to claim him instead of somebody else or whatever so we'll see if he ends up somewhere else he'll probably end up on another team maybe another practice squad somewhere but otherwise it's it's over so with that Andrew Booth over on the Cowboys he made the Cowboys by the way which is wild cuz I saw some really disgusting low lights from him over in Dallas I don't I don't know what they that they must just be trying to keep him as a potential guy um but so with those two out that kind of it almost like rips off the Band-Aid from the 2022 draft and how bad that it went and really that's the first thing to talk about is that you know this is the time of year where draft picks get cut the your draft will never look as bad as it does on Cut Down day when all you hear about are the guys that didn't work out scene jqu and Roy also cut Booth gone Nan Wright who they traded booth for didn't even come close to making the roster um and it's really easy to compile all of these things and go oh my God he's terrible has he ever hit a pick ever and you just have to look at like the next year where the first round pick got Addison and the second round pick got hackinson that just like completely changed the off with with those two picks right or the second round pick in value after all the trades was because it was a weird trade with hackinson but a second round pick in value um and not to mention Blackman I think most people were pretty happy with him as a draft pick last year obviously he's hurt now that's a bummer coming into JJ McCarthy we were all excited about before he got hurt Dallas Turner very excited about him like if you want to see draft picks that worked out there's plenty and undrafted free agency that's the next headline of this 53 man roster undrafted free agents and and unheralded players finding talent and roster players in unsung places Jaylen Redmond coming out of the UFL he makes the team Taki taiani who I had noticed a lot in the last two games really showing out didn't put him on my own 53 man prediction because I just thought you know undrafted rookie it's a crowded room I I don't know maybe it was I I don't know how much he needed to do to but he did enough he absolutely did it they cut Jon Jonah Williams instead and uh it's Taki taiani and Jaylen redond not to mention Ivan Pace they really liked Gabe Murphy apparently he has a knee injury he's on short-term IR so the way that that turned out Gabe Murphy on short-term IR Dalton Risner on short-term ir and then TJ hackinson goes to pup all three of those players eligible to come back after four weeks so whatever is happening there eligible to come back after four weeks we'll see exactly how much time each of those guys ends up missing but at least four weeks for them um but but that's the deal is like these undrafted free agents going absolutely Gang Busters in that and Dwight mcln also making the team that one was a little bit easier to predict he had played so well that I had that one at least on my 53 man but I think I I definitely should have put Taki taiani on mine uh but I just was a little bit too different to status quo more different than um is that a word more different than than quy was other than that everything went a little bit more chocked than we expected right the quarterback mull darnold Mullen Hall the running backs that's maybe the next big headline is Kenny Wong wo cut but otherwise Aaron Jones Tai Chandler no Gaskin no mcbright so the Vikings are only carrying two true running backs plus CJ Ham on their roster and that's what we look at next is uh the the the waiver claim world the Vikings don't have a kick returner right now I think if they had to do it tomorrow it would probably be Ty Chandler is who they would put in but that's very unproven so they don't have a kick returner I don't know what they're looking for a kick returner with the new kickoff are they just going to give it to their backup running back are a lot of teams just going to give it to their backup running back or are they going to look for somebody with a little bit more experience in that that gets cut so waivers will will definitely go that way and some of the guys that just barely snuck on some of these undrafted these young guys uh like Jaylen Redmond or Taki taiani or Dwight mcglothern um might end up on the practice squad when all the dust settles Wednesday is going to be waiver day and there's going to be uh you know somebody will will have to get demoted to the practice squad if they're going to bring in another running back but that's all very fluid and doing that after the first round of waivers gives them a better chance to make it to the practice squad because everybody's already kind of got their stuff a little bit more figured out and it's less fluid and then there's going to be you know that many fewer people looking for okay who gets cut now but you're going to have to go through a few rounds of this to to get the real true this is the 53 man roster that we actually carry into week one so what I want to do is go over this roster Name by name um and if anything jumps out that was interesting we'll we'll kind of go into it but Wong W not making the team I think was a surprise for a lot of people I thought he played the best football that he's played so far in a preseason it was just a little bit too little too late uh and with the kick return changing it's kind of funny the kick return became completely relevant last year with the the way that the rules changed the Touchback rules changed and Ken wongu stayed on the roster still to be a kick returner but now that the kickoff has changed such that we need a different skill set from the guy now we get rid of him and we never trusted him as a running back um I could see gasin on the practice squad as well I could definitely see Wong wo on the practice squad as a as a you know game day elevation too and he just does the job that way I could see Wong wo ending up somewhere else as you know hey fast running back with special teams like that that's a guy gets a little bit popular I could see him getting claimed too I don't know if the Vikings are really neither here nor there on that um but really I think the headline is draft picks that didn't work out right jaquell enroy is another one he gets usurped by all these young guys and I think it's really important like look scene and Booth were bad picks nobody disagrees with that the the the next question is the hard part which is what now do we fire the GM over it over his first two draft picks that would be a bit premature if you ask me he needed to bring somebody else in and he did um or you know how how long do we have to stay mad about it I guess that's a personal question but I hope we can we can kind of move on now and say okay that one was a miss that was a whiff put it in the tally and let's move forward if Dallas Turner is good and we can all be excited about that we it eases the pain of missing on one draft pick to hit on another so um we'll do the off offense and then we'll do the defense and we'll kind of get through all of these guys coming up next on lock on Vikings today's episode of lockon Vikings is brought to you by game time it's the best place to find last minute tickets if you are like me and you just don't like planning or maybe you're looking for a really good deal it can be kind of low-key smart to wait last minute to try to get your tickets because the market goes very Topsy Turvy right up leading to the event even an hour into the event where you can still get tickets on game time you can save up to 60% on uh last minute 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after the 53 man roster happens I'm putting it up right when I'm done uh so thank you so much for hanging out if you want something else to listen to after this you can go to lock on Fantasy Football get ready for your upcoming fantasy draft with Vinnie a so let's move on here and go comprehensively through the roster here and make sure we we don't leave a single detail unmentioned um and so starting with what's interesting here on the offense there's 24 players on the offense as it stands 26 on the defense so we're a little bit lighter on the offense missing a running back that's the difference darnold Mullins Hall we knew that Aaron Jones Tai champ no wongu CJ ham we we talked about that no other running back so I I do kind of anticipate somebody joining and one of these sort of 50 player 52 player 53 types going later wide receiver Wise It's the six you would expect for there to be six the real question was is there uh going to be a Trent sherfield there is I think special teams had a lot to do with that and blocking had a lot to do with that uh so he does end up making the 53 man roster and otherwise you have Jefferson Addison Naylor Powell and uh Tristian Jackson some people thought oh is Tristian Jackson really going to make it I think that was cemented a long time ago to be honest with you maybe he had to play the Eagles game just to get that quick extra um just to like cement it but otherwise fairly easy prediction there same with the tight ends Oliver Johnny Mt Nick muse no tanion no nikelle Harry no fourth tight end so they went six receivers and not and and three tight ends in my prediction I had that backwards I had it five receivers and four tight ends with tanan we got sherfield instead um tanan being hurt kind of sucks and and uh Nel Harry just I again it's just like a little bit too little too late for him um moving positions that late in his career really rare for that kind of thing to work out and we still have not seen the exception to that rule and then you come to the o line so quy ad damena in one of the preseason broadcasts talked about maybe having 8 o line because they kept eight o line last year and that was it and then they brought in quinberry later um so keeping eight on the initial 53 was like kind of on my radar as a thing and it's what I predicted uh what I was wrong about was Michael Jurgens no Tyrese Robinson um none of the other know Henry birds or any of those guys none of the undrafted guys but you had your starting five your classic starting five including Blake brandle at left guard that had been decided Ingram Bradberry O'Neal darasa David quinberry back again Walter Rouse makes the team Dan feny makes the team those were all just by watching preseason fairly easy to predict um the Jurgens one for me he played center on the second Team all preseason and got smoked a lot like I thought he struggled so much like I felt the same way negatively about his preseason as I did positively about Taki taiani I just thought man this you just can't keep this guy but they did um and maybe that's a we don't want to expose our draft pick to waivers kind of deal because I know that uh Chris Cooper was the o line coach was very excited about him so maybe they just want to keep working him on the project they're going to keep him there I don't know if if he suits up for games um he I guess he's penciled in on the backup center but Dani can play that as well and as it stands right now if Garrett Bradberry goes down I would much rather have Dan feni in there than Michael Jurgens but I liked Michael Jurgens is tape at Wake Forest I see the potential and I understand the idea it's just that's a project that they're maybe going to work a little bit harder on see if he can't make the team next year but I do think that the leash will be short next year I think he'll really have to compete and fight for his job next year or he could be a guy that ends up you know cut after the first day to make room for the running back and then we put him on the practice squad and we just kind of didn't want to expose him to waivers but that's I mean like not a lot of surprises on offense on defense is where the surprises really started to roll in one of the first things we got all day was that Andre Carter was waved about time Andre Carter was bad I I just I can't like I I understood the potential I think he had like two good Senior Bowl practices and a couple of really interesting sacks at Army and then like a bunch of plays at army where like a tight end from Coastal Carolina sledded him 10 yards down the field I never got it he made the team last year he had some very embarrassing plays like where he tried to so so the thing with Andre Carter I talked about it after the Eagles game the thing with Andre Carter that bugged me the most was the spin move because he wouldn't set up his spin move like dramatically enough he would just kind of run up to a guy and turn around he would get he would expose his back and take a punch to the back basically every time and that leads to to really like visually like you fall down a lot doing that you get pancak a lot doing that and he just kept doing it he kept doing it in the Eagles game got a couple of sacks in the Eagles game some people thought hey maybe he's going to you know Force his way on maybe he finally has done enough but it just never really felt that way I didn't really get why the Vikings gave him all that undrafted money and ultimately I never saw the world where he became a contributing member of the Vikings and and now he's he's not there I don't even know if he's going to be on the practice squad maybe he will be and they hope he develops some but this was the year he's now had a year of an NFL you know bodybuilding program so being an army guy and skinny for an army guy is no longer excusable by coming from army now you got to be an NFL player if you're going to be in the NFL and the other military guys Bo RoR Bo RoR uh also waved very strong practice squad candidate I think that was a numbers game for him I do think he had a good preseason right everybody saw the the sack and he just didn't quite consistently do as much as the D tackle did and I think that's why they made it but developmental let's put him on the practice squad and I do feel reasonable about his chances of you know putting in a year of work and coming back next year let's see if he can make the team so next up we'll talk about that dline they've got 11 defensive linemen and and do we actually feel good about it plus uh what else is left in the secondary now that Cena and Booth are gone moving on here let's finish up talking about the defense and then let's see if we can't look at who's out there on the waiver wire interesting cuts that the Vikings maybe will Target but the question is how do we feel about this dline at the end of the day here's the group Harrison Phillips Jonathan Buller Jerry Tillery there's your starters up front Levi Drake Rodriguez by the way another fantastic preseason very much cemented a role on the team if they're going to defer to draft picks like they did with Michael Jurgens like Levi Drake was absolutely going to make it but even if he were undrafted with a preseason like that he would go in the Taki taiani place and make it so tyman and Redmond on there um very deep now with guys that you actually feel okay about like I did not feel good about the depth going in but those young guys really stepped up and made me feel a lot better about it um and then on the edge grenard van gingle Dallas Turner Pat Jones Jihad Ward none of the weird guys on the edge no bo RoR no no Andre Carter no Owen Porter um that one they went perfectly chalk linebacker they went perfectly chalk casman pace Brian OA does make the team I thought he was kind of on the bubble but Dallas Gant I think just wasn't quite consistent enough to make it and then I think kamu guj Hill as a special teamer as a depth linebacker I think he's exactly what you want at that part of your roster so I think that was pretty solid and now here's your cornerback group okay all of the Dust has settled on the cornerbacks now so this is the group Byron Murphy and sha Griffin Stefon Gilmore that's probably your principal three a Caleb Evans as depth Fabian Maro as depth and Dwight mln makes it after a strong preseason knocking off guys like potentially Nan Wright functionally knocking off Andrew boo that's really what happened here is Andrew Booth got cut and the Cowboys picked him up on waivers that's really how that works out now um and instead of trading a draft pick they traded a guy that the Vikings cut and then at safety it's the same group you had last year minus scene Smith bam matelis Theo Jackson Jay Ward so how do we feel about this group it's so Patchwork right it's so peac meal but looking at it what position do you feel really really concerned with for me it's corner right what do we get out of sha Griffin what can we get out of Stefon Gilmore there are definitely good outcomes to that there are bad outcomes to that um but after that I like Pace I like Cashman as a free agent as a starter I you know I like grenard I like van GLE I like Turner I like Phillips I like Bullard so it's Patchwork it's older and we'll see what kind of consistency we get out of it but it doesn't feel like it is littered with holes like if you go look at a team like deep in a rebuild right this doesn't feel like a team that's just at the start of a rebuild like you usually see with teams that like draft a quarterback right and if you want like the competitive rebuild stuff that quacy has been doing now we're reaping the rewards of that by being in our rebuilding mode with our new quarterback and and you know trying to fix the cap and all that stuff and and now having a roster that is like two-thirds of the way there give me like a couple give me some youth at corner like really the future at corner is the problem CU all these guys are on oneye deals or or two years left on their deal um so the future at corner is a major concern but one we don't have to talk about till February and other than that you can see where the vision is there and they've just had to kind of spend a lot of resources on Bridges and Band-Aids um so what do we do next looking at potential running backs that are WI there are a couple of bigger like names you might recognize from your fantasy team that I don't want you to fall for uh and they are samaji and Michael Carter both these guys are older and I don't know if it's what the Vikings are going to be looking for here I mean maybe they've got a little bit of gas left in the tank but the Vikings don't need an old guy with a little gas left in the tank they already have Aaron Jones right that's what they need is somebody who is youthful developmentally someone that you think maybe he's got a few future if you know we just give give him a year of our coaching um and somebody who can be a kick returner that's that's the big thing what they do at kick return is the biggest question for me the new kickoff requires a a new skill set is that just Tai Chandler or maybe Brandon Powell um or do they want to go out and and use this moment of waiver claims to solve both problems at once if that guy is out there then I think they go for it so let me know uh what you think what who do you think what names are out there that you really want if you're listening on if you're watching on YouTube leave a comment if you're just listening send me a tweet at luk Bron NFL if if you listen to this before we have an answer by the time you get to this they might already have an answer this kind of stuff moves very fast but Wednesday is going to be waiver claim day and we'll go forward with what we have um we we'll talk about it then and and you know go whatever weird trades quacy may or may not make too because I think guys like Brian ozoa maybe you still do make a quick trade right now like just doing it right after roster Cuts there are sometimes a team will try to get a guy they like on waivers for free and if you know barrowing that they go okay now we'll send you the seventh round pick for somebody we'll have to just wait and see how all of this actually ends up shaping out but um what I want to go into now for this last little bit of the show is I want to really challenge how we react to draft picks that don't make it for example jqu and Roy I haven't really talked about him a lot fifth round pick second year didn't make it in a vacuum that's not quite good enough um for a fifth round for a day three pick the way I usually look at it is a fourth round pick should be a contributor for you throughout his rookie contract if you're ever cutting a fourth round pick cuz they just straight up didn't make the team for me that's that's you didn't pick a good enough player that high um they should be a depth player I don't need them to be a rotational player I certainly don't if you get a starter in the fourth round that's great like a Caleb Evans I'm already very happy with as a draft pick because in the fourth round you don't expect a guy to like go win starting jobs and and even play well for parts right like an up and down starter we'll call him for a fourth rounder great pick for a fifth rounder I want you to at least make the team for your first three years and then you know if you're if you're uh what's what was his name Jaylen Holmes he was a fourth round pick right he didn't make the team his final year that would be if he were a fifth round pick about value for me that's just my rule of thumb and then sixth round pick make the team for two years seventh round pick you make the team at least once you're I'm I'm pretty happy so make the team once and then get cut that's a seventh round kind of trajectory for a fifth round pick so we didn't quite get there um but what happened to jell and Roy right what's what's the problem here well he he played fine I don't think he really took any steps back he still was the same guy that flashed kind of once or twice a game and otherwise did his job quietly but other players arrived that did better and it's really a weird leap in logic to go look at the GM and be like look how bad he is he got so many good players like they kicked the draft pick off like what that's that's great roster building right getting a a like having a a an undrafted rookie blow up like that is good roster building and and one of the things the quacy hate things that I have never understood is the refusal to give him credit for somebody like Ivan Pace because he didn't draft him like what do you mean he spent nothing on on a starter that's a free starter it doesn't get any better than that and like the quacy dominating in undrafted free agency has been a genuine godsend for filling out the do the bottom end of theck as you get Dwayne mcbrides that never make the team and jel and Roy that get cut before they're supposed to right because of undrafted free agents making it somebody like Brian oosa I think probably has a much better career if Ivan Pace doesn't come in and explode but would you rather the Vikings not have Ivan Pace no of course not right it's a weird leap in logic and I think generally like genuinely I think a lot of people just decided they don't like quacy right off the bat because they don't want an analytics GM or I think there's definitely a lot of people that think he's like a diversity higher uh I don't think I mean I know like people say that to me so like you that he was a Dei guy I think it's insane um but for those people then you get the first draft pick and he doesn't work out he's louisine and he sucks they go ha I knew it I was right and then they'll like refuse to take in any more information so what I challenge you to do is to take in information as it comes shouldn't I should that that shouldn't be something that I point out but if we're going to make a decision on how we feel about the GM take in information as it comes I agree with you that louen was a terrible they could should have just sat there and picked Hamilton you can go to the live stream of that draft I was saying they should pick Hamilton right now I have thought that and I maintained that I'm just deciding to be less annoying about it than everybody else um that was a mistake they shouldn't have done that has he learned a lesson from that mistake well the next year they had a chance to trade down or or stick and pick Jordan Addison stuck and picked got Jordan Addison clearly was the right move because I don't think any other receivers unless they were going to pick puka I don't think any of the other receivers in that class really did anything that was worth noting or or at least that would like make you feel better about missing out on Jordan Addison right so the there we go lesson learn from that and I think with with Andrew Booth again just a whiff but why why was he a whiff what went wrong this is the question I always pose is your answer just he can't Scout cuz I don't think that's true he's finding gems in undrafted free agent all the all over the place I think their Scouts are doing something good with Booth they took a risk he's a risky Prospect he had talent and athleticism but all these technique issues all of these mentality issues that you had to fix all of these habits that you had to undo can you do that well not when you're changing schemes and doing all this stuff and you know especially if he gets hurt and he's not doing that like all these things can come in and totally wreck your ability which is the danger of looking in the draft and saying well I can fix him right look at all this potential but I can fix him not if he gets hurt not if you have to fire your DC because he gives up you know 38 points to Daniel Jones or whatever it was in the playoffs um so is that a lesson learned do we maybe take less risks maai Blackman wasn't as much of risk much more experienced player right like the like the very next draft they exhibited that they've learned these lessons and it's just now that that we are seeing the confirmation of the answer we already had we have to like bring it all up again so I just challenge you take in new information if Dallas Turner is really good add that to the way that you feel about qu's ability to draft add Jordan Addison to the way you feel about qu's ability to draft Ivan Pace right this this regime and their ability to find young Talent needs to be exhibited by all of the young talent that has come in here both the good and the bad add that up and decide how you feel about it but don't just tell me he drafted scene he sucks I'm sick of hearing that should have done it should have done ham at least the uh the Lions traded a whole bunch of draft capital for a wide receiver who sucks okay I'm out of here I will see you all tomorrow for waiver day and as always skull