The Minnesota Vikings have started the process of trimming their roster from 80 players down to the 75 they need to be down to by 3 PM Central time tomorrow by waiving LB J Leman. Leman, who signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008 and getting released during camp, also saw time on the practice squads of the San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles before re-joining the Vikings before the end of 2009. He was actually on the 53-man roster for the last three regular season games and Minnesota's two playoff games, but wasn't actually activated for any of them.
That means that the Vikings have to get rid of four more players in under 24 hours. I don't have any insider information as to who those players might be or anything like that, but if I had to venture a guess, here's who I'd go with.
OL Chris Clark - In the first three pre-season games, Clark has been, to borrow a phrase from noted American philosopher Charles Barkley, "trbl." That's T-R-B-L, trbl. False start penalties, getting his butt kicked in general. . .it says something about the Vikings' offensive line depth at this point that he's still getting a look.
OL Bill Noethlich - Okay, raise your hand if you have any idea who this guy is. Okay, Mrs. Noethlich, I mean anybody other than you.
CB DeAndre Wright - The Vikings seem to like what they have at the cornerback position with Antoine Winfield, Lito Sheppard, Chris Cook, and Asher Allen. Doesn't leave a whole lot of room for a guy like Wright, considering that former Gopher Marcus Sherels is probably ahead of him on the depth chart, too.
K Rhys Lloyd - And this one disappoints me, to be honest. He was brought in to bash kickoffs into the end zone, but he hasn't been doing that this pre-season. He might not get cut by tomorrow. . .heck, save Longwell from kicking in the last pre-season game, perhaps. . .but I think his chances of making the final roster are getting slimmer every day.
How's about everyone else? Who do you think is going to get a visit from the Turk by this time tomorrow?