The Minnesota Vikings have made a couple of roster moves over the past couple of days. Allow me to highlight those for you here.
We'll start with the subtractions first, as the Vikings moved both Adrian Peterson and Steve Hutchinson to the injured reserve list. We've been over the Peterson situation quite a bit over the past couple of days, but the Hutchinson move is a big one, as it likely signals the end of his time in a Vikings' uniform. He's set to make $7 million in the final year of his contract, and just turned 34 years old this past November. He seems like an unlikely candidate to come back to Minnesota next season. We'll have more on that following the season finale, I'm sure.
The Minnesota Vikings also released tight end Allen Reisner so that they could promote the recently reacquired Mickey Shuler to the big squad. Have no fear, though, as Reisner was re-signed to the practice squad earlier today. Speaking of the practice squad, the Vikings also brought running back Caleb King to the 53-man roster. King applied for the supplemental draft this off-season, but went undrafted and signed with the Vikings' as a free agent during training camp. It remains to be seen if the 5'11", 225-pounder out of Georgia will see significant time this Sunday against Chicago.
The last move the Vikings made, however, is the one I find the most interesting. After putting Hutchinson on IR, the Vikings raided the San Diego Chargers' practice squad for. . .another running back.
Minnesota signed running back Jordan Todman from the Chargers' practice squad, and this is a move I like. Todman was the Chargers' sixth-round pick (183rd overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft out of the University of Connecticut. In his two seasons as the Huskies' primary starter, he carried the ball 569 times for 2883 yards, including a 1,695-yard season as a junior, while scoring 28 touchdowns. He also caught 40 passes over those two seasons for 279 yards. His junior season got him numerous accolades, such as All-Big East First Team, ESPN.com All-American, Rivals First Team All-American, Sporting News First Team All American, and AP Second Team All-American.
However, his size. . .he's 5'9", 195 pounds. . .caused him to slip into the late rounds of the draft. At the NFL Scouting Combine, he was clocked as one of the three fastest running backs in attendance, running the 40-yard dash in 4.40 seconds. He was sixth among Combine running backs in the bench press, the third-fastest time in the 60-yard shuttle drill, and had the longest broad jump of all the running backs in attendance.
This makes me wonder if the Vikings aren't looking at Todman as a sort of third down type of back for the future, or possibly for return duties. He was UConn's primary return man as a sophomore, and had a 96-yard touchdown return against Notre Dame.
But there will be some new faces on the field on Sunday afternoon, folks. . .now you know who some of them are.