With the moves made yesterday, it's time for a bit of a refresh on the roster and the practice squad. So, here is the Vikings' roster as it stands at this moment.
QB - Christian Ponder, Joe Webb, McLeod Bethel-Thompson
HB - Adrian Peterson, Toby Gerhart, Matt Asiata
FB - Jerome Felton
TE - Kyle Rudolph, John Carlson, Rhett Ellison, Allen Reisner
WR - Percy Harvin, Devin Aromashodu, Stephen Burton, Michael Jenkins, Jarius Wright (Jerome Simpson currently not counted against 53-man roster due to 3-game suspension)
OL - Matt Kalil, Charlie Johnson, John Sullivan, Brandon Fusco, Phil Loadholt, Geoff Schwartz, Joe Berger, Mark Asper
DL - Jared Allen, Kevin Williams, Letroy Guion, Brian Robison, Christian Ballard, Fred Evans, Everson Griffen, D'Aundre Reed
LB - Chad Greenway, Jasper Brinkley, Erin Henderson, Audie Cole, Larry Dean, Tyrone McKenzie, Marvin Mitchell
CB - Antoine Winfield, Chris Cook, Josh Robinson, Marcus Sherels, Brandon Burton, A.J. Jefferson
S - Harrison Smith, Mistral Raymond, Robert Blanton, Andrew Sendejo, Jamarca Sanford
K - Blair Walsh
P - Chris Kluwe
LS - Cullen Loeffler
After the jump, we'll take a look at a couple of the new guys, and the members of the Vikings' practice squad thus far.
Of the Vikings' new additions, two of them are already on the 53-man roster.
A.J. Jefferson - We mentioned the Jefferson deal on Friday night. Apparently the deal involves a swap of conditional draft picks between the two teams (from the information I've been able to glean thus far). Again, Jefferson is a bigger corner at 6'1", and showed enough potential with the Cardinals to be a starter for the first seven games of last season. The team seems to like his size/speed combination and sees him as more of an outside corner.
Mark Asper - Was with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent the team's sixth round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft out of Oregon. At 26 years old, he's an older rookie, as he spent two years on a religious mission to Spain while he was in college. He's a pretty big guy, measuring in at 6'7" and 325 pounds, and played both guard and tackle in college. The Vikings must have liked what they saw out of him during the Week 2 pre-season match-up with the Bills. (EDIT: I had his draft status wrong in the original story. My apologies to Mark Asper.)
Minnesota has also filled six of the eight spots on their practice squad to this point. Those players are as follows.
Jordan Todman, RB - Todman was with the Vikings this pre-season, and the team thought enough of him to bring him back on the practice squad. Again, he's a different type of back from the three main runners the Vikings are currently carrying.
Chase Baker, DT - Baker was also with the Vikings this pre-season. An undrafted free agent out of Boise State, he simply couldn't crack the rotation on the defensive line for the Vikings. He's got strength to spare, and hopefully some time on the practice squad will allow him to refine his technique to the point where he can contribute.
Tyler Holmes, OT - Holmes is another player that was with the Vikings in the pre-season. To tell you the truth, I don't remember seeing him or hearing his name called much. When you're an offensive lineman, this tends to be a good thing.
Bobby Felder, CB - The last of the practice squad players the Vikings have retained from their own training camp. Felder made a positive impression during camp, but the Vikings apparently want him to develop a little bit more, so they've placed him on the practice squad.
Tori Gurley, WR - Was on the Packers' practice squad last year. The Vikings offered him a spot on their active roster for the final three games of the season, but Gurley refused. The Packers rewarded his loyalty by kicking him to the curb. (He probably could have played himself into a guaranteed roster spot last season.) But, all that is water under the bridge now, and Gurley actually appears to be a pretty decent prospect. Gurley played his college ball at South Carolina, with good size at 6'4" and around 230 pounds. It wouldn't be that surprising if he was on the active roster before too much longer.
Chris Summers, WR - Summers spent most of camp with the Chicago Bears before being released. Another small school player, having played his college ball at Liberty University, Summers broke a few Big South Conference records that had been held by some guy named Jerome Simpson. He also has a pretty intriguing blend of size and speed. . .he's 6'5", 215 pounds, and ran his 40-yard dash in 4.52 seconds at his Pro Day. Over his junior and senior years with the Flames, he caught 140 passes for 2,095 yards (15 yards/catch) and 22 touchdowns, including 15 scores as a junior. As a senior, he had two games of 200-plus yards, including a 10-catch, 240-yard performance in his final college game.
So, the Vikings have two more practice squad spots to fill, and they might be in line for some other moves as well. We'll be on top of those moves whenever they take place.