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One cut wasn't a surprise. In fact, the cut was being rooted for by many Vikings fans.
The other cut was a big surprise. In fact, the cut came to a player that was being rooted for by many Vikings fans.
In what has suddenly become a rather busy news day for the Minnesota Vikings, the team announced the release of two players on Thursday:
The #Vikings have released WR Greg Childs and DT Letroy Guion.
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) March 6, 2014
The release of Letroy Guion was a mixture of cap relief combined with someone that was under-performing a bit. The move saves around $4 million of cap space, meaning the team has roughly $41 million to play with in free agency. (According to Ben Goessling, at least.) Letroy Guion was the lowest rated defensive lineman on the team by Pro Football Focus. With players like Fred Evans, Sharrif Floyd, and even Chase Baker outplaying Guion, the cut makes sense from a practical and financial standpoint.
However, Guion's departure means the Vikings are dangerously thin at defensive tackle, a spot where they had plenty of depth in 2013. Kevin Williams is all but guaranteed to be gone next season so Minnesota will have to address D tackle in the draft, free agency, or both.
Greg Childs has made literally no impact on the field in his NFL career, but that didn't stop him from being a sentimental favorite during his two seasons as a member of the Vikings. Childs was a risk when Minnesota drafted him with a fourth round pick in 2012 because injuries plagued him during his college career at Arkansas. Unfortunately Childs' bad luck followed him into his professional career. He injured both of his knees during Training Camp of his rookie year and was placed on IR. In 2013 it was the same story--a preseason injury put him on the reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list. There was hope that the Childs would come off the PUP list and see the field before the end of the 2013 season but that hope never materialized.
It's unfortunate that Greg Childs never played a down while wearing purple. Lots of us were rooting for him to line up with childhood and college teammate Jarius Wright. He was saying all the right things during his rehab and maintaining a positive outlook despite numerous setbacks. Childs' size and production (when healthy) could have made him a mid-round steal; Childs' balky knees made him a wasted pick. Hopefully he can beat the odds and catch on with another team.
Stay tuned for more in what has been an incredibly active few days for the Minnesota Vikings.