Minnesota Vikings Roster Moves: Vikings Claim MarQueis Gray, Mike Harris On Waivers

The 53-man roster isn't even 24 hours old, and already we have seen a few significant changes to it thanks to the waiver claim process. The Minnesota Vikings were at #8 on the waiver priority list, as it was based on last year's draft order, and claimed two players that will now be on the 53-man roster.

The first player is offensive tackle Mike Harris, who was released by the San Diego Chargers. Harris was originally with the San Diego Chargers, having played for them in 2012 and 2013. He signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA after the 2012 draft, and played 20 games over the past two seasons with the Chargers, starting 12. The Vikings appear to have been interested in Harris because he can play both tackle spots, something that the Vikings can use to build their depth. Harris also played for Norv Turner when he was the head coach of the Chargers.

The other player is one that should be familiar to Minnesota sports fans, as the team has claimed MarQueis Gray off of waivers from the Cleveland Browns. Gray played his college ball with the Minnesota Golden Gophers from 2009 to 2012, splitting time between the quarterback and the wide receiver positions. Since signing with the Browns as an undrafted free agent, he was primarily used as a tight end, and saw some carries at running back, too. Claiming Gray makes sense, a) the Vikings had a need at tight end and b) Norv Turner got a chance to work with Gray last year when he was Cleveland's offensive coordinator.

No word yet as to who the Vikings have released in order to make room for Gray and Harris. We will update this post with that information when we have it.

UPDATE: Per Darren Wolfson on Twitter, the two players that were waived to make room for the Vikings' roster claims were linebacker Larry Dean and offensive lineman Austin Wentworth.