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After a bit of waiting, we have another cut by the Minnesota Vikings. . .and though it's one we all saw coming, it's still kind of bittersweet anyway.
Tackle Babatunde Aiyegbusi lets it be known on Facebook that he's been let go by the #Vikings.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) September 5, 2015
The team has released offensive tackle Babatunde Aiyegbusi, the big man that they signed from Poland after a workout he had in the States this summer. For the official announcement, you can check out his FaceBook page here.
At 6'9" and over 330 pounds, Aiyegbusi was the definition of a "big" project for the Vikings. He was incredibly raw, and didn't see a whole lot of snaps over the course of the preseason. When he did play, he looked like. . .well, he looked like a guy that hadn't played major (or even minor) college football.
If the adventure is going to continue for Aiyegbusi, his best hope is probably for the Vikings to get a foreign exemption for him for the practice squad. As we've outlined in the past, such an exemption is entirely up to the discretion of the National Football League, and it hasn't been a given thing from one year to the next. If the team would be able to get that exemption, Aiyegbusi would not count against the team's 10-man practice squad, but he would also not be eligible to be called to the active roster all season, either. It would give him the opportunity to work on technique and prepare him to attempt to make a run at making the roster in 2016.
Hopefully the Vikings can get that exemption for him. However, if they don't and his adventure ends here, we would like to sincerely wish him the best in whatever he wants to do in the future.
EDIT: Well, apparently the foreign exemption no longer exists. It appears to have gone away with the expansion of practice squads from 8 to 10 players that happened a couple of seasons ago. The copy of the CBA that is available online that references the foreign exemption does talk about an 8-man practice squad, the way it used to be, and has not been updated to reflect that change.
So, my apologies for potentially getting people's hopes up as far as getting Babatunde Aiyegbusi onto the practice squad. It would appear that his adventure ends here after all. The wishing that he does well in whatever he chooses to do in the future still stands, though.