Rhett Ellison Removed From PUP

Vikings TE Rhett Ellison, who suffered a knee injury in the regular season finale against Green Bay last season, had been removed from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, and will begin participating in practice.

It appears that the Vikings are finally receiving some good news on the injury front, as Shariff Floyd and Eric Kendricks returned to practice in the last couple of days, and the minor dings and bumps are starting to sort themselves out.

Hopefully.

For the tight end position, this is good news indeed. Although Kyle Rudolph and MyCole Pruitt will get a majority of receiving targets, Ellison was developing nicely into a poor man's Jim Kleinsasser--solid blocker, good at sealing the edge in jumbo packages, solid in pass blocking, and can catch an occasional pass. He had done a very good job at carving out a role on this team, and with the early struggles of Andre Smith and run blocking in general, Ellison's skills will be welcome back indeed.

But could it be too late for him?

With the emergence of rookie David Morgan, tight end competition has turned into an unexpected battle, and sitting on the PUP list did Ellison no favors. it seems that the Vikings might be inclined to keep all four. Mike Zimmer alluded to it last week, but that remains to be seen.

Still, as the best blocking tight end on the team, I don't see Ellison being released, unless there's something physically wrong that would prevent him from being effective in his role.

With Ellison's activation, the Vikings roster is at a full complement of 90 players.