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Shout out to the folks from The Vikings Wire, which is where I first saw this story.
In light of the recent injury to rookie Dalvin Cook, the Minnesota Vikings have an opening at the running back position. While promoting Bronson Hill from the practice squad could, potentially, be an option, it appears that the Vikings may be looking outside for help instead.
Source: the RB-needy Vikings worked out Stevan Ridley, Troymaine Pope, Bobby Rainey and Josh Rounds.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 4, 2017
According to Field Yates of ESPN, the Vikings had four free agent running backs in for workouts on Wednesday.
Of the four, former New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley has had the most NFL success. Ridley had a pretty big year in 2012 for the Patriots, rushing for 1,263 yards and 12 touchdowns. He followed that up with nearly 800 yards and seven more touchdowns in 2013, but fell out of favor in New England in 2014 and signed with the New York Jets. He played in only 8 games with the Jets, and didn’t put reach the 100-yard mark. . .cumulatively. He then went to the Atlanta Falcons last season, where he only appeared in one game.
Bobby Rainey is a name that some folks probably recognize as well. He has spent time with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New York Giants. His best season came with the Bucs in 2013, when he rushed for 532 yards and five of his six career rushing touchdowns.
Troymaine Pope was an undrafted free agent in 2016, and split four games last season between the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks. He has 44 career rushing yards on 12 carries. Josh Rounds went undrafted out of Tulane this past season and has never appeared in an NFL game.
It’s not the sexiest collective of names, to be sure, but with the position the Vikings currently find themselves in, they need to find someone that they feel can potentially contribute to their offense. . .and quickly.