Roc Thomas had other offers, chose to stay with Vikings

When the Minnesota Vikings brought in former Detroit Lions’ running back Ameer Abdullah during the bye week, they made room for him on the 53-man roster by releasing undrafted rookie running back Roc Thomas. Thomas, who had suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the season, was eventually brought back to the practice squad, but apparently that was not a foregone conclusion.

Thomas told Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that he had multiple offers from other teams to join their practice squads, but ultimately decided to remain with the Vikings for a number of reasons.

“There were a lot of teams,’’ Thomas said Friday about other practice-squad offers extended. “But I established kind of a home here, and I’ve learned the playbook pretty well. I know that if I get brought back up to the active squad, I’ll have a role.

“I’m not going to try to learn another (team’s) system when we’re halfway through the season, and then it might not end up working out.’’

Thomas had appeared in five of Minnesota’s nine games before the bye, and the team does seem to like him quite a bit. We know the Vikings have had some injury issues at the running back spot this year, with Dalvin Cook’s hamstring keeping him out of the majority of games this season. Should Cook have more issues, or should anything happen to Latavius Murray or Mike Boone, the Vikings pretty clearly have enough confidence in Thomas that they can put him into the lineup and he can be productive.

Are you pretty happy that Roc Thomas decided to come back to Minnesota, folks?