Hercules Mata’afa appears to be medically cleared

After the smoke cleared and the dust settled from the Undrafted Free Agent signing frenzy last April, one of the more intriguing names that landed with the Minnesota Vikings was Hercules Mata’afa. An undersized defensive tackle at Washington State, he was a consensus All-American and a first-team All-Pac 12 selection in his final season with the Cougars.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a whole lot of opportunity to witness what he was capable of in the NFL, as he suffered a knee injury during OTAs in June and was placed on injured reserve.

However, it appears that Mata’afa is once again ready to go, as he took to both Twitter and Instagram to document his progress.

We still don’t really know what kind of role Mata’afa might have in the National Football League. At 250 pounds, he almost certainly can’t be a defensive tackle at this level, but could potentially be more of an edge player. In OTAs last year, the Vikings actually started him out with the linebackers before transitioning him back to the defensive line before his injury.

Hercules Mata’afa is a guy that I was pretty interested in seeing last season after he signed with Minnesota, and now, hopefully, we’ll finally get an opportunity to see what he’s capable of.