The long, strange saga of Brett Jones’ tenure with the Minnesota Vikings took another turn on Tuesday.
The team has announced that they were releasing Jones, but that Jones would be re-signing with the team’s practice squad. Jones was a part of the Vikings’ final cuts in Training Camp this season, but was promoted to the active roster after Pat Elflein was placed on injured reserve with a thumb injury. This marks the third time in the past two years that Jones has been released by the Vikings.
The Vikings acquired Jones from the New York Giants before the start of the 2018 season via a trade, and he wound up starting the first three games of that season at center. He has been with the Vikings for each of the past two years, but has gotten very few opportunities, which is strange given the issues the Vikings have had on the offensive line for what seems like forever.
Jones did start 13 games for the Giants in the season before he was traded to Minnesota, but he’s been mostly a backup during his time in purple. The fact that the Vikings are letting him go may be a sign that either Elflein or Dru Samia (or both) will be returning from their injuries sooner rather than later.