Kyle Hinton to Active Roster; Rudy to IR

Well, this weekend’s game against the Lions maybe a meaningless game for most people, but it may not be for the Vikings Kyle Hinton, who was just moved to the active roster after being ‘protected’ on the practice squad a couple weeks ago.

All that sounds like the Vikings are pleased with his development and want to get a look at him in a somewhat real game situation. Last time I heard, the Vikings were looking at him at center, but I suspect they may be more interested in him at guard on Sunday. He hasn’t been named a starter yet, but I can’t imagine why they’d move him to the active roster for the last game unless they wanted to play him.

At the same time, the Vikings have also put Kyle Rudolph on IR, ending his season. Rudolph hasn’t been active the past couple games, and not much reason to push him back into action when the Vikings are out of the playoff hunt.

Of course with Irv Smith Jr. and Tyler Conklin seeming to do just fine, and Rudolph a good size salary cap hit, there is some speculation brewing that we may have seen Kyle Rudolph’s last game as a Viking. We’ll see. It wouldn’t be surprising if he was traded next year - I believe he was garnering some trade interest this year as well, but obviously nothing materialized.

Hinton was the 253rd pick in the draft this year, the Vikings 15th overall. He played his college football at Washburn, a D-II school, and was a man among boys at left tackle there. Here is a link to his draft profile. He’s on the small side for a guard - he’s listed as 6’2”, 295 lbs. with 32.5” arm length, but as athletic as they come and seemingly pretty strong for a rookie too.

Best of luck to Kyle Hinton if he does indeed start at guard this weekend. It seems to me the Vikings could use a quality starter at guard. Maybe.