Vikings place TE Ben Ellefson on injured reserve

When we brought you yesterday’s initial injury reports for the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys, we mentioned that Vikings’ tight end Ben Ellefson had aggravated an injury in practice. Whatever he wound up doing, it’s going to be enough to cost him the next three games.

The Vikings have placed Ellefson on injured reserve, meaning that he will miss Sunday night’s game against Dallas, as well as the team’s upcoming matchups against the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers at a minimum.

Ellefson was claimed off of waivers from the Jacksonville Jaguars after this year’s final cuts. A native of Hawley, Minnesota who played his college ball at North Dakota State, Ellefson hasn’t put up big numbers in the Vikings’ offense this season. . .in fact, he hasn’t put up any numbers, as he’s only been targeted in the passing game once in the four games he’s been active for. His greater value to the team has been as a blocker, and that’s a role that he’s done a very solid job at thus far.

This could open the door for the Vikings to bring Luke Stocker from the practice squad to the active roster on a permanent basis for at least the next three games. Stocker was signed to the practice squad just before the game against Carolina and was elevated to the main roster after the Vikings declared Ellefson out on the final injury report. He could provide the blocking that Ellefson would normally bring to the table for the Vikings’ offense.

Once the Vikings make a roster move to replace Ellefson on the active roster, we will let you know what that move is.