Vikings sign 14 to practice squad, could be bringing back Sean Mannion

On Wednesday, after all of the waiver claims were processed, the NFL started allowing teams to fill out their 16-man practice squads. The Minnesota Vikings filled 14 of those spots, and there was a bit of intrigue involved with some of the players that they didn’t sign.

Let’s start off with the 14 players that are now members of the practice squad, including some long-time veterans.

• RB Ameer Abdullah
• OL Zack Bailey
• FB Jake Bargas
• LB Tuf Borland
• TE Zach Davidson
• S Myles Dorn
• G Dakota Dozier (yes, he’s back)
• G Kyle Hinton
• WR Myron Mitchell
• CB Parry Nickerson
• WR Whop Philyor
• RB A.J. Rose Jr.
• CB Tye Smith
• DE Kenny Willekes

There was a bit of a wait to determine whether or not Davidson, the lone Vikings’ draft pick to be waived on Tuesday, would re-sign with the team or not, but he ultimately decided to stay in Minnesota.

The team was also going to re-sign DE Hercules Mata’afa, but then apparently changed their mind about doing so.

There was also word circulating that the Vikings were going to re-sign QB Jake Browning, but ultimately decided not to. . .although it appears that there’s a reason behind that. You see, earlier in the day, the Seattle Seahawks had announced that they were releasing QB Sean Mannion, who was still on their roster after final cuts yesterday. When word of Mannion’s release came out, it appeared that the Vikings’ interest in bringing back Browning dissipated, pointing to the team bringing the guy that’s backed up Kirk Cousins for the past two seasons back into the fold.

Mannion is entering his seventh year in the NFL and has yet to throw a regular-season touchdown pass. He played in one game for the Vikings in 2019 when the team could not change their playoff position and benched all their starters for the regular season finale. In that game, Mannion completed 12-of-21 passes for 126 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions.

With those moves, the Vikings still have two open spots on their practice squad. It is unknown at this time whether Mannion would be automatically placed on the 53-man roster, relegating rookie Kellen Mond to the #3 role, or if he would hang out on the practice squad until he was needed. My guess is that we’ll know no later than this time tomorrow what the answer to that question would be.