90 Minnesota Vikings: Roster Breakdown

Kendall Wright

Since his electric years at Baylor and being drafted in the 1st round, Wright’s career has sputtered. By the end of his time in Tennessee, he had fallen completely out of their rotation, and was exiled to a journeyman’s career. His divorce with the team that drafted him was messy, and he never lived up to his dynamic draft expectations. But Wright has a chip on his shoulder – he felt he didn’t have enough snaps in Tennessee. In Chicago, he was the team’s leading receiver, perhaps due in part to his ability to go off-script on routes. It remains to be seen whether that will fit in with the Vikings, or banish him to the fringes like it did with the Titans.

Wright and Laquon Treadwell are in a direct competition for the third wide receiver privileges. This isn’t as big of a distinction as it may be on other teams, since Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen figure to dominate the target share, but it’s the best available prize. Wright’s experience in the slot may dictate this – he didn’t take a single outside snap in Chicago. If the Vikings want to line Diggs and Thielen up in the slot, they’d put Treadwell, an outside receiver, at WR3. With Diggs and Thielen on the outside, they’d put Wright in the slot. How often they do one or the other will no doubt be influenced by this competition.

Stacy Coley

Last preseason, we told the story of Stacy Coley’s lack of drive in high school, and the heart-to-heart that kicked him into high gear. He won a competition with Rodney Adams and a few other bubble players for a low-end roster spot, and will be the only receiver from that battle to return for week one of 2018. Coley’s NFL dream is alive, mostly as a result of electric preseason play last season. But his 2017 was fairly anticlimactic, only dressing for 4 games taking 47 snaps. Regardless, he’s the incumbent WR6, and will defend that title this August.

A few preseason highlights can propel the careers of players with few opportunities elsewhere, but Coley hasn’t been anointed with anything. His 2017 didn’t afford him the opportunity to earn any sort of longevity in purple. This season, Coley faces another battle royale of competition for the final roster spot or two, but he has a lot more career momentum than at this point last year where his passion for football was in question. Instead, the question is simply if he can outdo his peers and make it to the 53-man again. If there were a favorite for the 6th WR spot, it’d be Coley.

Tavarres King

King’s career as a Georgia Bulldog is defined by his relationship with his teammates. After fellow Bulldog Marlon Brown went down with an ACL injury, King wore his jersey en route to a 38-0 drubbing of rival Auburn. King stands 4th all-time in Georgia receiving, but his NFL career sputtered early. The team that drafted him, Denver, waived him by that October. Including the Broncos, he was on and off four different rosters before landing in New York, and even then, needed to wait for injuries to Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall and more before he saw significant playing time. He’d finally gotten his chance to prove himself, propelled by a memorable playoff reception, but a concussion derailed his final year in New York. This led to the expiration of his contract, but his momentum carried him to His next destination: Minnesota.

Tavarres King owes his NFL career to the Giants, the only team to give him a legitimate chance to prove what he can do in the NFL. He now squares off against Stacy Coley, a delayed Cayleb Jones and a number of undrafted free agents for a single roster spot, maybe two. King will have to draw on the only advantage he has, veteran experience, to hold off the youngsters and stay on the roster. Should he miss the roster, it could be difficult to see him gaining any new opportunities off of the successes in 2016 and 2017 seasons.

As usual, the Vikings will bring 16 offensive linemen into camp and keep just over half of them. This season, there’s really only one position up for grabs, but it could be either right guard or right tackle, depending on what they want to do with Mike Remmers. That means that both guards and tackles are competing for a potential start. Not to mention the loss of Joe Berger and Jeremiah Sirles creating opportunities for younger hopefuls. This season, the Vikings are committing even more fully to a zone scheme, which requires everyone to be lean and agile – by big OL standards, at least.

Rashod Hill

Rashod Hill is a well-known name to most Vikings fans, but he faces his most valuable opportunity yet in 2018. After a year on Jacksonville’s practice squad, Hill declined the Jaguars’ offer and chose to pursue a better opportunity in Minnesota. He showed out in the final, meaningless game of 2016. In the ensuing preseason, Hill managed to kick T.J. Clemmings out of the backup tackle role for good, solidifying himself in that spot for 2017, starting 7 games and playing in 11. He’s entering 2018 on a new conditioning grind, hoping to match up better with what the Vikings want in a tackle.

Hill now gets to compete for the starting right tackle job outright, blowing his pre-draft expectations away. He’s unlikely to beat out Mike Remmers, but if he shows himself to be a better tackle than anyone else is at guard, Remmers could move to RG and give Hill the start. This is arguably the most likely scenario. He’s also in direct competition with Brian O’Neill for this spot for the long term. The question about Hill isn’t whether he can hit is ceiling, at this point, it’s how high the 26-year old’s ceiling can go.

Brian O’Neill

The 2nd round pick out of Pitt has a familiar story – O’Neill played tight end in college until moving to left tackle, but his athleticism allowed him to flourish. So an inexperienced but athletic tackle convert from Pitt may be a familiar sight, but O’Neill has more to boast about. He was still used as a sneaky weapon in clever Pittsburgh play designs and relishes those opportunities. But to become a good left tackle, O’Neill had to put on roughly 35 pounds, eating five to six daily meals including 3 A.M. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to bulk up. But he produced well in college and his natural athletic talent earned him a high draft pick, and thus, a chance to be the Vikings’ future at the position.

O’Neill will compete in the short term for the starting right tackle job or even swing tackle duties. Either way, he and Rashod Hill will start in direct competition and with the same immediate stakes. However, in the long term, O’Neill will have a chance to take long-term right tackle duties away from Mike Remmers or even left tackle duties from Riley Reiff. If he can be a successful in pass protection in the pros as he was in college, O’Neill has the tools to be an NFL mainstay. In this preseason, watching two possible right tackles trying to gain weight and lose weight respectively will be fascinating.

Tom Compton

Compton is known as a native of Rosemount, MN and friend of Kirk Cousins. They grew that friendship after Washington took a chance on the small school flyer out of South Dakota. He spent some time on Washington’s practice squad, ultimately earning starting honors in the midst of a problematic 2014 season. He followed Kyle Shanahan to Atlanta (where Kirk Cousins went to Falcons playoff games to cheer him on), then took a detour through Chicago before reuniting with Cousins in Minnesota.

Compton is eyeing a starting spot again as he continues to scratch and claw his way out of the hole that his small school reputation put him in. He brings a baseline to the right guard position – no young players will play until they’re better than Tom Compton. He’ll mostly compete as a right guard, but his experience at right tackle gives him an all-but-certain path to the roster. Compton has a chance to fend off younger late-round players and start, or play in the place of whoever gets injured.

Colby Gossett

Gossett is the latest in a string of Appalachian State Mountaineer linemen to go pro, in part, he says, thanks to a “nasty” mentality on the field. While he was exclusively a right guard for 46 consecutive starts, coaches tried him at left guard at the Senior Bowl, allowing him to prove an extra dimension of flexibility. This, in addition to his school’s reputation, was enough to get him drafted. It’s hard to say if he would have been drafted higher had he gotten opportunities with a bigger school, but App State was clearly kind enough to get him this far. A lot of players end up having their careers derailed by an injury or problematic roster clogging, but Gossett proved immune to such issues.

While many day 3 rookies are simply hoping for a spot on the team, Gossett has landed in a spot where he can aim higher. This may not be because of a disconnect between his skill and his draft position, but rather, the room he’s entering. With only four of the five starting linemen decided, and only castoffs and other late round youngsters in front of him, there’s a non-negligible chance Gossett ends up earning the starting right guard job. It’s wide open competition, but even if he loses he’ll have a chance to earn a depth role. A disastrous preseason could end with him being cut, but it would require him to fall beneath some surprising names.

Danny Isidora

Last year, Isidora was simply another day 3 rookie vying for a spot. He was the only good lineman on an otherwise dismal Miami unit, and eventually settled in the depth of the interior line, even starting a few games and putting some tape out there. He dealt with a litany of setbacks during his college career, including coach firings, injuries and never quite gaining momentum until his senior year. But once he finally got a decent opportunity, he excelled enough to end up in the NFL. The Vikings drafted him, and kept him on as a backup.

Now, Isidora’s role has a chance to expand. If he can outplay Tom Compton and Colby Gossett, he could start at right guard. Unfortunately, he also has to outplay Hill and O’Neill to keep Mike Remmers at right tackle. If Isidora is to get playing time, he’ll need to show he’s grown beyond his depth-level pedigree. Like many others, a catastrophic preseason could leave him outside the final roster, but it would be a surprise. As for now, Isidora is a de facto Viking with the opportunity to be even more.

Mack Brown

Mack Brown has made the most of every opportunity he’s been given, though, those opportunities have been sparse. At Florida, Brown performed mostly relief duty for starter Matt Jones. Brown made it into the NFL as a Texans rookie minicamp tryout much like C.J. Ham. He made the team, but was waived soon after. The Redskins picked him up, and while bouncing on and off the roster, ended up scoring some highlights in Washington. Washington waived him to make room for more offensive line depth last season, and the Vikings scooped him up.

Brown will be seeking the 3rd running back spot in a free-for-all between him and two undrafted free agents. A solidified roster spot and spot duty would be a peak for his career, where he’s often been relegated to “just a guy”. If cut, Brown probably has a chance to sneak onto a roster later in the season in injury relief, and would bounce around the league that way until eventually flaming out.

Roc Thomas

Roc Thomas impressed a bit in the SEC, but an injury sidelined him before he could win Auburn’s starting job for good. Future draftees Kerryon Johnson and Peyton Barber rose to the occasion, making for a crowded backfield. Rather than drown in the committee, he transferred to Jacksonville State in somewhat of a messy divorce. With the Gamecocks, Thomas’s natural talent and versatility shined. There was no situation he couldn’t handle. But, as a small school prospect now, he fell out of the draft. He signed with the Vikings soon after the draft concluded.

Thomas’s versatility could help him secure the RB3 spot and more importantly, more rotational snaps. At both schools, he was used in pass catching, short yardage and classic rushing situations. It’s interesting to think about what would have happened if he took on that deep Tigers backfield, and now we’ll get to see him compete for his NFL life in a similarly cramped situation.

Mike Boone

Boone’s undyingly positive attitude and work ethic made him stand out at Cincinnati, though only one Bearcat (Korey Cunningham) was drafted in 2018. As a two-star wide receiver prospect from high school, Boone transitioned to RB throughout college. This left him undersized, but ahead of the curve in the receiving game. In college, that can work out, but against elevated athletes in the NFL, it remains to be seen if he’ll hold up Boone has hit the weight room, demolished the combine, and now has his NFL chance.

Boone is the third, but not final, participant in this year’s RB3 sweepstakes to replace Jerick McKinnon. All three contestants are receiving back types, and while Boone’s size leaves him undersized compared to your average NFL running back, he fits right in among this group of scat backs. Boone will have to utilize his electric playmaking ability to supplant the other two and secure his place on an NFL roster, lest he fall to the fringes in a way he didn’t for most of his college career.