53-Man Roster Projection: Post-Draft Edition

[vike daddy]

On Tuesday, Alec Lewis of the Athletic revealed that Minnesota special teams ace NaJee Thompson has switched his primary position from cornerback to safety. Assuming Thompson makes the Vikings' final 2024 roster because of his special teams excellence, Lewis Cine can now battle for one fewer spot on the team's safety depth chart.

Thompson is now part of a safety group that includes Cine, Harrison Smith, Cam Bynum, Josh Metellus, Theo Jackson, and Jay Ward. During the next few weeks, Minnesota will have to decide how many safeties it wants to keep on its final 53-man roster for the upcoming regular season. In 2022, the Vikings only kept four safeties on their final roster, and last season, they kept six from the position group.

Six safeties feels like the absolute max Minnesota would keep on its final roster for the upcoming 2024 season. Assuming Thompson, Smith, Bynum, and Metellus are all locks to make the team, that leaves two spots (at best) for Cine, Jackson, and Ward to fight for this summer.

Cine is running out of time to prove he can make an impact for Minnesota, which he'd likely do by staying on the field and impressing a coaching staff likely to focus more on Ward, their 2023 fourth-round pick. If things don't go well during training camp and the preseason this summer, then his tenure with the Vikings will likely come to an end.

https://thevikingage.com/posts/lewis-cine-making-2024-minnesota-vikings-more-unlikely?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR19TTXKLFD9oCg9fqm03u3dtkP98kV__9dSv3R1vuiwpfIpUhGY6llws2E_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

[vike daddy]

In four games this spring with the Renegades, Jalen Redmond paced the league in several areas.

He posted five sacks in four games and compiled the highest pass-rush win rate (16%) among qualifying interior defensive linemen as the No. 1 player at his position, boasting a 90.3 Pro Football Focus defensive grade.

At 6-foot-2, 291 pounds, Redmond is on the smaller side for interior defensive linemen — but his speed can be exploited at the NFL level as well.

NFL.com lead draft analyst Lance Zierlein projected Redmond to be drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 draft — aligning with his consensus rank as the 158th-best player in the draft.

https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/minnesota-vikings/jalen-redmond-signed-devron-harper-news/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2DHlF2w6Pnz9fiFkgzIKnB7HzfHSM9Ma1KFsaUlBbZaBhbfd2V6vLJ3Yc_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw

 

[swede700]

It does seem like we're reverting to smaller and smaller players at both DL and LB.  We're going for speed over bulk.  Not much room for a Ted Washington in today's NFL. 

[SemperFeist]

1 hour ago, swede700 said:

Not much room for a Ted Washington in today's NFL. 

Give it a few years. Everything is cyclical. 

[swede700]

15 minutes ago, SemperFeist said:

Give it a few years. Everything is cyclical. 

It generally is, but we'll have to see...the importance of the RB is supposed to come back soon too, but it doesn't look to be that way anytime in the near future.

[viking]

2 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Give it a few years. Everything is cyclical. 

To be honest I thought the Vikings were on to something when we had Dalvin Tomlinson & Michael Piece on the roster.

 

I can see in the future having two/even three excellent NTs to control the line of scrimmage while having the other defenders as kind of position-less Josh Metellus types flying around on the back end 

[SteelKing728]

2 hours ago, swede700 said:

It generally is, but we'll have to see...the importance of the RB is supposed to come back soon too, but it doesn't look to be that way anytime in the near future.

When you have QBs like Jackson, Allen, Hurts, Richardson, Murray and Daniels that can handle 15 carries a game, RB importance isn't coming back soon I think.