Minnesota Vikings Roster Cuts Tracker 2024: Keeping tabs on all of the moves to get to 53

The Minnesota Vikings are set to make their run toward a Super Bowl with the third season of head coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah's tenure in the 2024 season. The 2025 season was viewed as the starting point for that run, but don't sleep on the 2024 season.

Adofo-Mensah and his staff will need to work on reducing the 53-man roster to 53 players to start the Sam Darnold era of Vikings football. Those decisions will become easier with the Vikings' final preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

With this tracker, you can follow every single cut the Vikings make and the process in which they got there.

Important details for 2024 roster cuts

Instead of having three different cutdown thresholds, the National Football League has changed things to allow more players to get playing time before the 53-man roster is finalized. The official cutdown day is Tuesday, August 24th at 3 p.m. CT. There are a lot of nuances to the rules and you can get yourself familiar with them here.

Released: When a vested veteran (those who have accrued four seasons in the NFL) is cut from a team. These players are not required to pass through waivers and can immediately become unrestricted free agents. Sometimes that means they'll sign with another team. Other times, teams can release these veterans and re-sign them after they've placed other players on injured reserve.

Waived: Players who have not accrued four seasons in the NFL are waived instead of being released. 31 NFL teams will have a chance to claim waived players on their 53-man roster by 11:00 a.m. CT on August 28. If players are not claimed on waivers, they become unrestricted free agents. Waiver priority this time of year is determined by team records from the previous season. The team with the worst record will get the top waiver priority, in this case, the C arolina Panthers. The Kansas City Chiefs will have the lowest waiver priority as Super Bowl LVIII champions.

Waived/injured: If these players clear waivers they will revert to the Raiders’ injured reserve list. They can opt to spend the season with Las Vegas on IR or reach an injury settlement with the team, which will pay them for the number of weeks they'll miss with injury and make them an unrestricted free agent. Players who opt for the latter route can rejoin the team later in the season after they're healthy.

Injured reserve: Up until this year, a player had to make the initial 53-man roster to be placed on IR and be eligible to return later in the season. Now, up to two players can be placed on IR on the day of final cuts (Tuesday) and be designated to return. Teams still have the option to carry injured players on the 53-man roster and some good reasons to do so. First, if a player is placed on IR, he is forced to miss at least four games. Second, if a player makes the initial 53 and is placed on IR on the following day, there are eight designations to return from IR — and another two for playoff teams.

Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list: Players on the Active/PUP list can be placed on the Reserve/PUP list in a move to get the roster down to 53 players. Players who are moved to the Reserve/PUP list do not count against the 53-man roster. They can attend team meetings, and use team facilities for rehab, but are not allowed to practice for four weeks. After four weeks, another 21-day window opens up, where the player can practice and be activated. If they’re not activated in those 21 days, they must be placed on injured reserve for the rest of the season.

Reserve/Non-football injury/illness (NFI) lists : Players placed on either Reserve/NFI lists have to go through the same process as players on the Reserve/PUP list. They do not count toward the 53-man roster. They can go to team meetings and use facilities for rehab, but they’re not allowed to participate in practice for four weeks. After that, a four-week period opens where they can return to practice and the team can choose to activate the player. If the player isn’t activated at the end of the second four-week period, they’ll remain on injured reserve for the rest of the season. The big difference between the NFI and PUP lists is that teams can withhold a portion of a player’s salary if they’re placed on the NFI lists.

Reserve/Retired list: Players who are placed on this list have retired from the NFL. This is a pretty rare transaction that you typically wouldn't see in a move to get to 53 players.

Reserve/Did Not Report list: Players who are placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list have left their team.

Reserve/Suspended list: Players who are placed on the Reserve/Suspended list have to serve out an NFL suspension. Players on this list do not count toward 53-man roster limits and are not paid their base salary.

Minnesota Vikings position battles

There have been a lot of interesting position battles for the Vikings this offseason. Quarterback was thought to be one of them but J.J. McCarthy suffering a torn meniscus prevented that from becoming a battle.

These are the other position battles that still need an answer:

• RB3
• WR3
• WR4
• WR5/6
• TE3
• OG4
• EDGE4
• EDGE5/6
• DT3
• DT4
• DT5/6
• ILB3/4
• CB5/6
• S5

Minnesota Vikings on the roster bubble

The Vikings have a lot of questions on the back end of the roster. About 43 players have their spots on the roster locked down with the rest working to make the final 53.

• QB Jaren Hall
• QB Matt Corral
• RB Myles Gaskin
• RB DeWayne McBride
• RB Mohamed Ibrahim
• WR Trent Sherfield
• WR Jeshaun Jones
• WR Lucky Jackson
• WR Thayer Thomas
• WR Malik Knowles
• WR Justin Hall
• TE Nick Muse
• TE Robert Tonyan
• TE N'Keal Harry
• TE Sammis Reyes
• TE Neal Johnson
• OG/C Dan Feeney
• OG/C Michael Jurgens
• OG/C Henry Byrd
• OG/C Matt Cindric
• OG Tyrese Robinson
• OG Spencer Rolland
• OG Chuck Filiaga
• OT Doug Nester
• DT Jonah Williams
• DT Jerry Tillery
• DT Jalen Redmond
• DT Taki Taimani
• DT James Lynch
• DT Tyler Manoa
• EDGE Pat Jones II
• EDGE Jihad Ward
• EDGE Gabriel Murphy
• EDGE Owen Porter
• EDGE Bo Richter
• EDGE Andre Carter II
• ILB Brian Asamoah II
• ILB Kamu Grugier-Hill
• ILB Dallas Gant
• ILB Jordan Kunaszyk
• CB Dwight McGlothern
• CB Fabian Moreau
• CB Nahshon Wright
• CB A.J. Green III
• CB Duke Shelley
• CB Jaylin Williams
• S Lewis Cine
• S Jay Ward
• S Bobby McCain

Players Vikings have placed on Injured Reserve

• QB J.J. McCarthy
• CB Mekhi Blackmon
• CB NaJee Thompson
• OG Jeremy Flax

Players Vikings placed on PUP list

• TE T.J. Hockenson

NFL practice squad rules

The Vikings can construct their practice squad with players of varying experience. Here is who they can add.

• Players who do not have an accrued season (I.E. rookies).
  
  
• Players who were on the active roster for fewer than nine regular-season games during their only accrued season(s).
  
  
• Up to four players per team with no more than two accrued seasons.
  
  
• Up to six players per team with no accrued season limitations (I.E. vested veterans).

Each player on the practice squad will receive a minimum salary of $12,500 if you have less than two accrued seasons and $16,800 if they have at least two. The maximum salary per week is $21,300 for a maximum salary of $362,100.

Related: Predicting the Minnesota Vikings practice squad: which UDFAs make the cut?