Now that the Minnesota Vikings have started making moves to get their roster down to 53 players before the 3:00 PM Central Tuesday deadline, we want to take an opportunity to go over some of the rules that the Vikings (and the other 31 NFL teams that don’t matter as much) have to follow when getting their rosters reduced. Hopefully, this can alleviate any confusion that anyone might have when it comes to certain moves.
Released vs Waived
Over the next couple of days, you’ll hear about players getting both waived and released by their teams. There is a difference between the two transactions, and it affects where those players may, eventually, find themselves.
Any player with less than four accrued seasons of experience will be waived by their team. That means that they are subject to the league’s waiver process, where teams with worse records have the ability to get those players first.
Right now, and through the first three weeks of the 2025 regular season, the waiver priority order mirrors the selection order from the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. That means the Tennessee Titans occupy the #1 spot on the waiver priority list. Basically, if a team waives a player and the Titans want him, they get him.
The Vikings, on the other hand, sit at #24 on the waiver priority list. So, if the Vikings want to put a waiver claim in on a player, they need to hope that none of the 23 teams on the list ahead of them claim that same player, or else they’re out of luck.
If a player has four or more seasons of accrued experience, on the other hand, they get released. That means that they immediately become a free agent and can sign with any other team that makes them an offer. So when the Vikings terminated Brett Rypien’s contract, he immediately became a free agent.
Those rules mean that the following players would be subject to waivers if they were let go by the team:
- WR Jordan Addison
- OLB Tyler Batty
- CB Mekhi Blackmon
- QB Max Brosmer
- OL Henry Byrd
- OLB Chaz Chambliss
- RB Ty Chandler
- WR Tai Felton
- WR Donate Fleming
- OL Michael Gonzalez
- RB Xazavian Halladay
- S Kahlef Hailassie
- OL Joe Huber
- DL Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins
- OL Donovan Jackson
- S Theo Jackson
- WR Lucky Jackson
- WR Jeshaun Jones
- WR Tim Jones
- OL Michael Jurgens
- LB Austin Keys
- LB Kobe King
- OL Vershon Lee
- RB Jordan Mason
- LB Dorian Mausi
- QB J.J. McCarthy
- CB Dwight McGlothern
- OLB Gabriel Murphy
- WR Jalen Nailor
- TE Bryson Nesbitt
- S Gervarrius Owens
- LB Ivan Pace Jr.
- WR Myles Price
- DL Jalen Redmond
- K Will Reichard
- TE Giovanni Ricci
- OLB Bo Richter
- DL Levi Drake Rodriguez
- OL Walter Rouse
- RB Zavier Scott
- DL Taki Taimani
- WR Thayer Thomas
- OLB Dallas Turner
- CB Zemaiah Vaughn
- S Jay Ward
- OL Leroy Watson IV
- DL Elijah Williams
- P Ryan Wright
- TE Ben Yurosek
Now, obviously, you can just ignore a few of those names. . .the Vikings aren’t waiving Jordan Addison or Dallas Turner or Ivan Pace Jr. or anything. . .but if they did, those players would be subject to the waiver process. Any other player let go by the Vikings at this point would be a release. I believe that’s the full list, in any case.
Physically Unable to Perform
Before training camp started, the Vikings placed tight end Gavin Bartholomew on the Physically Unable to Perform List, as he is dealing with what is being termed a “significant” back injury. He has not counted against the 90-man roster to this point, and since he is likely going to start the season on the PUP List, he will not count against the 53-man roster, either. A player on the PUP List has to miss the first four games of the season, per league rules, but it sounds like Bartholomew’s issue will keep him out for longer than that.
Injured Reserve/Designated to Return
Generally, when a team places a player on injured reserve during the preseason, their season is over unless the team releases them with an injury settlement later on. A rule change before last season allows for a team making their final roster cuts (ie. after their final preseason game) to designate up to two players that they can place on injured reserve with a designation to return during the season. Those two players would count against their allotment of players who are allowed to return from IR. This could be the route that the Vikings take with Jalen Nailor, depending on his hand injury. If the team does place him (or anyone else) on IR, then those players don’t count against the 53-man roster. This is a situation we’ll need to keep an eye on.
Suspended Players
Jordan Addison is set to be suspended for the first three games of the 2025 season following the settlement of his DUI case a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, he will not count against the 53-man roster while he is suspended.
International Player Partnership Players
The Vikings have had 91 players on their roster for most of the preseason because they had an exemption for punter Oscar Chapman, as Chapman is part of the NFL’s International Player Partnership program. If the Vikings waive Chapman as part of their roster moves and nobody claims him, they can get an exemption to bring him back to the practice squad, expanding their practice squad to 17 players. If they decided that he won the punting competition over Ryan Wright, then the team would not have an exemption for him. . .he would just be a part of the 53-man roster like any other player.
Post-Roster Deadline Moves
Again, the deadline for teams to get their rosters down to 53 players comes at 3:00 PM Central on Tuesday, 26 August. Once all of those moves are completed, teams can submit waiver claims for those players subject to the waiver process for the purpose of adding them to their 53-man rosters. If a team is awarded one of these players through waivers, they must make a corresponding move to put them on the big roster.
The deadline for making these waiver claims is 11:00 AM Central on Wednesday, 27 August. Once teams have been contacted about which players they have been or have not been awarded on waivers, teams can start signing anyone who went unclaimed onto their practice squad. Practice squads can have up to 16 players. Ten of those players must have between zero and two accrued seasons of experience, while the other six spots can be occupied by players with any level of NFL experience. And, again, if a team brings in a player who qualifies under the International Player Partnership Program, their practice squad can contain 17 players.
That should be everything you need to know as teams around the league start making moves and trimming their rosters ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. If anything is unclear, feel free to throw a question or two down in the comments section and we’ll see if we can’t answer them.
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