Roster Trimming

[hermes]

First round of cuts to get it down to 75
http://www.kare11.com/sports/sports_art ... 9&catid=24

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- The Minnesota Vikings have trimmed their roster by releasing kicker Taylor Mehlhaff, cornerback Derrick Roberson, running back Antone Smith and guard Nick Urban.

The cuts were announced Tuesday, the NFL's deadline to reduce rosters to 75 players. Teams must be down to the regular-season limit of 53 players by Saturday. The most pressing decision Minnesota must make then is which backup quarterbacks to keep, behind Brett Favre.

Urban was signed in May after a rookie tryout camp. He played tackle at Division II Winona State, about two hours from the Twin Cities.

[deeney0]

Sad to see Mehlhaff go, narry a roster in existence that isn't improved by the addition of another Badger.

[Devilzsidewalk]

lets get Ron Dayne in here!

[deeney0]

Hell yeah

[hermes]

http://www.examiner.com/x-1723-Minnesot ... e-final-53

The cut entire list goes as follows:
QB: John David Booty
RB: Ian Johnson
FB: Nehemiah Broughton
OL: Drew Radovich, Chris Clark, Brian Daniels, Juan Garcia, Andy Kemp
WR Nick Moore, Bobby Williams, Vinny Perretta
TE: Garrett Mills, Jake Nordin
DL: Otis Grigsby, Tremaine Johnson, Antoine Holmes, Martail Burnett
LB: David Herron
DB: Marcus McCauley, De'von Hall, Marcus Walker, Colt Anderson.

i hope we can get Booty and Garret Mills back for the practice squad
ian johnson too, i like him

[deeney0]

Andy Kemp too? I'm starting to doubt Childress's commitment to Badger patronage.

[hermes]

at least Albert Young made it

GO HAWKEYES

[gjn19]

Some thoughts on the final roster.

- Great value pickup of Lichtensteiger. Multi-Position Offensive line with real upside (remember, he was drafted as center 2 rounds before our current starting center).

- Our o-line is paper-thin. This could really mean trouble, when you also add to that 2 of the 5 starters have 0 experience in the NFL. Instead of 8, I would have kept 9 or 10 (and waived a WR instead). How long is Favre going to last behind such a thin o-line?

- Surprised that both Jaymar Johnson and Darius Renaud made the team. Both will not see alot of playing time in regular offense (and they will likely split this time) and it does not make sense to keep both for return duties. I'd much rather would have kept Radovic on the roster

- Great that Albert Young made it. While he is not the runner that Ian Johnson is, he's a very good blocker and good pass catcher. He won't see many minutes though.

- I'm happy Herron was finally cut. Onatolu can do what he does, and then some...but i still probably would have kept herron, because he has more experience.

- we are quite thing at LB in general, having in-experienced backups mainly

- the same can be said for our DB's, especially safeties. If either Johnson or Williams goes down, we are in deep problem.

- sane move to keep TJack. Booty has nothing to be excited about. I also think that TJack should be number 2 on the depth chart...sage didn't show me anything that TJack coulnd't do...and missed some easy throws.

In general, i think our starters are top-notch, but our backups are a little too in-experienced for my liking. We better stay healthy.

[Worm Guts]

- Our o-line is paper-thin. This could really mean trouble, when you also add to that 2 of the 5 starters have 0 experience in the NFL. Instead of 8, I would have kept 9 or 10 (and waived a WR instead). How long is Favre going to last behind such a thin o-line?

- Surprised that both Jaymar Johnson and Darius Renaud made the team. Both will not see alot of playing time in regular offense (and they will likely split this time) and it does not make sense to keep both for return duties. I'd much rather would have kept Radovic on the roster

8 lineman is enough for depth. Keeping 9 or 10 doesn't mean anything if the top 8 aren't getting it done. As far as choosing between an extra lineman (who won't play) or an extra receiver(who also won't play), I think you take whoever has the potential to get actual playing time in the future. Both Reynaud and Jaymar Johnson played very well this preseason.

[hermes]

i guess they kept both raynuad and johnson for more options, they put a focus on special teams, since we sucked bad last year

- sane move to keep TJack. Booty has nothing to be excited about. I also think that TJack should be number 2 on the depth chart...sage didn't show me anything that TJack coulnd't do...and missed some easy throws.

i'll pretend i didn't read that

[buckybadgerfan]

Funny how Vike's confidence in Sage rose-n-fell with one preseason game.

But yea... Stupid rookie play on the part of a nine year vet to stare down your flanker on an out pattern then make a weak throw for the strong safety to jump.

[buckybadgerfan]

i guess they kept both raynuad and johnson for more options, they put a focus on special teams, since we sucked bad last year

- sane move to keep TJack. Booty has nothing to be excited about. I also think that TJack should be number 2 on the depth chart...sage didn't show me anything that TJack coulnd't do...and missed some easy throws.

i'll pretend i didn't read that

Wise because he is the QB with most experience in the Viking's offense and has outplayed Sage and Booty. His athleticism also offers a changeup at the QB. With Brett, Sage and Booty you essentially have three versions (good, safe and raw) of an immobile pocket passer.

[buckybadgerfan]

One more thought on the Vikes QB situation.

I was never on the TJack bandwagon but I think people unfairly undervalue him just as many overvalue Brett Favre. Don't get me wrong--Brett is a great QB but it seems the immobile pocket passers get the benefit of a doubt when they make bone-headed plays while mobile quarterbacks are sometimes criticized for "giving up" when they run. Either way both TJack and Favre can extend plays (TJack with his wheels and Favre with his craftiness).

IMO, the combination of Favre and TJack brings memories of Favre's rookie season when he played with a strong-armed mobile QB named Don Majkowski. I'm not saying that TJack is a Don Majkowski yet but he has begun to show more patience and the knack for looking downfield while he extends plays with his feet. People forget that the Magik Man was on the verge of stardom before tearing up his shoulder and losing his job to Favre. And like TJack the biggest knock on Majkowski was that he probably gives up on plays too early. Before his injury Don brought the heart-attack Pack a 10 win season and memorable wins (even against the invincible 49ers). Some say that had Don not gone down with an injury the Favre Era in Green Bay may not have been and the Magik Man could have been a HOF type player.

[hermes]

we should have a qb by committee

[gjn19]

8 lineman is enough for depth. Keeping 9 or 10 doesn't mean anything if the top 8 aren't getting it done. As far as choosing between an extra lineman (who won't play) or an extra receiver(who also won't play), I think you take whoever has the potential to get actual playing time in the future. Both Reynaud and Jaymar Johnson played very well this preseason.

I would agree that 8 man are enought depth, if our o-line was not build with 2 starters with a combined 0 starts in the nfl. If one of them does not perform, another o-line man goes down, we are in quite some trouble. also, on PS, we just replaced radovich (multi-position player) with cooper (center only), aggravating the situation. it's not the biggest worry i have. safety is much more troublesome to me though.

I agree that Jaymar and Darius played well in pre-season, but they are essentially the same player. why keep the same player twice, and they won't even get backup minutes? it's wasted roster space. Our special teams sucked in coverage last year, not in returning...