The only surpirse here is the release of Moe Williams. Wondering if they feel the RB they picked up in the trade with the Browns can fill the special teams need?

Vikings Release 16 Players, Make Trade Sunday, September 2, 2001

The Minnesota Vikings released 16 players on Sunday afternoon to get their roster down to the NFL mandated 53 players and acquired two players from the Cleveland Browns.

The Vikings released the following players on Sunday:

Rahim Abdullah, LB Matt Cercone, TE Kenny Clark, WR Mike Crawford, LB Tim Engelhardt, DT Jay Humphrey, T Mike Malano, G DeWayne Miles, FB Romaro Miller, QB Shaun Paga, FB Brian Russell, S Craig Sauer, LB Fernando Smith, DT Moe Williams, RB Antonio Wilson, LB James Wofford, RB

The Vikings also placed rookie cornerback Carey Scott on injured reserve with an abdominal injury.

In another roster move, the Vikings acquired running back Travis Prentice and quarterback Spergon Wynn from the Cleveland Browns for undisclosed future draft choices.

The Vikings can establish a practice squad of five players on Monday afternoon beginning at 3:00 p.m. CT

-- the jim (thewitts1@home.com), September 02, 2001

Answers

The Vikings have signed Matt Cercone, Mike Crawford, Antonio Wilson and Brian Russell to the practice squad. They can still sign one more body there.

It really surprises me that the Vikes kept 7 WR's and only 6 LB's. I don't think any of the reserve linebackers on our roster played MLB either. Nelson backed up EMac and Wright, Chukwurah and Hall all play the other OLB spot. I would have to guess that Denny has something up his sleeve here. I expect a LB to materialize sometime this week, and one of our WR's will get the boot.

VU is reporting that an inside source says that there may be one or two players who were cut that may find their ways back on the roster.

I scanned the cut list and couldn't find any backers, but I did see a couple of Safties (Henry Jones & Carnell Lake) a DT (Russell Maryland) and an OG (Chad Ward) who would look mighty nice in purple and gold. I wanted the Vikes to draft Ward this year pretty badly, so I say stash him on the practice squad.

I like the trade that we made. Prentice is a good back, I remember him from his college days. Wynn looked good in a couple of NFLEurope games I saw this spring, and Bouman is starting to make me nervous.

Cortez Kennedy retired, I wonder what his trip is? Supposedly the Vikes had a two year $2 million deal on the table with incentives that could have pushed it to $3 and a promise to start. Oh well, I guess we just have to throw the young ones into the fire and let them learn. This might actually be a good thing.

I was surprised by the following cuts- M. Williams (But after the trade it made sense), M. Cercone over Bell, Fernando Smith over Hauzaga and Antonio Wilson over Ced James.

I am really excited to see Jeff Hauzaga play, he must have made a great impression this preseason, although I don't really recall seeing him in the two preseason games I watched.

The Kittens are going down next weekend!

Prediction Vikes 35 Panthers 20

IZ

-- IZ (izmorrow@yahoo.com), September 03, 2001.

Williams loss only really hurts on ST's prentice is a good young RB. Sucks that TEZ retired but at least we made a run at him. Goes to show denny sees the need at DT. A LB and a CB are still a possibility. Vikes Big 31-10 Weinke a not so pleasant homecoming. GO VIKES!!!!!

-- Tom (BMatheus@aol.com), September 03, 2001.

Henry Jones from the Bills?? Didn't know he was released. He's a good safety though in his mid30s now. I know he has been hurt a few times but he is gutsy and fast. He started all 16 games last year.

BTW, I am still here but rarely have much to add - anyone know where Clark is????????

GO VIKES!!!!!!!! Jan

-- Jan Zumbo (dvt99@aol.com), September 04, 2001.