3 Vikings candidates to be cut going into the summer
By Kristen Wong
Who’s in and who’s out for the Minnesota Vikings this summer? Here are three potential cut candidates in 2023.
The Minnesota Vikings are looking to take over the NFC North with Packers’ Aaron Rodgers out of the picture. They still have quite a few key roster decisions to make this offseason, and the question looming over everyone’s head is whether Kirk Cousins will be extended.
For the short term, however, the Vikings will be retaining Cousins for at least the 2023 season and seek to elevate the pieces around him for a playoff-contending campaign.
A vicious bloodbath of cap casualties followed by a solid draft have put the Vikings on a seemingly straight track to regain the division, yet with several months to go before the start of the season, Minnesota’s roster could still see some shocking chances.
Here are three potential cut candidates in the summer.
Vikings cut candidate No. 3: Jonathan Bullard
Defensive end Jonathan Bullard is entering his eighth NFL season and second with the Vikings, and he’ll be competing for a 53-man roster spot against players with more upside than he has.
The 2016 third-round pick joined Minnesota in 2022 and played in 12 games; he generated just five quarterback pressures and finished with a measly 57.3 Pro Football Focus grade.
Despite having the potential to become a full-time starter in the wake of Dalvin Tomlinson’s departure last offseason, Bullard made only a minimal impact on the Vikings as a rotational piece in the trenches.
Coaches will need to see vast improvement from him if he wants a starting job, but his roster spot isn’t safe, either. After the Vikings took Jacqueline Roy in the fifth round of the this year’s draft, Bullard has officially been put on high alert.
The NFL journeyman was fine in a rotational role last year, but fine won’t cut it in Brian Flores’ new-look defensive squad.