Minnesota Vikings announce first wave of 2018 roster cuts

There were some somewhat surprising names in the first wave of players being released by the Minnesota Vikings to get to 53 players, including Jake Wieneke.

Now is one of the hardest times of the year for NFL franchises, including the Minnesota Vikings. Many players fighting hard to make the team’s 53-man roster will find themselves without a job, hoping to make a practice squad or catch on with another team.

Sadly, the first wave of cuts includes a pair of players who appeared to be on the cusp of making the final 53-man roster and some other talented players who hopefully will get another opportunity to prove themselves at the NFL level.

Here are the first 14 players included in the first wave of cuts by the Minnesota Vikings according to the team’s official website:

• Kareem Are, guard
• Kaleb Johnson, guard
• Cayleb Jones, wide receiver
• Dieugot Joseph, offensive tackle
• Trevon Mathis, cornerback
• Kobe McCrary, running back
• Luke McNitt, fullback
• Mike Needham, linebacker
• Peter Pujals, quarterback
• J.P. Quinn, center
• Korey Robertson, wide receiver
• Brett Taylor, linebacker
• Jake Wieneke, wide receiver
• Antwoine Williams, linebacker

The two most surprising cuts during this first wave of releases have to be Jake Wieneke and Antwoine Williams.

There was hope that Wieneke would do enough to impress the Vikings to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. The official Vikings website shows him as catching 7 passes during the preseason, gaining 58 yards and scoring one touchdown. Also. many local fans were cheering him on since he was a Maple Grove native, reminding folks of Adam Thielen‘s success story.

Also, Antwoine Williams was part of a rather shallow group of linebackers and didn’t seem to do much to mess up his chances of being the fifth or sixth linebacker on the roster behind Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks, Ben Gedeon, and Eric Wilson. It will be interesting to see what direction the team goes following the release.

Best of luck to all of these players. Hopefully, their dreams of playing football at the professional level don’t end here. Plus, there is always the chance that these players could still land with the practice squad of the Minnesota Vikings or moved to the injured/reserve list if possible.