Austin Cutting – LS (Air Force)
This is a move that could be considered a head-scratcher since the Vikings already have a long snapper in Kevin McDermott on their roster. But there are several things that could be going on here, including a possible move to clear some salary cap space.
Heading into the draft, Minnesota was looking to make a move to clear cap room, but potential trades of Xavier Rhodes, Trae Waynes, and Kyle Rudolph never came to fruition.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Chris Tommason mentioned that cutting McDermott would save the Vikings $200,000 in salary cap space, which doesn’t seem like it would be worth the cost of shaking up the special teams unit.
On the other hand, McDermott’s tenure hasn’t exactly created consistent results with the special teams during his tenure and it could be a signal that Minnesota and new special teams coach, Marwaan Maloof, wants to shake things up moving forward.
As far as a scouting report, NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein says that Cutting checks most of the boxes for an NFL long snapper, but he has to work out a two-year service commitment to the Air Force.
As of now, Cutting’s plan is to serve the agreement prior to entering the NFL. So the Vikings would retain his rights for a potential debut in 2021.