Vikings Sign Linebacker David Reese II, Waive Safety Brian Cole II
The Vikings have signed rookie linebacker David Reese II and waived rookie safety Brian Cole II, the team announced on Wednesday afternoon.
Reese was one of the two linebackers the Vikings brought in for a tryout on Monday, and he clearly must have impressed the coaching staff. This move gives the team some additional roster depth at linebacker, which is needed with Cameron Smith out for the season and Ben Gedeon still on the Physically Unable to Perform list.
Reese played college football at the University of Florida, where he appeared in 46 games (starting 38 of them) over the past four years. Over the course of his career, he racked up 324 tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and one interception. The 6'1", 240-pounder is a physical middle linebacker in the mold of someone like Gedeon.
He went undrafted this year and was signed by the Panthers as a college free agent. He was waived by Carolina this past Saturday, but quickly got a tryout with the Vikings and will now join them in training camp. Reese will look to prove that he deserves a spot on the active roster or practice squad.
Right now, the Vikings' top four linebackers (Eric Kendricks, Anthony Barr, Eric Wilson, and Troy Dye) seem pretty set. But there's an ongoing competition for that fifth LB job, which likely means a spot on the 53-man roster. Right now, undrafted rookie Jordan Fehr from Appalachian State seems like the favorite. But fellow UDFAs Blake Lynch and now Reese will also be involved in that competition, along with veteran Hardy Nickerson Jr., who the Vikings recently signed.
Reese will need to play catch-up a little bit with learning the Vikings' defensive system, but there's still a full week and a half of practices before roster cut-down day, so he'll have a chance to show the coaches what he can do.
Interestingly, Reese told USA Today's Draft Wire back in April that Vikings RB Dalvin Cook was the toughest player he faced in his college career.
"Dalvin Cook immediately comes to mind. He was a problem for us. We played against him during my freshmen year. We played that game at Florida State. He’s definitely one of the toughest running backs I’ve ever played against."
Now he's Cook's newest teammate.
Unfortunately, this move means the Vikings are parting ways with Cole, who they drafted late in the seventh round in April. Cole has a cool background story, having attended the Last Chance U school in between stops at Michigan and Mississippi State. Hopefully he'll get another shot to prove himself in the NFL pretty soon.
With the Vikings, Cole was clearly at the bottom of the depth chart at safety, behind guys like Josh Metellus, Nate Meadors, and UDFA Myles Dorn. Those three appear to be competing for two roster spots as backups for Harrison Smith and Anthony Harris. However, the Vikings have also worked out veteran safeties Jahleel Addae and George Iloka recently, so they could look to make a move to add someone with more experience eventually.
Cole is the first member of the Vikings' historic 15-player 2020 draft class to no longer be on the roster.
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