Vikings Waive Austin Cutting and Hardy Nickerson
The Vikings made several roster moves on Tuesday, highlighted by waiving long snapper Austin Cutting and linebacker Hardy Nickerson Jr. They also released cornerback Marcus Sayles from the practice squad and protected practice squad TE Brandon Dillon.
Let's take a quick look at what each of those moves mean.
Cutting Cutting (sorry) was expected given that he had lost his job at long snapper to Andrew DePaola. The Vikings made the switch two weeks ago after multiple poor snaps from Cutting had hurt them this season, and DePaola has looked good over the past two games.
DePaola is a 33 year-old journeyman who played his college ball at Rutgers. He was originally signed to the practice squad and was elevated to the active roster against the Cowboys and Panthers, but you can only elevate a player twice in a season. By waiving Cutting, the Vikings are committing to DePaola as their long snapper for the rest of the year. They'll officially sign him to the active roster this week to take Cutting's spot.
However, the Vikings do want to keep Cutting – who they drafted in the seventh round out of Air Force last year – around on the practice squad, according to Chris Tomasson. "They want to keep him in the offseason program and possibly battle for the job next year," Tomasson tweeted. He'll presumably clear waivers.
This is the latest sign that the Vikings should probably stop drafting specialists.
As for Nickerson, he was only playing on special teams and was expendable.
With Cutting and Nickerson being waived, the active roster is currently down to 51 players. DePaola will bring that back up to 52, and Adam Thielen will make it 53 when he's activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
Releasing Sayles from the practice squad creates an opening that could be filled by Cutting.
Protecting Dillon could mean the Vikings don't expect Irv Smith Jr. to return from his groin injury this week. Dillon was the Vikings' No. 3 tight end against the Bears and Panthers with Smith out. He played eight snaps last Sunday and has one standard elevation remaining (he was elevated as a COVID replacement for the Chicago game).
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