The Vikings revealed their initial 53-man roster for the 2025 season on Tuesday afternoon. It’s a group that has a few surprises, a remarkable number of undrafted rookies, and plenty of remaining questions. It’s also 100 percent going to undergo at least a couple changes between now and the regular season opener on September 8.
Let’s dive into three takeaways…
Of the 53 players on the roster, a whopping seven of them are undrafted rookies: QB Max Brosmer, OL Joe Huber, TE Ben Yurosek, WR Myles Price, DT Elijah Williams, OLB Chaz Chambliss, and LB Austin Keys. That doesn’t include OLB Tyler Batty, who sticks around on injured reserve with a designation to return.
Seven UDFAs is easily the most I can remember making the Vikings’ initial roster since I’ve been covering the team. That’s 13 percent of the roster! I’d have to imagine it’s the most kept by any team in the NFL this year. To complement a small draft haul, the Vikings spent aggressively in college free agency and put together quite the 20-member UDFA class this spring. We knew the class had some real intrigue and promise, but to think that seven players made the cut is wild. And three names who generated buzz earlier this year — OT Logan Brown, WR Silas Bolden, and CB Zemaiah Vaughn — weren’t even among the seven.
There are a couple ways to look at this, and both can be true. The optimistic view is that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and his staff continue to shine in their undrafted free agency process, from scouting to actually landing players they think have a shot. There are four other players on this roster (Ivan Pace Jr., Dwight McGlothern, Bo Richter, and Ryan Wright) who signed as UDFAs over the previous three years. These are real scouting and development success stories. A special shoutout should go to Williams, who made it after attending rookie minicamp as a tryout player.
The pessimistic view is that a team that keeps seven undrafted rookies on its initial 53 probably hasn’t drafted very well and probably has some serious depth concerns at certain spots. After trading away Mekhi Blackmon on Monday, only four of the 16 players the Vikings drafted in 2022 and 2023 are still on the roster. That poor hit rate, along with this year’s five-player class (with one of those five, Gavin Bartholomew, on the reserve/PUP list), created the room for so many undrafted guys.
7 members of the Vikings’ 2025 UDFA class made the initial roster. Some possible explanations, all of which can be true:
+ Team is holding some through the 1st waiver wave to get them onto the practice squad
+ Team has run up against its cash budget
+ They are good players— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) August 26, 2025
Every year, it’s important to note that the initial group of 53 should not be written down in Sharpie. Teams will make waiver claims and sign free agents and perhaps make trades over remainder of the week. That feels especially true with this current Vikings team.
Wide receiver depth remains a glaring concern right now. Beyond Justin Jefferson, the Vikings are without their No. 2 receiver (Jordan Addison) for three games due to suspension, and their No. 3 receiver (Jalen Nailor) has a hand injury that could cause him to miss time. The other guys who made the roster are a veteran with 17 career catches (Tim Jones) and a pair of rookies (Tai Felton and Myles Price).
At least one impact addition is needed at that position prior to Week 1, and maybe two. You simply can’t show up to Soldier Field in the opener with Jones and Felton as J.J. McCarthy’s top two non-Jefferson wideouts. Whether it’s Adam Thielen, K.J. Osborn, or someone else, a minimum of one move is coming at that position.
The same can be said at cornerback. The Vikings kept just four of them on their initial roster: Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers, Jeff Okudah, and McGlothern. They’re seemingly putting a lot of faith in Okudah panning out as their No. 3 corner. Just from a pure numbers standpoint, they clearly need to add at least one more CB. And they may want it to be someone — like Stephon Gilmore, for example — who comes with a higher floor than Okudah does.
Wide receiver and corner are also far from the only two positions where the Vikings could explore external additions this week.
These are what I would consider to be the most notable surprises on the roster:
Lucky Jackson, Kahlef Hailassie, and Vaughn also qualify as somewhat notable cuts, but none of those are too surprising.
