And Just Like That, The Vikings Conduct a Quartet of Roster Moves

A single poor outcome — a thumb injury to RB Jordan Mason — set off a chain reaction of moves for the Vikings.

The team released the news, noting that Mr. Mason is being shuffled to the IR. What was looking like a precautionary move has now been confirmed as being more serious, requiring Mason to be sidelined for a minimum of four games. DeeJay Dallas has been bumped up to the active roster, Jerome Ford has been signed to the practice squad (he worked out for MIN on Tuesday), and then an international defensive back has been signed in an unrelated decision.

The Vikings Conduct a Quartet of Moves

Check out the word that arrived courtesy of the team’s social media.

A trio of running back decisions: “Head Coach Kevin O’Connell announces the #Vikings have placed RB Jordan Mason (thumb) on IR and signed RB DeeJay Dallas to the 53-man roster. RB Jerome Ford has also been signed to the practice squad.”

The other tidbit of news that the Vikings sent along is that the International Player Pathway exemption slot has been used on French defender Maceo Beard-Aigret. Boasting good size, Beard-Aigret would be wise to begin by impressing Matt Daniels before then trying to work for Brian Flores.

Upon first glance, a thumb ailment would appear to be minor for a running back. Why can’t he play through it?

Something to note, folks, is that a banged up thumb could easily undermine a runner. Securing the football would be made more challenging with an injured thumb. What about stiff-arming a defender or catching the ball? Pass protection would be harder, too.

So, Minnesota has decided to shutdown Mason over the short term to ensure he can get back to full health.

Jordan Mason put in a pile of work during the offseason to show up in good shape. The Vikings made note of that effort, praising him for his potential. Losing him as Kyler Murray sorts through his concussion is especially discouraging since the ground game has experienced some renewed importance after a long period of impotence.

Bumping up Dallas makes a lot of sense. He did excellent work on specials on Sunday, so the promotion looks like it’s well earned. And then adding Ford to the practice squad means signing a still-young runner who previously played some promising football for the Browns (the team where good football goes to die). These two are solid rather than sizzling options; neither boast Mason’s upside.

In Week 1, Minnesota’s decision was to keep rookie runner Demond Claiborne on the bench. That’s unlikely to continue for Week 2.

Presumably, Ford is going to need some time to get up to full speed. Claiborne’s task involves shoring up the RB3 job in the short term. Proving effective in that capacity could mean earning a larger and larger portion of the playing time pie as the season progresses.

Expect Aaron Jones to get a hearty workload as Dallas and Claiborne earn modest work. Does FB Max Bredeson earn more playing time for the Vikings?

The Vikings travel to Soldier Field in Week 2 for a game against the Bears. Whoever wins will be sitting atop the NFC North with an impressive 2-0 record.

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