Pass Rusher Trades Vikings Purple for Packers Green

In fairness, Arden Walker is an innocent bystander. The kid had his release foisted upon him. Likewise, the claim from Green Bay wasn’t of his doing.

Still, some in Minnesota won’t be thrilled to see Vikings purple morph into Packers green.

Consider the news that’s getting passed along by ESPN’s Adam Schefter: “Packers claimed DE Arden Walker on waivers from the Vikings.” In Week 1, the Packers will come to Minneapolis to battle the Vikings inside of U.S. Bank Stadium. Gleaning some insight from Walker will therefore be quite helpful.

Arden Walker Leaves Vikings Purple Behind

Lately, there has been some online debate about the manner in which Minnesota has limited videos at practice.

Part of the rationale from the Vikings is that online videos can offer slivers of insight, especially early in the year. Green Bay isn’t gleaning scouting intel off fan videos on social media in this move. The Wisconsin football team is nevertheless positioning themselves to learn a thing or two about what the Vikings are cooking up for the 2026 season.

Arden Walker isn’t a household name. Maybe he’ll get there in time, but that’s a possibility that still needs to be chased down.

The pass rusher got into the NFL following the 2026 NFL Draft. Minnesota snagged him for just $2,000 in guaranteed cash. Even among UDFAs, Walker’s deal is very modest.

Walker tossed a pair of tackles onto the stat sheet last weekend. He played in 17 snaps against the New York Giants in what ended up being a winning effort. Per PFF, the rookie played pretty well, tossing up a reasonably promising 69.9 grade. He’ll look to carry whatever momentum he has into his next opportunity.

For whatever it’s worth, the Packers have lost some pass rush help when shipping out Rashan Gary earlier in the year. Similarly of note is that Micah Parsons isn’t yet back from injury, further depleting the depth.

Obviously, Walker isn’t being leaned on to replace those guys. He could, however, work toward snagging a practice squad spot as he grows his game.

For a little while, Jeff Diamond has argued Minnesota would benefit from some added pass rusher help.

“With Blake Cashman, Eric Wilson and Ivan Pace at inside backer,” the former GM wrote a couple weeks ago, “it’s apparent [Jake} Golday’s greatest impact this season will be if he’s that third edge rusher/OLB and doing it well. He’s been lining up both inside and outside in camp so he has a lot on his plate in learning multiple positions.”

If Golday can’t go at edge rusher, then the Vikings’ need is even more pronounced. To replace Arden Walker, the Vikings have picked up a different unproven young fella: Kenny Dyson.

The Vikings will wrestle with the Ravens in joint practices and then have a preseason battle over the weekend. Only one more preseason game will follow before it’s full-steam ahead for that Week 1 Packers game.

Joining Arden Walker as a former Viking putting in work for the Packers is DT Javon Hargrave, somebody who left with some poor feelings toward how he got deployed in Minnesota.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.