Some Vikings players who were on the 53-man roster in 2025 won’t be on the 53-man roster in 2026. So, these guys are the focus of the current piece.

Most of the UDFAs are going to get shown the door. Most of the drafted rookies will be kept around. There are then the various pickups along the way, some of whom are roster locks (James Pierre, Kyler Murray) while others are hanging on by a thread (Jahvaree Ritzie, Jarod Washington). Consider those who helped last season but who are still battling to prove belonging in the upcoming season.

4 Vikings Players Battling to Stick Around

No. 1 — QB4 Max Brosmer

At this stage, Mr. Brosmer needs a miracle to stick around.

He has played a decent amount in the preseason, but that’s a reality that is mostly the result of his Ravens game last weekend. He suffered a minor injury in that debut preseason game, resulting in minimal work as he went 1/2 for 6 passing yards. At the Bank on Saturday, Brosmer tossed for 98 yards behind 11/17 passing. He had an INT and was sacked a pair of times in a performance that resulted in a 55.5 passer rating.

Maybe his best shot at sneaking onto the roster is to see J.J. McCarthy traded.

No. 2 — DT5/6 Elijah Williams

Elijah Williams is a good football player. Does he find a way to stick around yet again?

Part of the problem for Williams is that he’s sitting in the DT5 spot as a best case. All of Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake Rodriguez, Caleb Banks, and Domonique Orange are ahead of him. Would the Vikings’ coaching staff prefer a veteran in the room? If so, then Williams could be forced into demanding the DT6 spot or get shown the door.

Best guess is that he makes the team but that’s not a certainty. Tossing a sizzling effort onto the field on Friday night would likely secure his spot. Sliding him down to the practice squad means accepting some reasonable risk of him getting stolen away.

No. 3 — CB5 Dwight McGlothern

I had been working on this piece a day early. And then the news arrived. So long, Nudie. Genuinely, I wish the young lad nothing but the best, but Minnesota’s actions communicated much about how they understood the depth CB jobs.

No. 3 — OG3 Walter Rouse

Mr. Rouse is a very imposing guy who does very good work away from the football field. Can he start earning more snaps on Sunday?

Chosen in the 6th Round of the 2024 NFL Draft, Rouse played tackle in college but has now been kicked inside. Seeing him leverage his 6’6″ and 330-pound frame to play bully ball in the trenches would be a nice development for the Minnesota Vikings since the iOL depth is leaky.

What’s been strange, though, has been Minnesota’s decision not to feature him more. Last year, there were plenty of issues with OL health and yet Rouse got phased out in the season’s second half. What does the team actually think of him?

No. 5 — S4 Jay Ward

Jay Ward is moving into his fourth season in the NFL. Coming out of LSU, Ward boasted promise due to his on-field snarl and versatility. In 2025, Ward finally broke through with some more playing time, looking fast and physical on several occasions.

What’s been clear, though, is that Minnesota hasn’t done much to feature him other than giving him a huge special teams role. Both of Theo Jackson and Josh Metellus are higher on the depth chart. Jamal Adams was picking up steam prior to getting hurt. Jacob Thomas and Jakobe Thomas are getting work with the 1st-team, too.

If Harrison Smith comes back, do the Vikings move on from Ward? He’s very likely to stick around but it’s not hard to connect the dots on a player who hasn’t yet broken through and who was drafted by the former GM.

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

FILE–Former Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose speaks to the audience during a ceremony retiring his #1 Chicago Bulls jersey at the United Center on January 24, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images/AFP

CEBU CITY—Derrick Rose received a massive reception from local fans who couldn’t get enough of the NBA legend on Wednesday to wrap up his two-day tour here.

Chants of “MVP!” resonated throughout SM Seaside City Cebu once the Chicago Bulls great came out for the event dubbed “Rose Meets the Queen.”

“You only get this for giving your love [to the game],” Rose said. “I didn’t think people would show up. I didn’t think people over here knew my name or even watched me play.

READ: Derrick Rose ‘surprised’ by local love in Cebu, dances tinikling

Cebuano fans go crazy as Derrick Rose wraps up his press conference at SM Seaside Cebu @inquirersports pic.twitter.com/0JnQVYPXgD

— Jonas Terrado (@jonasterradoINQ) August 26, 2026

“So for me to come here and get this reception, it means a lot,” he added.

Fans continued to go gaga during Rose’s press conference at a restaurant before following him as he headed toward the exit to conclude the event.

Some of them came in wearing replica Rose jerseys, mostly from his days with the Bulls, while others brought pictures and signature shoes in hopes of getting those signed by the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player.

During the event, Rose got to meet some of the local players invited to take part in a 3×3 tournament.

READ: NBA legend Derrick Rose back in PH for the fifth time

Derrick Rose gets a warm reception at SM Seaside Cebu for his “Rose Meets the Queen” event @inquirersports pic.twitter.com/y2Ys0ISCPJ

— Jonas Terrado (@jonasterradoINQ) August 26, 2026

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Among them was former PBA veteran JR Quinahan, who later got a moment with Rose.

The mall visit concluded Rose’s first visit to this historic province after spending his previous two as a brand ambassador in Manila.

His trip began with a tour of the famed Mactan Shrine before gracing VIPs and reporters at a private event held at Shangri-La in Lapu-Lapu City.

Teofimo Lopez bounced back from defeat to Shakur Stevenson to capture a welterweight world title last weekend, and now Lopez has predicted how Stevenson would fare against his newfound welterweight rival and fellow 147lb champion, Devin Haney.

Lopez was comprehensively outboxed by Stevenson at Madison Square Garden back in January, losing almost every round as well as his WBO super-lightweight world title; a defeat which prompted a move up to the welterweight division.

‘The Takeover’ had been linked to a showdown with WBO welterweight champion Haney, but instead wound up facing WBA titleholder Rolando Romero in Las Vegas at the weekend and claimed a majority-decision win to become a three-division world champion.

Now, Lopez is eyeing up unifications with his fellow titlists at the weight, with potential showdowns against either Haney or WBC champion Ryan Garcia, sure to be huge spectacles.

Despite being beaten by Stevenson at the beginning of the calendar, Lopez told Daily Mail Boxing that he believes Haney would defeat the Newark southpaw.

“I think Devin Haney [wins].”

It is unclear whether Lopez is currently mandated to face WBA (Regular) champion Jack Catterall, with the WBA’s recent order for a fight between Catterall and Romero now being scrutinised.

Meanwhile, Garcia is set to take on Conor Benn on Saturday, September 12, whilst it is believed that Haney is targeting an October unification clash with IBF champion Liam Paro, but that negotiations for that proposed bout have stalled.

Hello! Nothing says late summer quite like the UEFA Champions League’s league phase draw. I’m Pardeep Cattry with a midweek update on the latest.

📺 Footy fix

All times U.S./Eastern

Wednesday, Aug. 26
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL Cup: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Charlton Athletic, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+
🇪🇺 UCL qualifying: Lyon vs. Fenerbahce, 3 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇺🇸 NWSL: North Carolina Courage vs. Angel City, 8 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Network
🇺🇸🇲🇽 Leagues Cup: Club America vs. Columbus Crew, 10:45 p.m. ➡️ FS1

Thursday, Aug. 27
🇪🇺 UCL league phase draw, 12 p.m. ➡️ CBS Sports Golazo Network
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 EFL Cup: Chelsea vs. Luton Town, 2:45 p.m. ➡️ Paramount+
🇪🇸 LaLiga: Barcelona vs. Athletic Club, 3 p.m. ➡️ ESPN+

🇪🇺 Setting the stage for the Champions League

Paris Saint-Germain may still be sporting the glow that comes with winning back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles, but on Thursday the focus shifts to a new campaign with the league phase draw. The field of contenders for this season’s competition is nearly set and is headlined by a batch of usual suspects – last season’s finalists Arsenal are back for another stab at the title, while recent semifinalists Barcelona and Bayern Munich will also be amongst the teams to keep an eye on.

Here’s a list of the 32 teams that have qualified so far.

• England: Aston Villa, Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool
• Italy: Inter, Napoli, Roma, Como
• Spain: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Real Betis
• Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Stuttgart
• France: Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Lille
• Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord
• Portugal: Porto, Sporting Lisbon
• Belgium: Club Brugge
• Czechia: Slavia Praha
• Turkiye: Galatasaray
• Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk
• Azerbaijan: Sabah
• Norway: Bodo/Glimt
• Austria: LASK

The mainstays command plenty of attention, but there are some surprise teams who enter the fold this time around. The list includes Sabah, who snapped Qarabag’s streak of winning the Azerbaijan Premier League in 11 of the last 12 seasons and progressed from the first round of Champions League qualification – which began before the World Cup quarterfinals did – to ensure they would take part in Europe’s top club competition for the first time in club history. LASK, meanwhile, followed up their first Austrian Bundesliga title in 60 years by booking their first-ever trip to the Champions League in remarkable fashion – they overcame a 3-0 first leg deficit to Celtic with a 5-1 win at home. Samuel Adeniran, a Houston-born forward who bounced around Europe and the U.S. before finding a landing place in Linz, scored a brace on Tuesday to help seal the deal for LASK.

One final batch of qualification matches will take place on Wednesday before the 36 teams are divided into four pots and drawn against each other on Thursday in Monaco. The action promises to be just as thrilling since all four remaining ties are tied on aggregate, including Lyon’s clash with Fenerbahce after a 1-1 draw in Istanbul last week. For those keeping count of American players in the competition – U.S. international Tanner Tessman is expected to play a sizable role again for Lyon on Wednesday and hopes to join the seven other countrymen in the competition, including PSV’s World Cup players Ricardo Pepi and Sergino Dest.

Here’s a glance at the remaining Champions League qualification ties.

• AEK Athens vs. Levski Sofia, 3 p.m. (teams tied 0-0 on aggregate)
• Lyon vs. Fenerbahce, 3 p.m. (teams tied 1-1 on aggregate)
• Viking vs. Dinamo Zagreb, 3 p.m. (teams tied 2-2 on aggregate)
• Celje vs. Slovan Bratislava, 3 p.m. (teams tied 1-1 on aggregate)

🏆 Live Tomorrow

Tyrrell Hatton says he expects LIV Golf to continue next year despite confirmation of job losses following the early conclusion of its season in Indianapolis last week.

The breakaway circuit that began in 2022 says it needs to find $350m (£257m) investment to survive.

LIV’s season has finished early with the cancellation of its intended finale, this week’s team championship in Detroit. Instead, Hatton is competing at the British Masters on Thursday.

“I would expect there to be LIV next season,” the 34-year-old European Ryder Cup star told reporters at the Belfry, before news broke of the job cuts.

“I know they’ve worked really hard to get the funding stuff in place and its full steam ahead on that front.”

Having lost the backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), LIV’s future is under question. A term sheet has been signed with a potential new backer but with no confirmation that concrete funding is in place.

A LIV spokesperson has confirmed to BBC Sport that some employees are now being laid off.

“The funding commitment announced by PIF earlier this year will reach its conclusion. As a result, we are scaling back operations as we transition to the next chapter of LIV Golf and work toward making LIV 2.0 a reality,” LIV said in a statement.

“This week, we informed many of our colleagues that their employment under LIV 1.0 will end in the first week of September. We are grateful to our employees for their hard work and dedication in building LIV Golf, and we remain committed to supporting those affected through this transition.”

Amid such uncertainty, several LIV players have been linked with departing the tour, including Hatton. The Englishman chose Queen’s I Want to Break Free as walk-on music in Indianapolis last week.

Asked by BBC Sport whether anything should be read into his seemingly provocative choice of song, Hatton said: “No. I’ve still got multiple years left on my contract with LIV and as I’ve said I’ve still got plenty of tournaments to play this year, so there is nothing really to focus on other than the golf.”

Hatton will play the rest of the year on the DP World Tour, which will please European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, given that the qualifying period for the 2027 match starts this week.

While Hatton is publicly dismissing talk of jumping ship, there is still a strong feeling that he and team-mate Jon Rahm may have played their last events on the LIV tour.

If that is the case, Donald would welcome their full-time return to the DP World Tour. It would increase their chances of automatically qualifying for his team rather than having to rely on wildcard picks.

“You want to fill those six with the best,” Donald told BBC Sport. “With someone like a John or Tyrrell playing more on the DP World Tour, they’re going to have more opportunities to fill out those top six.

“And I think that’s a good thing. You want your strongest players in those top six.”

Donald also revealed that he had considered offering qualifying points to the LIV tour but the lack of clarity over the its future made it impossible.

“It was just too much uncertainty to think about giving them points for the Ryder Cup,” he said.

Some bizarre NFL and college football history could be made soon, and not everyone’s happy about it. 

Former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright was on track to become the first player to play college football after being rostered by an NFL team following his release from the Cleveland Browns this week. But as he was set to join head coach Lane Kiffin at LSU, Wright and several other college athletes learned on Tuesday that the SEC would be joining the Big Ten in disallowing players who had already signed an NFL contract from playing in their conferences. 

Wright was among 16 former college football players who sued the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility and were granted a temporary restraining order that would allow them to play college football in 2026. That order allowed opportunistic college head coaches, like Kiffin, to explore adding players signed to NFL contracts to their rosters in recent weeks. 

While college head coaches and conference administrators are starting to make their feelings known on the matter, how are people around the NFL reacting to players potentially returning to play the collegiate game? Here’s what we learned from some of our conversations with people around the league. 

Scout: NCAA Has To ‘Get Their S— Together’

Ralph Vacchiano: The recent news that some NFL players will potentially be allowed to return to college football this season did not go over well in NFL circles. And it only added to their confusion over what is currently happening in the NCAA.

“They really have to get their s— together,” one NFL scout told me. “It feels like they’re the Wild Wild West and the rules are changing every day.” 

The recent one could be the most confusing. It was sparked by court rulings in Colorado and Louisiana that appear to allow NFL players who entered college in 2022 to return to school for a fifth year of eligibility in the NCAA. To add to the confusion, the Big Ten went against the courts and banned players from returning from the NFL. The SEC announced it opposed the rulings, but wouldn’t stand in the players’ way.

Dae’Quan Wright spent training camp with the Eagles and Browns before agreeing to join Lane Kiffin at LSU. (Photo by Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

It’s unclear if any other conferences will join the Big Ten and the SEC. But the courts probably haven’t had their final say on the matter yet, which is why the NFL is bracing for an even bigger mess.

“All that NIL money was bad enough. It basically wiped out the talent in the later rounds of the draft because too many marginal players could afford to stay in school,” the scout told me. “But now we’re going to have guys who would’ve stayed on the practice squad leaving too? We’ll spend 3-4 months investing in their growth, developing them as a player, only to watch them go back to LSU?”

“It all looks bad,” an NFL executive told me by text. “But we don’t know where all this is going yet. It feels like just the beginning of a really big mess.”

Not Everyone In The NFL Is Sounding The Alarm, Though

Eric D. Williams: The situation surrounding Wright and over a dozen other players has caused some to panic about the future of college football. However, not everyone in the NFL is worried about the recent court rulings and whether this will cause more players to return to college. 

One NFL agent pointed out to me that what’s happening this summer is likely a one-time thing due to the NCAA’s new eligibility rules. 

Former FSU QB Thomas Castellanos is among the former college football players who could benefit from a rules loophole. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

“It only applies to this tiny group of players this year who made a decision prior to the rule change,” the NFL agent told me. “It would never apply again because any other player in the future would make whatever decision they made after the college season based on the 5/5 rule, if it stays in effect.

“So, this really isn’t a long-term issue. It’s a one-off, so the NFL won’t and shouldn’t care about these few guys who weren’t making teams to begin with. These are the only players the ruling applies to – players who under the new rules would be eligible to play college in 2026 that under the old rules would not have been eligible. That’s it. A player at the end of 2026 who has a fifth year can decide to take it or not, and if he doesn’t and goes to the NFL, why would he get his eligibility back? He made the decision to leave knowing he had a year left. No different than a true junior leaving with two years left.”

Players can regain their college eligibility if they terminate their pro contract and repay any pro earnings. A handful of other players in this year’s draft class could benefit from this new ruling, like Wright. However, that loophole will be closed for the 2027 draft class and beyond.

What To Make Of Players Returning To CFB

Williams: If players wind up returning to college after signing with NFL teams, that also begs the question about what their future draft status will be. 

Jack Pyburn, who is now with the Buccaneers, is among the players considering a return to college. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)

No one seems to know what the NFL will do yet about the draft eligibility of those specific players. But an NFL scout told me league evaluators will have to reevaluate the prospects, while proposing an idea for the league on how to handle the situation. 

“You have to reevaluate them because they will be getting more reps to develop and grade, similar to getting reps in the UFL or CFL,” a longtime NFL scout told me. “If they like them, then they should be considered as a street free agent to sign if they were previously in an NFL camp. That’s how the NFL should handle it in my eyes.”

Right now, the noise around the Minnesota Vikings and J.J. McCarthy has grown very loud. Many believe that a trade is a realistic outcome. The conversation has grown so raucous that even the NFL’s website has jumped into the mix.

Kevin Patra pulls off the ambitious task of constructing a piece that details trade candidates for all of the NFL’s teams. Consider his lonely trade candidate for the Vikings: “I don’t believe the Vikings outright cut McCarthy, but if anyone calls about a trade, the Vikings should jump at the chance to move the third-year QB. Despite what Kevin O’Connell has said, I think the club would trust Carson Wentz more than McCarthy as QB2 in the event Kyler Murray goes down. The former No. 10 overall pick caddying as QB3 could present some issues.”

The NFL Website Jumps into J.J. McCarthy Trade Chatter

Look around the internet. Finding speculation about where things are going for McCarthy in Minnesota isn’t going to be too difficult.

Earlier in the week, Jeff Diamond (the Vikings’ GM from 1991-98), wrote about McCarthy: “With [McCarthy’s] lackluster play in these first two preseason games (seven drives with no points produced, albeit with the No. 2 offense) and Carson Wentz performing better, it’s opened the door to media speculation on who should be QB2 on opening day against the Packers on September 13.”

There’s then Tom Rudelius. Not a former NFL executive, Rudelius is a certified numbers nerd who dug into comparable trades from recent history to arrive at an approximation for what Minnesota could get back in a swap.

“To begin, if the Vikings want to trade McCarthy, now is probably the time. The former Michigan QB has two years left on his contract, and it’s not outlandish to think that some other team might want to take a chance on the young QB,” Rudelius writes.

And then a firmer guess on what could come over to Minnesota: “On the other hand, it’s hard to imagine that McCarthy could net more than a 5th Round pick at this point. Part of the reason why the price for former 1st Round QBs has dropped in recent years is probably because none of the QBs in the table above have brought any meaningful value to the team that traded for them.”

To be clear, what’s included above is plenty of speculation and conjecture. Some analysis and insight gets sprinkled into the mix but there aren’t any updates so far to suggest that Minnesota is shopping the kid to the NFL’s other teams.

What is known, though, is reasonably ample.

J.J. McCarthy got drafted at No. 10 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Snagging him followed a small jump up the board. He has since played in just ten of a possible thirty-four games due to various injuries. When he has been available, McCarthy has overall played poor football while demonstrating potential. The GM responsible for making the selection, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, is no longer employed as the Vikings’ GM. Kyler Murray is now the QB1.

Part of the problem with trading out McCarthy is that the NFL isn’t going to offer anything close to fair value. Think a Day 3 draft pick(s) rather than something that gets anywhere close to being a top-ten selection.

Maybe the best comparable of recent history is Trey Lance, an athletically-gifted quarterback who went to San Francisco but who was plagued by injury and inconsistency. The 49ers sent him packing for a 4th. Would a team such as the Chargers (coach connection) or Jets (QB starved) take the gamble at that price? Would the Vikings accept?

According to Over the Cap, Minnesota’s cap would see close to $2.8 million saved with a trade.

J.J. McCarthy, 23, is preparing for the Denver Broncos preseason game. That contest will take place on Friday, August 28th. Teams will then move from 90 players to 53 by August 30th.

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

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