The Minnesota Vikings cut their roster to the mandatory 53 player limit on Saturday, and now must wait
to see who will clear waivers. All preseason we heard how difficult these decisions would be, so it is logical to assume that the Vikings hope to pick of several players for their practice squad from the list of people they cut. And at the top of that list is second year quarterback John David Booty.
Booty has become the answer to the quarterback question that first arose when the Vikings picked up Brett Favre this summer: which one is going to go? Keeping four quarterbacks is a luxury for any team, and the Vikings just couldn't afford to do it. Amid rumors this week that the Vikings were shopping Tarvaris Jackson around for a possible trade, this news comes as a bit of a surprise. After Booty's performance Friday night against the Dallas Cowboys, it may have become less so.
Booty completed 7 of 13 passes for 85 yards and threw one very bad interception that resulted in a touchdown. Certainly the decision to cut Booty did not all hang on that performance--because of that was the case then the Vikings would be down two quarterbacks as Sage Rosenfels didn't fare much better (7-15, 115 yards and another one of those costly picks). More the case is that Vikings are hoping to slide Booty through waivers and put him on their practice squad. Clearly it is a gamble, but one I believe that is worth taking.
Jackson has had a decent preseason, and with his potential upside (very athletic, knows the offense, perfect for the wildcat offense), Jackson deserves another shot and may be best served as a backup where the pressure on him is less. That seems to be where he has excelled in recent times.
The team had invested too much in Rosenfels to let him go, so waiving Booty seemed to be the logical, if not the inevitable decision. They are giving up on "their project," but you could put that same label on Jackson and he is further along. Had they cut him loose, he would have already been scooped up by another. As of this writing, 11 p.m. central time on Saturday, no other team had picked up Booty, and he has until Sunday at 6 p.m. before he can pass through waivers and be placed on the Vikings practice squad.
If he does so, he may be joined by a few other former Vikings who were let go today and would gladly be welcomed back by the team. Among them is running back Ian Johnson from Boise State, who had a great preseason but was cut to make room for Albert Young, who in the eyes of the coaches had a better one. In addition, the Vikings waived defensive back Marcus McCauley, their third round pick from 2007. Also waived was David Herron, who made the decision at backup linebacker difficult, and he may be back on the practice squad, as Erin Henderson was hurt against the Cowboys and the severity of the injury has not been announced yet.
The cut entire list goes as follows:
QB: John David Booty
RB: Ian Johnson
FB: Nehemiah Broughton
OL: Drew Radovich, Chris Clark, Brian Daniels, Juan Garcia, Andy Kemp
WR Nick Moore, Bobby Williams, Vinny Perretta
TE: Garrett Mills, Jake Nordin
DL: Otis Grigsby, Tremaine Johnson, Antoine Holmes, Martail Burnett
LB: David Herron
DB: Marcus McCauley, De'von Hall, Marcus Walker, Colt Anderson.
Stay tuned for another update tomorrow on exactly who made it through waivers, who the Vikings retained and who they might have picked up off the waiver wire from other teams.
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